CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina coach Roy Williams, following his team’s 85-84 loss against Duke on Wednesday night: 

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina sophomore forward Harrison Barnes practiced somewhere between 20 and 25 minutes on Monday while he attempted to recover from a sprained ankle he suffered last week and re-injured on Saturday during the Tar Heels’ 83-74 victory at Maryland.

But for anyone doubting whether Barnes might play on Wednesday when No. 5 UNC hosts No. 10 Duke, he had a message: “My ankle’s great and I’ll be ready to go against Duke,” Barnes said Monday night during a guest appearance on Roy Williams’ radio show.

CHAPEL HILL — It won’t be long now. We’re only about four-and-a-half hours away from tip-off at the Smith Center between North Carolina and N.C. State. This will be the 220th meeting between the Tar Heels and Wolfpack, yet some younger fans might not fully grasp the history the two schools share.

UNC coach Roy Williams, though, doesn’t need any reminders. During Williams’ meeting with media members on Wednesday, I asked him why the rivalry with N.C. State continues to mean as much as it does to him.

Here’s what he said:

CHAPEL HILL — As expected, North Carolina coach Roy Williams spent a good portion of his weekly ACC teleconference answering questions about how the Tar Heels plan to compensate for the loss of junior guard Dexter Strickland, who suffered a season-ending knee injury in UNC’s victory at Virginia Tech on Thursday night.

Here’s a summary of what Williams said about filling the void left by Strickland, among other topics:

CHAPEL HILL — In case you missed Roy Williams’ radio show last night, he explained how he left five players on the court during the final 14 seconds of North Carolina’s 90-57 loss at Florida State on Saturday.

Here’s Roy: 

The photo isn't that remarkable, in and of itself. It shows the UNC men's basketball team filing by the victorious Florida State team, shaking hands as they depart for the locker room.

Except that the game clock still had 14.1 seconds, and this photo shows the UNC team at its lowest point in Coach Roy Williams' tenure. Because the game isn't over, but the Tar Heels are outa here.

Williams said he decided to take his team off the floor - except for the five benchwarmers assigned to play out the remaining seconds - so most of his players and staff wouldn't be on the court during the certain FSU fan celebration after the buzzer. He was concerned about their safety.

I said the photo, by staff photographer Robert Willett, wasn't that remarkable as far as pictures go. His dozens of game action photos are more compelling. But it may be the sports photo of the year here, because it will either show UNC before a remarkable resurgence over the next couple of months, or it will show the moment that UNC was revealed to be a deeply flawed team going nowhere. In the case of this picture, context is everything, context Saturday in Tallahassee and context in the weeks and months ahead.

So we will see if this becomes the iconic picture of the 2011-2012 season for the Tar Heels.

CHAPEL HILL — At one point earlier today during Roy Williams’ portion of the ACC’s weekly coaches’ teleconference, a reporter opened his question to Williams with this: “Coach, how are you doing?”

To which Williams said, “Not very good but still alive.”

North Carolina junior guard Leslie McDonald, who tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in a Durham summer-league game in July, will not return this season and will redshirt the year as he continues his rehabilitation.

McDonald recently returned to practice with the Tar Heels and is ahead of schedule in his rehabilitation, UNC coach Roy Williams said today. However, Williams said that after meeting with McDonald and his family, it was decided that it would be in McDonald's best interest to take the whole season off to recover.

CHAPEL HILL — North Carolina coach Roy Williams on Sunday began watching film of Miami, which visits the Smith Center on Tuesday night. And the thing that stood out most to Williams? The Hurricanes’ guards.

Particularly, the starting backcourt duo of Durand Scott, a junior, and Malcolm Grant, a senior.

“I think that they set the tone for everything,” Williams said.

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: