Roy Williams on Playing Duke: I Can't Say Anything Until You've Done It

Roy Williams looked at the stat sheet for Duke, in advance of Saturday’s rivalry game against the Blue Devils. It wasn’t a pretty sight. Duke, at 19-3, 9-2 in the ACC and winners of four straight and 13 of 15, will be heavily favored over the 10-12 Tar Heels, who are 3-8 in the ACC and have lost two in a row and seven of nine.

“I was just looking down here,” Williams said, eying Duke’s statistics. “Even their defensive free throw percentage is a lot better than ours.”

How an opponent hits from the free throw line is obviously not something a team has any control over, but its shows Williams and UNC’s attitude headed into the showdown. Everything seems to be coming up Duke, while Carolina keeps rolling snake eyes.

Of the players expected to suit up for Carolina on Saturday, Garrison Brooks has extensive experience playing Duke over the two previous seasons. Outside of him, Andrew Platek has 15 minutes of experience against the Blue Devils, seldom-used Brandon Huffman has four, and even more seldom-used Shea Rush has less than a minute. That’s it. No one else has taken the floor in the Duke game.

Williams doesn’t plan to tell the young players what to expect.

“I can say anything I want to say, but until you’ve done it, you haven’t experienced it. You don’t know what I’m talking about. … I’m not going to talk about it. A lot their teammates will talk about it. Everybody else will talk about it.”