CHAPEL HILL, N.C, Sporting Alert – Kenny Williams III scored a career-high 19 points and No. 3 North Carolina ran over Radford 95-50 in a college basketball game on Sunday.
Williams, who was 7 of 10 from the floor and made 5 of 6 from 3-point range, scored 14 of his total points in a breezy opening five minutes.
The sophomore knocked dow his first five shots and made four 3-pointers during that period.
”I’ve been waiting a year-and-a-half for a game like that,” said Williams, who also pulled down five.
”I don’t want to say I knew it was coming, but with the confidence I have right now, I kind of expected it.”
Prior to Sunday, Kenny had only scored in double-digits once this season when he had 11 points against Chattanooga on November 13.
Building More Confidence
Coach Roy Williams thinks he’s beginning to have more confidence in himself.
“I think last year I had a great deal of confidence in him. If I’m not mistaken, and some of you guys might know, I think it was in ACC Tournament, against Pittsburgh, his first [shot], you would have thought it was the shot that won the national championship with the way that our bench reacted.
“It was just a confidence thing with him, and he has put in a lot of time and I’ve said even last year when he wasn’t putting the ball in the basket that he was going to be a good defensive player.”
Kennedy Meeks added 13 points and nine rebounds and Isaiah Hicks finished with 12 points for the Tar Heels (8-1) who were coming off a defeat at No. 13 Indiana in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.
The only setback for North Carolina on Sunday was an injury to starting point guard Joel Berry II, who sprained his left ankle early in the second half after playing just 13 minutes.
How He Got Injured
Berry picked up the injury as he drove into the paint and fell to the floor.
The junior was able to get up and walked to the locker room, but didn’t return after being instructed to stay put by his coach.
“It’s a sprained left ankle and that’s all they are calling,” coach Williams said. “That’s all they think it is, but we will take x-rays to make sure, but I just told them to keep him back in the locker room.”
He is averaging 16.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.8 assists this season.
Justin Cousin scored 14 points to lead Radford (3-5) which fell to 0-4 away from home.
Christian Bradford added 13 points for the Highlanders, who trailed 51-27 at halftime and shot 31 percent from the field overall.
“Tough team man,” Radford coach Mike Jones admitted at his press country. “They’re so big and physical, we played some good defense inside and they made the shot over us and that’s going to happen.”
Despite the loss, Jones thinks there were some learning points.
“Definitely saw some good things that we can learn from and build on for the future, but obviously a tough place to come into and play and a tough team to play.”
North Carolina returns to the court on Wednesday night against a travelling Davidson team, while Radford will host Elon on Saturday.
