Roy Williams Gives Status Report on All Six UNC Freshmen

Carolina youngsters have promise, plenty of room for improvement

Roy Williams gave a breakdown on all six UNC freshmen after watching film from Wednesday’s opener.

Caleb Love and RJ Davis: Williams thinks the two starting guards benefitted from watching game tape. “That helped them,” he said. “We showed them plenty of training tapes—what we want them to do and what it should look like, but it’s human nature. You’re going to have more interest and more focus when it’s you doing it. So I think they gained something from that as well.”

Day’Ron Sharpe: “The activity and rebounding—those things he’s done almost every single day of practice,” Williams said. “Nothing surprises us. We do expect it now, because we’ve seen it for one game and 32 practices. He’s got to get much better playing the game without fouling. We’d like for him to play more. Certain games, I know he’s going to be sitting over there with me, because officials have called silly fouls on him. His first foul the other night was completely unnecessary. We’ve got to get him away from that, because in the post area, you’re going to get some fouls. We can’t have fouls 35 feet from the basket just by bumping into somebody. He has a tremendous ability to rebound the ball and dominate things inside. What we’re hoping is we get even more.”

Walker Kessler and Puff Johnson: “Their statistics on the offensive end were good,” Williams said, “but both of them had big-time defensive errors. Getting them out there, getting their sea legs back underneath them is the biggest thing. They’ve missed several practices. We did add things during the time period they were out. So getting them caught up with the rest of the team is something that’s important.”

Kerwin Walton: “It’s hard for him because he’s a quiet kid,” Williams said. “If you want to be a great defensive player, you’ve got to be very vocal. He’s got to change in that regard. He did not have the kind of game he wanted to have the other night. He’s had practices where he’s made some shots. He’s gotten better defensively. He’s going to continue to improve. We’re looking for more things down the road.”