Everything North Carolina does on a basketball court has to be stronger, sharper and better today, coach Roy Williams said.
That's because North Carolina will start ACC play with a 2:30 p.m. game against rebuilding Boston College at the Smith Center (WXLV Ch. 7). In Williams' head-coaching experience — eight seasons at North Carolina and 15 at Kansas — play cranks up at least one notch in conference games. "We all realize that you have to raise your level of play, level of intensity and level of concentration," Williams said. "Everything has to go up."
The Tar Heels (13-2) could be without freshman forward James Michael McAdoo, who didn't practice Friday because of a sprained left ankle.
The Eagles (5-9) are in their second season under coach Steve Donahue and have a projected starting lineup of five freshmen.
Williams said he isn't worried that his team won't take Boston College seriously because of its struggles.
"The good thing is our players listen to us, and they don't form their own scouting reports most of the time," Williams said. "But the other thing is 48-46."
Williams' reference was to the final score of last season's Boston College-North Carolina game at the Smith Center, in which BC had the last shot and John Henson forced an off-target 3-point attempt from the top of the key. The 48 points are the fewest North Carolina has scored at the Smith Center, which opened in 1986.
Senior center Tyler Zeller said he couldn't speak for his teammates, but said he's confident he will be motivated for the start of ACC play.
"We're always talking about the chances to get rings or get championships," Zeller said. "You've got to play 16 games (in the conference) to be able to get that championship. This is the beginning of it, so you've got to be able to go out and play, even if it's the last team in your conference."
Zeller and Williams said they expect the Eagles to repeat their strategy from last season — run down the shot clock to shorten the number of possessions and try to prevent the Tar Heels from running in transition.
Williams said that a higher level of intensity doesn't come naturally for this team.
"I think we have to emphasize it," he said. "I think they care a great deal, but we don't have any of those whacko guys flying around or that kind of thing.
"It is something we have to concentrate on."
Today's game will be the Tar Heels' eighth in a nine-game homestand. Four games, against lesser teams, were decided by 49, 50, 38 and 37 points, and two others were decided by 19 and 15 points.
Zeller said he thinks North Carolina is a better team now than it was when the homestand started on Dec. 6. Williams said he's confident that the first seven games in that stretch prepared his team for what it will see the rest of the season.
"We've had five pretty significant tests from a competitive standpoint," Williams said, citing games against Michigan State, Kentucky, UNLV, Long Beach State and Texas. "And we've had a lot of tests from the standpoint of seeing different things."
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