North Carolina Tar Heels: Williams (Kenny) vs Smart
The North Carolina Tar Heels will reunite freshman Kenny Williams with former recruiter Shaka Smart when they play Texas.
The North Carolina Tar Heels play the Texas Longhorns in Austin, TX today. It continues a series that was scheduled in full a few years ago.
A year ago things were supposed to be much different for this game. Rick Barnes was supposed to be the head coach of the basketball program. The current Texas coach Shaka Smart was supposed to be at Virginia Commonwealth. Kenny Williams was supposed to be playing for Smart and the Rams this year, not Roy Williams and the Tar Heels.
Yet Texas fired Barnes. They hired Smart, and Kenny Williams decided to sign elsewhere. He ended up at North Carolina and today the path will come full circle. Williams and his Tar Heels teammates will play against Smart and the Longhorns.
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Smart was considered to be the hot young coach on the block after taking VCU to a Final Four. Yet he never jumped even when he was courted by Illinois and UCLA. No it was the resources of Texas that finally drew him out of Richmond, VA.
Smart is in the works of teaching the aggressive style of defense that he used at VCU to this new group of players. He has the bumps to show for it. Texas lost games to Michigan and Texas A&M early in this season. Neither of those teams has the profile of a loaded Tar Heels roster, so Smart is likely eager to see how this goes.
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North Carolina on the other hand is building momentum after the return of Marcus Paige. The team has played differently with their star back in the fold. Paige guided the team to a victory over Maryland and then the team took apart a veteran Davidson squad by thirty points. Texas represents another test to see if the Heels are indeed a championship contender.
The Tar Heels have one loss on the year. That loss was to Northern Iowa on the home court of Northern Iowa. The Heels have not played another road game since. This trip to Texas marks their first foray on the road since that game. Therefore it is time to see this Tar Heel prove it in a hostile environment where the crowd will not be with them.
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It will also be a chance for Kenny Williams to show Coach Smart what he is missing. The Tar Heel freshman may not see much action unless the game turns into a blowout. Still he should get a least five minutes on the court to do work.
The Tar Heels and the Longhorns tip at 5:15 PM.