Column: Help me understand, Roy

It should come as no surprise or act of charity that I cede Roy Williams’ vast superiority of basketball wisdom. But after North Carolina’s 60-55 loss to Iowa Wednesday, I would love for him to share just one nugget of it — why, down by three with 10 seconds left, did he not call a timeout?

For those who had the pleasure of missing the waning seconds of the game and are not too great with context clues, he didn't. And the play that ensued was frantic.

“We didn’t really have anything written up or anything like that,” Justin Jackson said. “We were just trying to get a shot off.”

It should come as no surprise who exactly was trying to get that shot off.

But that player, Marcus Paige, was 4-for-15 from the field, 3-for-11 from three-point range and 0-for-1 on being prepared for the deciding play of the game.

“It was a decent look,” he said. “I rushed it a bit because I didn’t have a chance to really check the clock. We got the ball and everything happened so quickly.”

If only there were a way to slow everything down. To take a break. To formulate a plan.

If only Roy Williams knew there was a Timeout available in Chapel Hill other than the diner on Franklin.

At the end of the night, the Tar Heels had posted some miserable numbers. There were the 49 missed shots, the 4-for-23 three-point drought and the Hawkeyes’ 16 offensive rebounds in the second half.

But worse than all of them were the three timeouts left.

Jackson pulled down a defensive rebound with 10 seconds left on the clock, but you’re telling me it was a better idea to rush down the court with no plan and hope something fell into your lap?

I understand the potential advantages of catching the Iowa defense unaware and I understand the fact that in most cases, UNC’s transition offense is its signature and most lethal weapon.

But I also understand that that wasn’t the case Wednesday night.

The Tar Heels had only four points off of fast breaks all game. The formula wasn’t working. What indicated that a change was in the air?

Paige needed the ball in his hands at the end, and every green-clad fan in the Dean Dome knew he was going to get it. UNC needed a three at the end.

It didn’t need the 22 other attempts on the night.

“We can’t just be a jump-shooting team,” Williams said.

But it was exactly the team the Hawkeyes had coerced the Tar Heels into becoming.

“They just played a style of defense that gave up a lot of wing threes and we didn’t make them,” Paige said. “But we can’t let teams bait us into shooting.”

But that’s exactly what the Tar Heels let Iowa do.

Jackson aptly pointed out that UNC is a markedly better shooting team this year than last, but even he accepted that UNC’s number of perimeter shots against Iowa could best be described in two words:

“Too many.”

What else was too many? The number of timeouts left in Williams’ pocket at the end of the night.

If you need a moment to chew it over, Roy, I’d be happy to buy you a Twix. But until then, please tell me why you chose to let the game be decided in the heat of the moment. Please tell me why you didn't call a timeout.

I truly want to know.