Roy Williams Bringing Four Suits To Greensboro

The Tar Heels have been coming up short against the league’s best teams down the stretch of the regular season. They’ll get another crack at the ACC’s upper crust this week in Greensboro. That is, if No. 19 North Carolina can first get past Boston College Wednesday afternoon.

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UNC head coach Roy Williams says he’s packing four suits for the ACC Tournament.

“It’s a new season now. We get to go over there and see if we can play our tails off for four days. If we do, we got a chance to win the whole thing. When we play really well, we got a chance to win the whole thing. That’s our goal – to try to play really well,” Coach Williams says.

Carolina, 21-10 overall and 11-7 in the ACC, will enter the conference postseason as the No. 5 seed for the fifth time in history and just the second time since 1964. With that No. 5 beside its name in the bracket, the Tar Heels haven’t fared so well, owning a 1-4 record in that slot.

What’s more, UNC will likely need to try and survive the second round contest without the services of sophomore forward Kennedy Meeks, who’s been battling a high fever this week.

But teammate Brice Johnson says the show must go on.

“We’ve had situations like this before. Somebody’s got to step up. We have a great number of post players on this team. Nobody’s guaranteed a spot in the starting lineup. He [Coach] can either change the lineup or Kennedy can still play,” Johnson says.

The opponent for Wednesday’s 2 p.m. tipoff in the Greensboro Coliseum will be the surging Boston College Eagles, who downed Georgia Tech in thrilling fashion, 66-65, in the first round.

BC head coach Jim Christian says he’s proud of his veteran players, who’ve now quietly led the Eagles to four straight ACC victories.

“The resiliency of our team the last three weeks is what I’m really proud of. I’ve said before, especially the seniors, they’re helping me change the culture of this program day-by-day. They just continue to compete, fight and stay together,” Coach Christian says.

UNC clipped BC, 79-68, in Chestnut Hill Feb. 7. The game was certainly competitive, but for UNC, the expectations are higher than a second round win against a bottom-tier team.

On that note, Coach Williams reflects on a difficult past few seasons for the Tar Heels.

“This league is pretty tough. Even the last three years when I’ve been frustrated, we’ve been third, third and fifth. It is fifteen teams. It’s not like eight teams like in the old days. If you would have told me fifth with eight teams, I wouldn’t have been pleased at all. We’ve won some big games. We’ve played great on some nights and played poorly on others,” Coach Williams says.

Georgia Tech head coach Brian Gregory knows all about frustration. He likely surrendered his final game at the helm of the Ramblin’ Wreck when BC junior guard Olivier Hanlan’s game-winning shot found the nets Tuesday afternoon.

Hanlan, an All-ACC first team selection, tallied 25 points against the Yellow Jackets and says he’s looking forward to facing off with Carolina.

“I take the ACC Tournament like a new season. Everybody is on the same level as far as everybody being zero-zero. Definitely, playing against UNC and UNC being so close to here, it will definitely feel like a road game, but definitely feel like a pretty good ACC Tournament game,” Hanlan says.

Postseason play does wipe the slate clean. Everybody has a new lease on life. Hopes are high. And for Carolina’s Johnson, those hopes include the hanging of a banner.

“We were that close to getting a ring my freshman year. I feel like this team is a lot better. We have to be able to go out there and be prepared to play anybody. We want to be able to hang a banner in the Smith Center,” Johnson says.

The winner of Wednesday’s game will move on to face No. 4 seed Louisville on quarterfinal Thursday and more importantly, keep dreams of an ACC title alive.