CLEMSON, S.C.– His eyes misty, North Carolina men’s basketball head coach Roy Williams sat down in the media room at Littlejohn Coliseum to provide an update on his health. To his right sat Steve Robinson, the Tar Heels’ top assistant coach.
The vertigo episode that forced Williams to exit the court late in the first half Saturday evening and prevented him from returning brought about “excruciating pain” before he eventually began to feel “a heck of a lot better.”
But by this point, Williams was done talking about himself. This was Robinson’s moment. The fifth-ranked Tar Heels (24-5, 14-2 ACC) had just pulled out a nerve-racking 81-79 win against a Clemson team (17-12, 7-9 ACC) that knew it was on the brink of an NCAA tournament resume-building win and played like it.
And it was Robinson who became UNC’s leader from the bench, helping his players navigate through a second half full of highs and lows. After halftime, the Tar Heels led by nine, trailed by six, went over eight minutes without making a shot from the field, eventually led by seven with just over two minutes remaining and ultimately secured a victory with a final defensive stand in the game’s dying seconds.
“The whole University of North Carolina community should be really thankful that Steve Robinson is with us,” Williams said. “We’re thrilled, and I’m going to let him talk and I’m going to get the crap out of here.”
As always is the case, the players, not the coaches, were the ones performing the difference-making plays Saturday night.
Coby White continued to look less and less like a first-year as he poured in 28 points and prevented Clemson’s Shelton Mitchell from scoring on the last play of the game. Graduate transfer Cam Johnson was a steadying presence with his six 3-pointers. Meanwhile, seniors Luke Maye and Kenny Williams both had a tough time finding their shooting touch for much of the game, but the two made game-changing plays down the stretch for UNC.
But all of that happened as Robinson had to adjust on the fly to Williams’ unexpected absence, which the UNC players said he handled flawlessly.
“This is the second time this has happened,” Robinson said, referencing a 2016 game at Boston College in which he had to take on the head-coaching duties after Williams suffered through a vertigo spell. “Like I told (Williams) I think the first time it happened, I’d like a little bit more advanced notice. That’s not an easy thing to do – pick up in the middle of the game and be able to manage our players and their emotions.”
