Roy Williams reflects on milestone of 800th win after Syracuse game

A man won a basketball game — his 800th as a coach — and there was a celebration.

It was grandiose, immense even, with commemorative T-shirts and a framed jersey and even some new shoes. Lots of congratulations. Lots of eyes watching, hands clapping, cheeks drawing up as a crowd around him turned into a single smile.

But he didn’t want this. Foolishness, he dared to call it when he met with reporters after the game.

No, all North Carolina head coach Roy Williams wanted was the moment — not to glorify himself or his accomplishments, but rather the people who delivered him here.

And after UNC’s 85-68 win over Syracuse on Monday night, he finally got to.

“It was never a dream of mine to win 800 games,” Williams said during the postgame festivities, “but it was a dream of mine to coach guys like this.”

He meant that broadly. Not just Joel Berry and Isaiah Hicks and Kennedy Meeks, his team of today. He meant the guys who came before them, too, everyone from Milt Newton at his first win at Kansas to Marcus Paige at his 700th three years ago.

Newton and Paige weren’t in the Smith Center Monday night. But then again, they sort of were.

In a video tribute to Williams, players from every milestone win spoke to the coach they shared. They spanned decades and states, from his 15 years at Kansas to the ones he led to national titles at UNC. He watched them on the Jumbotrons, and everyone watched him.

You could see him fighting back tears.

As for the current batch of players, they knew this was coming. They knew the number, knew what sort of celebration Williams deserved. Of course he didn’t tell them — he even advised them to ignore it — but who can unplant the seed of an idea like that?

“We already knew about it, and we wanted to do it here,” Berry said. “Just to have that here and to be a part of something like that?”

“I’m honored to be able to get that win for him.”

So, as Meeks flew into the paint, tipping in offensive rebounds one after another, he knew. And Hicks, scooping up passes in Syracuse’s zone and dunking them — he knew, too.

“(Eric) Hoots mentioned it to us,” Hicks said. “Coach said he didn’t want us to think about it because, you know, people get jittery about things like that.”

So they hugged their coach, for themselves and the hundreds of other players who came before them. They congratulated him, held him close. After all, that’s all he really wanted.

So a man won a basketball game, and there was a celebration.

But what did it all really mean to him? Was it anything more than a spectacle, gifts to be stashed away in boxes? Or was there something more that can’t be articulated with the weight of the moment still upon you?

“I’m human,” Williams said when the crowds had vanished and his gifts had been stashed somewhere safe. “I’ve got some feelings about those kinds of things, and that was nice.”

“But I hope I get a few more.”

@BrendanRMarks

sports@dailytarheel.com