CHAPEL HILL — On the one hand, Roy Williams’ 880th career win didn’t happen as anyone would have imagined, as it snapped a program-high six-game ACC losing streak, the last five of which came in previous attempts at the milestone win, and removed the Tar Heels from last place in the league.
On the other hand, Saturday’s 94-71 win over Miami — one which gives Williams one more win than mentor and Tar Heel icon Dean Smith — looked something like a lot of the previous 879.
The Tar Heels made shots, rebounded well, and shared the ball in the victory, easily their largest of the 2019-20 season.
Granted, it came against a struggling Miami team that was without two of its top three scorers due to injury, including point guard Chris Lykes. But nonetheless, Saturday’s performance was refreshing for the Tar Heels and their fans after the struggles of recent previous outings.
After a 26-day span between the wins to tie Smith and to move ahead of him — when Williams won No. 879 it was still 2019 — Williams was less focused on No. 880 for himself and more focused on returning this edition of Tar Heels to the win column.
“I would have been just as happy if it had happened four or five games ago,” Williams said. “I desperately wanted No. 9 for this team.”
As the Tar Heels finally got over that hump after losing four consecutive close games, it came with a valiant performance from one of the team’s veteran leaders.
Brandon Robinson returned to the floor for the first time since a Jan. 11 auto accident. He’d scored a career-high 27 points earlier that day in the loss to Clemson, but in his return surpassed that performance with a 29-point outing. Robinson was 11-for-16 from the floor and 6-for-10 from distance, a key part of the Tar Heels shooting 58.0 percent for the game, their first game over 50 percent all season.
“I was happy to have B-Rob to get back out there, needless to say, we needed his shooting ability and his leadership and he even got an offensive rebound for a basket too,” Williams said.
Contributing so much to Williams’ milestone was a way for Robinson, now in his senior year, to thank Williams for bringing him to UNC as a high-school prospect who didn’t get attention from other top-tier programs.
“It’s definitely great to be a part of history,” Robinson said. “For me to have a chance to play here is something I’ll always thank him for.”
Other Tar Heels had confidence-building games, too. Armando Bacot scored 19 points with 12 rebounds, shooting 8-for-11. Grad transfers Christian Keeling (4-for-6 from the floor) and Justin Pierce each scored nine points. Garrison Brooks, who’s led the Tar Heels through the losing streak, put together a 14-point game relatively quietly, on a night that he didn’t have to do it all for the Tar Heels to be successful.
As the Tar Heels tied a Williams-era team record with 32 assists on 40 made baskets, Bacot had a career high with seven assists and Leaky Black also had a career high with six. Robinson, Pierce and Andrew Platek each had four.
“I think we did share the ball better today, and if you share the ball better you usually get better shots,” Williams said. “We shot a much better percentage than we had in quite a while.”
Those strong performances allowed UNC to stretch out their lead early, and their 24-point halftime lead was their largest at any point in a game this season; it eventually ballooned to 34.
Williams, while acknowledging that Miami’s injuries made things difficult for the Hurricanes, said his team earning a victory and doing so comfortably was rewarding after enduring a rough stretch.
“I think they do feel really good, I think they should feel happy and some reward for some of the hard work, because for the most part, they’ve come to practice and tried,” Williams said. “Nobody has taken the days off, and we just have to keep getting better.”
The Tar Heel players said that Williams has also worked hard in practice, as he’s tried to turn around a team that entered Saturday in a skid unlike any he’s endured since losing eight straight his first season at Kansas in 1989.
“He’s probably the most energetic person in practice,” Bacot said. “He comes in every day with a positive attitude, and he hypes us up before every practice, jumping on the sideline, doing everything.”
Williams hasn’t quit on this team — and bigger picture, while acknowledging the fact he passed Smith with Saturday’s win, he says he’s not going to quit on his career soon either.
“Hopefully, I’ll live some after I quit,” Williams said. “And somebody will say, ‘you won some games,’ and I’ll say, ‘yeah, they were a lot of fun.’ I really haven’t tried to evaluate where I am or anything like that, because that usually means that you’re ready to quit.
“I hope I’m not ready to quit.”
But while Williams prepares to continue, for Monday at N.C. State and for further down the road, the significance of Williams passing someone he looked up to so much, and creating his own legendary status in the game, was not overlooked in his locker room.
“It’s emotional for him, because he expressed to us how much he looked up to him, how much he loved Coach Smith,” Keeling said. “I’m proud of him; he’s one of the best coaches, maybe the best coach. It just speaks to the stature of him as a man and a coach.
“It’s big time, man. It’s big time.”
North Carolina head coach Roy Williams reacts during Saturday’s game against Miami in Chapel Hill. Williams won his 880th career game, passing mentor Dean Smith in career wins.
