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Mar 26, 2012

Roy Williams Tar Heels Hurting

Roy Williams Tar Heels Hurting, North Carolina men’s basketball coach Roy Williams had been in this position before. More times than he would care to count, in fact.

But this time was a little different. Instead of crying alone at the podium after another heartbreaking NCAA Tournament loss, the always-emotional and ever-sappy Williams had company following Sunday’s 80-67, Elite Eight loss to Kansas University at the Edward Jones Dome.


His name was Stilman White, Carolina’s freshman point guard who never in his wildest dreams imagined he would be playing this kind of role on this kind of night. And White’s tears flowed just as hard as his head coach’s.

“It hurts,” said the UNC guard, who was forced to start back-to-back games because of a wrist injury to sophomore Kendall Marshall. “This was a great team and we had great goals and it doesn’t feel like we quite achieved them. But we played as hard as we could and just came up a little bit short.”

Williams said after the game he thought Marshall would be able to go.

“(On Saturday) I thought he was (going to play),” Williams said. “And I really got a little excited at that point.”