We sat down with Roy Williams to talk about his players' strengths and shortcomings

On Thursday, Jan. 10, sports editor Chris Hilburn-Trenkle sat down with North Carolina men's basketball head coach Roy Williams for an exclusive interview to discuss the season thus far. 

DTH: There has been a lot of talk about (Nassir Little's) athleticism, things like that. But what immediately stands out to you about Nassir Little the basketball player?

Roy Williams: Not just one thing. He is the most explosive athlete I think I’ve ever coached in the game of basketball because (of) his explosiveness around the basket. His explosiveness is just the best I’ve ever had in 31 years as a head coach. So that stands out. 

The other thing that stands out to me is what a great kid he is. How he’s handling the notoriety, how he’s handling the good times, how he’s handling the bad times. Him as an individual puts him in an elite category, as well. 

Another thing that stands out is how hungry he is to learn. He wants to get better. The other night at State, at the end of the game, we win the game. He’s just as excited as the most excited walk-on I’ve ever had, and it wasn’t one of his better games, but he was involved; he was part of it. And it was just, all those things to me, so it’s hard for me to say one thing stands out.

DTH: What is Leaky Black showing you that’s allowing him to get these minutes? (Black had five straight games of 10 or more minutes of playing time headed into Louisville game.)

RW: I think Leaky, number one, he’s a unique prospect himself. At 6-foot-(7) and I truthfully believe he can be a point guard, has those kinds of skills. Tremendous savvy about the game of basketball. He’s good defensively. He’s far ahead of most freshmen coming in defensively. He understands that he can use his length to get his hands on a lot of balls, deflecting passes, bothering the dribble, blocking some shots. He’s really put in some time working on his shot and if he keeps working on his shot and it keeps improving, Leaky is going to be a big-time player. So, I’m selfish, I’m putting him in the games because I think he helps us win.

DTH: Cameron Johnson obviously he’s taking a big step forward offensively. We get to see it during the games, what he’s doing, but what’s going on behind-the-scenes that you’ve seen him take this step forward?

RW: Well, I’ll give you an example. The other night at State when I go out on the court and he’s laying there, I’m just thinking, ‘Gosh this can’t be happening to this kid. He’s worked so hard on his body and has had so much pain and injuries that he’s had, the surgery.’ So when I went out there and found out it was cramps, I said, ‘Oh, good,’ and I turned around and walked off. I was happy, I said, ‘He’s probably not going to play the rest of the night but at least that’s something that — knock on wood — is not so serious for him.’ 

Behind the scenes, he’s just continually working on his body to try and get better, get stronger. He had two surgeries last summer on his hips and had a surgery on his knee. It’s been hard for a 22, 23-year old guy to have his body fight him like that. He puts in the time in the weight room, he puts in the time in the trainer’s room, puts in the time taking care of his body, getting his rest, eating properly, doing all those things. So to me, the success he’s having on the court is a little bit related to his talent, but a lot more related to how hard he’s working.

DTH: So through 15 games, your team is 12-3, 2-0 in the ACC and a lot of people say it’s the toughest schedule in the country. With all that being said, how would you evaluate your team?

RW: A (grade) C. We have not done as well as I wanted us to do. It has been an extremely difficult schedule. The worst I think I’ve seen our strength of schedule was like fourth in about any place that I’ve looked and I haven’t looked at every place, I’m sure some people have got maybe one that they don’t like us it’ll be worse. I’ve seen it as the most difficult schedule in the country. 

Last four years by the tournament committee our schedule has been one, the most difficult, the sixth most difficult, the sixth most difficult and the most difficult. So two ones and two sixes out of the last four years and I think this schedule is far more difficult than any of those last four. In saying that, it’s been frustrating to lose when we play Texas, to lose badly at Michigan, lose to Kentucky and all three of those teams are pretty good. But still, I grade it about how much I think we’re improving and we’re getting a little better but not at the rate that I want us to be and I still think that there’s a lot of room left for us to improve, so I’ll give us a C.

DTH: So Garrison Brooks is a guy, he had a pretty complete game, at least by a lot of facets, on Tuesday night and I saw in the locker room after you went right up to him. So how happy have you been with his performance, at least in the last few games?

RW: Well, what he’s doing is getting close to his potential. That’s what I want our whole team to do. He’s gotten better and better and better. He’s one of our better defenders and I thought in the State game, he was the most important player we had, guarding the screen on the ball and doing as good a job as he did. Giving the guards space to get over the top and staying in front of the offensive guard and he scored double figures and did five assists, zero turnovers. I think he’s doing really well and I would love it even more if he were 6-feet-11 or 7-feet to do more but he’s really done a nice job for us.

DTH: So much attention has been on Nassir Little but Coby White is the starting point guard on this team and he’s putting up numbers that I don’t think anybody might have thought going into the season.

RW: He’s really doing some good things. He can mess it up because he's a freshman he’s still going to have those moments, but he’s really gifted, he’s playing hard, he’s trying to learn more every single day. He played at a small school where he had to shoot 35 times a game and he hasn’t balked at all for eight shots in a game, or 10 shots in a game, or 12 shots in a game. 

He’s made a pretty doggone high percentage for a freshman point guard. His assist-to-error ratio needs to get a little bit better and that’s one thing that we talked about. Defensively, he’s been far superior to most freshmen who come in, so I could be happier, yes. Am I satisfied with him? No, but gosh, he’s really done some great things and I think there’s many great things ahead.

DTH: The two big things it seems like all year have been turnovers and just defensive intensity/concentration. To reach your ceiling, is there other facets of the game that you really think your team needs to improve on as much as those two in particular?

RW: Well I think we need to improve in everything, but those are the two that I feel like if you grade us on the offensive end, the rebounding, the turnovers, the effort. You pick 10 categories, I think our success on the defensive end has not been where we want it to be and we’re turning the ball over at a rate much more than I want us to be. So those would be the two most significant areas that there’s more room for improvement there than there is in any other spot but I think we got to get better in every area. Those two, defensively, and quit turning it over so much, can we show dramatic improvement, can show dramatic improvement. We got to rebound it better. Our numbers look good, but still, we’re not where I want us to be.

DTH: The leadership of Kenny Williams and Luke Maye. These guys have been here four years. They’ve been through so much. How have they been able to steer your team in the direction you want it to go?

RW: Kenny and Luke and Cam, even though Cam has only been here two years he has tremendous respect for his teammates and he, Kenny and Luke are together all the time. They sort of share it and do a really nice job of it. Got to get them to raise their level of intensity and get everybody else to follow. They’re not the biggest culprits, but they have their moments where they’re not doing that part of it, too. 

Can’t find three better kids, can’t find three better student-athletes. Can’t find three better teammates anywhere and just got to push them to get their play and their leadership and their effort and the example that they set even a little bit higher.

DTH: With Kenny Williams, sometimes it’s not there on the stat sheet, but can you just talk about the value that he brings to your team on every given day?

RW: Well, he does. He needs to shoot it better because that’s a value that we need and we expected him to give us, so he does need the ball to go in the basket. But we don’t ever question the effort. We don’t ever question that he’s concentrating defensively.

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