Roy Williams and Tar Heels still looking for answers after a 60-55 loss to Iowa

Just last week, after a puzzling loss to Butler in Paradise Island of the Bahamas, North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams called the toughness of his 2014-15 UNC squad into question. He wondered if the Tar Heels would find the will to out-compete opponents — playing with the necessary grit that high-level Division I basketball demands.

On Wednesday night in a 60-55 loss to Iowa, Williams found himself asking the same question, getting the same result.

“They wanted it more than we did and that’s a sorry thing to say,” Williams said of Iowa. “That’s a sad thing to say.”

This lack of toughness was on prominent display in all areas of the Smith Center Wednesday night, where the Tar Heels shot an abysmal 27.9 percent from the field on 19-for-68 shooting, and couldn’t even manage to hit layups — something that both infuriated and baffled Williams. 

"We're talking about six-inch putts," he said. "You've got to focus and make the daggum thing." 

From the 3-point line, UNC could only muster a 4-for-13 performance for 17.4 percent, and after holding the Hawkeyes to only one offensive rebound in the first half, the Tar Heels allowed Iowa to come up with 16 in the second half.

“You’ve just got to get guys that want to compete,” Williams said. “They were just so much more aggressive and going after the ball on the offensive boards. It's very frustrating — one offensive rebound the first half and 16 the second half.”

Now the Tar Heels, who have fallen to 5-2 on the season, must figure out a way to find this missing piece, and start playing with the fire Williams demands from them. Junior forward Brice Johnson said Williams’ concern certainly doesn’t stem from a lack of awareness, but rather UNC’s inability to find a remedy.

“We always realize it,” said Johnson of not playing tough enough. “(Williams) emphasizes it so we just have to pay more attention to it and be able to go out there and do that. Instead of being the team that we were tonight, we’ve got to be able to go out there and be that tough team that he knows we can be.”

Junior point guard Marcus Paige, who scored 13 points, will take the blame. As the obvious leader of this squad, Paige said it falls on him to pick up the pieces and get the team rolling — something he hasn’t done yet.

“I’m the guy that needs to get these guys going, and right now, I’m not doing a good enough job,” he said. “If I’m going to be a leading vote getter on the Preseason All-American team, if I’m going to be the Preseason ACC Player of the Year, I need to start playing like it ... Hopefully that’ll be contagious, but it starts with me.”

But what exactly the problem is — if it's not awareness and if it's not a lack of Williams emphasizing it day in and day out — leaves Paige scratching his head for answers. 

"If I could put my finger on it then I would’ve put my finger on it a couple hours ago and tried to get it changed,” he said. “You just have to do it. You can talk about it all day but if you’re not getting 50-50 balls and you’re not crashing the boards then you’re not doing it.”

That was obvious Wednesday.