Williams says he was taken out of context

At a Friday press conference, North Carolina basketball coach Roy Williams said his words were taken out of context by members of the media.

After Tuesday's 89-82 win over Michigan State, Williams was asked about Spartans forward Delvon Roe.

Williams called Roe a "great kid, a wonderful kid that we tried very, very hard to recruit."

Williams was questioned about mentioning Roe in his recently-released autobiography and said, "No. I’ve got some people that I said a heck of a lot [more] bad things about; I didn’t say anything bad about Delvon. I said that we thought we were going to get him, and we didn't get him. I said he’s a great player. If there's any fallout from that, then people are looking for it."

Williams also said, "He told me he was coming. He didn’t come. I've looked every day at practice, and I haven’t seen him yet."

In Michigan, two pieces were published on the topic after Tuesday's game: this column in The Detroit News and this story in The Grand Rapids Press.

Michigan State coach Tom Izzo fired back at Williams in The Grand Rapids Press in this story, which was published Thursday.

Izzo told the paper Williams "picked on the wrong kid," and "he picked the wrong program," among other things.

So at Friday's press conference, Williams fired back at the reporter whose questions initiated the above stories. That reporter is apparently a radio broadcaster from Michigan and was not in attendance Friday.

"I have a tremendous amount of respect for Tom [Izzo]," Williams told reporters. "And that young man that sat right there, he had his own story made up before I said anything. And that's the problem I have. ... He had his mind made up, because you guys were here, I said great kid, great family. You guys remember me saying that. And one thing I said was, don't try to make something out of something that's not there. And that kid had his mind made up so he got what he wanted. That's fine.

"One person tried to make something out of something that's not there. Bottom line is, that's not right. But I'm a big boy. I know that kind of stuff happens."