CHAPEL HILL — Roy Williams during his weekly radio show on Monday night had strong words for North Carolina fans who sold their tickets behind the Tar Heels’ bench to UNLV fans in Las Vegas during UNC’s trip there for the Las Vegas Invitational.
Asked on Tuesday to elaborate on his comments, Williams didn’t back down. He said it was “disappointing” that UNC fans had sold tickets they had obtained through the Rams Club, the UNC athletic booster organization.
Here’s what Williams said on Tuesday:
LAS VEGAS — Roy Williams said on Friday night that his team would lose against UNLV in the championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational if the Tar Heels played on Saturday like they did on Friday in a somewhat sloppy 25-point victory against South Carolina.
Williams was right. Top-ranked UNC wasn’t better on Saturday night. In fact, it played worse. UNLV took advantage in a 90-80 victory.
A look back at the Tar Heels’ first defeat of the season:
Updated 2 a.m.
LAS VEGAS — North Carolina’s first five games came with few major challenges for the Tar Heels, few moments that forced them to respond after an opponent imposed its will. Those moments came here on Saturday night, though, and came often against UNLV in the championship game of the Las Vegas Invitational.
And when it came time for top-ranked UNC to respond, it didn’t – couldn’t. The Runnin’ Rebels scored the first 14 points of the second half and the Heels never recovered during a 90-80 defeat, their first of the season.
“Needless to say, we’re extremely disappointed,” Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said afterward.
The Tar Heels successfully masked their flaws during five consecutive victories to start the season – games they won, all of them, by double-digits. But problems that seemed relatively small before played a large role in UNC’s defeat.
Updated 1:10 a.m.
LAS VEGAS — Early in the first half of North Carolina’s 87-62 victory against South Carolina here at the Orleans Arena on Friday night, the Tar Heels played like they wanted Roy Williams to be proud of their defense – like they remembered how Williams had chided their defense earlier this week.
It was after UNC’s 33-point victory against Tennessee State on Tuesday when Williams said the Tar Heels’ defense made him “chew their rear ends out” at halftime. There was no need for that on Friday night – not after top-ranked UNC forced South Carolina into 17 first-half turnovers and made the Gamecocks (2-3) look, at times, overwhelmed during the semifinals of the Las Vegas Invitational.
With the victory, North Carolina (5-0) advanced to play tonight against UNLV (6-0) in the championship game of the invitational. Despite shooting 41 percent, the Running Rebels prevailed in a 66-55 victory against Southern Cal in the first semifinal game. UNLV will be playing tonight a few miles from its campus.
