After the UNC men’s basketball team’s first loss of the season on Wednesday against Indiana, head coach Roy Williams criticized his team for its lack of aggressiveness in the first half.

It’s safe to say his message was well received, as the No. 3 Tar Heels exploded out of the gates on Sunday at the Smith Center on the way to a 95-50 blowout over Radford despite losing point guard Joel Berry to a sprained left ankle.

Sophomore Kenny Williams led the charge by scoring 16 of his career-high 19 points during the opening half on Sunday—including four three-pointers in the first five minutes.

Having just been reinserted to the starting backcourt over senior Nate Britt, Williams made sure to remind the UNC faithful how his silky smooth jumper earned him a scholarship in Chapel Hill to begin with. Known for that skillset coming out of high school, he finished with a career-high five makes from three-point range.

Kenny Williams hit four of his career-high five three-pointers during the first five minutes against Radford. (Todd Melet)

Kenny Williams hit four of his career-high five three-pointers during the first five minutes against Radford. (Todd Melet)

The Virginia native sounded like someone relieved to have the monkey off their back when he spoke with reporters after the game.

“I’ve been waiting a year and a half for a game like that,” Williams said. “I don’t want to say I knew it was coming, but with the confidence I have right now I kind of expected it.”

Williams’ first-half barrage allowed the Tar Heels to break away from their overmatched opponents—a Radford group ranked 284th in the nation according to efficiency ratings compiled by Kenpom.com—while appearing to hardly break a sweat.

Not until early in the second half–when Berry went down on the baseline adjacent to UNC’s bench–did the worries start to seep in.

The entire Smith Center went quiet as trainers tended to the junior, but the outcome of the game itself was never in doubt. Held out of the finish due to precautionary reasons, Berry ended up scoring just five points in 13 minutes.

Kenny Williams noted that there wasn’t much time for the team to really process what was going on as the action continued, but it would certainly be a blow to the team should Berry be out for a long period of time.

“It hurts to see one of our leaders go down,” Williams said. “You hope the best for him, but in the middle of the game you have to really put that to the side and continue to play the game–then guys have to step up from there to pick up what he gives us.”

Although the injury is not expected to be too serious, Roy Williams said Berry will go in for an x-ray on Monday just to be safe.

Freshman Seventh Woods scored a career-high nine points to go with five turnovers in place of Berry down the stretch, while flashing his athleticism with a nice dunk on a fastbreak.

The Tar Heel frontcourt consisting of seniors Isaiah Hicks and Kennedy Meeks—as well as freshman Tony Bradley—were the only players to join Kenny Williams in double figures, as they took advantage of a Radford team without a single player taller than 6-foot-8.

Their head coach called it an unusual game because of the circumstances surrounding Berry, but one he hopes the Tar Heels can learn from moving forward.

Freshman Tony Bradley recorded a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds) off the bench against Radford's undersized frontcourt. (Todd Melet)

Freshman Tony Bradley recorded a double-double (10 points, 11 rebounds) off the bench against Radford’s undersized frontcourt. (Todd Melet)

“We got off to a great start the first eight or nine minutes of the game,” Coach Williams said. “I thought we were really active, not just Kenny’s three-point shots going in.

I thought we were really active defensively and keeping them off the boards,” the coach added. “Then after that, we kind of meandered around the rest of the game.”

There were some ugly points in the game for UNC–such as a five-minute stretch to open the second half where it scored just five points—but it’s tough to be too critical of every little thing when the game was well out of reach by that time.

The Tar Heels forced Radford into 19 turnovers while also limiting the Highlanders to just 30 percent shooting from the field.

These are the kinds of things that get Roy Williams excited.

They’re also the kinds of things that will be necessary for the team to have sustained success, with or without Berry, against the difficult schedule that December presents—a slate that includes Davidson, Tennessee, Northern Iowa and Kentucky.

“I’m not trying to cut anybody down but we are more gifted [than Radford],” Coach Williams said. “I did like a couple things we did early in the game, but other than that we need to have a couple of great practices because now it starts to really be basketball.”

Up Next:

The Tar Heels–now 8-1 this season–will stay at home this week, as they play host to the Davidson Wildcats on Wednesday, Dec. 7.

Game Notes:

  • Kenny Williams is the first Tar Heel to make five threes in a game this year and the first since Marcus Paige made six against Indiana in the 2016 NCAA Sweet 16.
  • Justin Jackson led UNC with six assists. It was the second time in four games he had six assists, however it was the first game he failed to score in double figures–recording just eight points.
  • The Tar Heels tied their season high with nine three-point field goals, a mark they also hit in the season opener at Tulane.

 

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