Roy Williams’ coached UNC teams aren’t just good in games right after the first Duke contest of the season – they’re perfect. Saturday afternoon the Tar Heels defeated 16th ranked Florida State, 77-59, to improve to 16-0 post Blue Devils part 1. The question is, what does Roy tell his team to make sure they don’t experience the hangover many squads fall victim to after a big win?
“When we got back here Wednesday night, before I let them get off the bus, I told them that we did some good things. We got a “W”. We’ve got to keep playing or you give it back. We’ve had a couple of L’s here at the Smith Center this year, and I said you’ve got to protect your home court.”
“Coach told us not to get “fat and happy” about the Duke win and act like we’re on top of the world,” Coby White said after Saturday’s win. “We’ve got to come and still play a good game and that’s what we did.”
At 9-2, the Tar Heels are in a 3-way tie with Duke and Virginia for first place in the ACC. UNC will host Syracuse on Tuesday.
Game Notes:
- UNC Scoring Leader: Cameron Johnson and Nassir Little 18
- UNC Rebound Leader: Luke Maye 11
- UNC Assist Leader: Coby White 4
- The Tar Heels are 22-5 overall, 12-2 in the ACC and 12-2 at the Smith Center this season.
- This is the 26th time overall and the 11th time in 16 seasons under Roy Williams the Tar Heels have won at least 12 regular-season ACC games.
- Carolina is 7-3 against AP-ranked teams this season. The seven wins are the most for UNC against ranked teams in the regular season since 2007.
- The Tar Heels held the Seminoles to 59 points, 19.2 points below the Seminoles’ average.
- Nassir Little scored in double figures for the 14th time, the first time since he had 10 against Miami on 2/9, and grabbed a season-high eight rebounds.
