Dec. 17, 2003

First semester exams wind down Wednesday, but the fourth-ranked Tar Heels will spend the next three days taking a different kind of test.

The original practice plan called for the players to spend time in the weight room Tuesday and Wednesday along with running and shooting. However, after pouring over the Akron game tape late Sunday, Roy Williams changed his mind. The next three days will be full scale practices.

Williams admitted it's going to take a long time to get the 64-53 victory over Akron out of his craw. Fortunately, Carolina was able to get the win despite shooting less than 24% in the second half, which was probably the lowest production since Carolina failed to make a field goal in the entire first half at Duke in 1979, and 30% for the game.

In recent years the Tar Heels have struggled with their shooting in several games. Just last season they shot 31% at Miami (Florida). A year earlier it was 30% against Davidson, and in 2001 they suffered a 29% effort against Duke in the ACC Tournament. Carolina lost all of those games, but the unbeaten Heels won Sunday because they got the ball inside and got fouled.

Carolina, with a 53-40 rebounding advantage, outscored Akron 18-3 at the foul line and that was the difference in the 11-point triumph. Yet the team didn't perform up to the expectations of their head coach.

"There's no question in my mind," Williams said, "this is going to be a very demanding three days for them. Practices on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday will be the most intense we've ever had. They'll be the most comprehensive in trying to cover everything we've had so far. It'll also be the most demanding practices on them mentally as well as physically, and they've got to be able to handle that.

"In some ways I feel like I've treated this team a little bit with kid gloves so far, but now that we're at this point in the season with Wake Forest coming up Saturday it's time that you've either got to be able to play and do it the right way or come over and sit with me."

(Coach Williams' comments can be heard as part of "INSIDE CAROLINA BASKETBALL WITH ROY WILLIAMS" for December 17, 2003.)

Wake Forest, riding a four-game win streak over Carolina, also has a 6-0 record coming into the Smith Center on Saturday afternoon following Monday night's 78-66 win at SMU. Skip Prosser's Deacons, with a scoring margin of better than 22 points, are rated 14th in the Associated Press media poll, but they've climbed into 9th place in the coaches' rankings compiled by ESPN/USA TODAY.

Prosser is pleased with the way his team has answered the bell on the road and in some unfamiliar surroundings, but his players, except for the four freshmen, know the Carolina blue backdrop in the Smith Center very well. Even at home, Williams knows what a difficult test this will be for his players.

"We've got to understand that you've got to play defense. You can't just go down there and let the guy do anything he wants to do. I've never had a team where the other team just kept driving to the basket and able to lay the ball up. We've got to decide that we're going to play some defense if you want to be any good. If you want to be mediocre then you can go ahead and just get by on your talent. If we really want to be good and really want what we say then we'll guard people better. Hopefully we'll be able to do that against Wake."

Roy Williams is going to spend the next three days trying to get the Tar Heels ready.