UNC basketball sophomore Kenny Williams is expected to be out for the rest of the season.
The North Carolina Tar Heels lost one of their key perimeter defenders on Tuesday when Kenny Williams injured his right knee. After the Tar Heels’ win over NC State, head coach Roy Williams told reporters that Williams will have surgery early next week and that he is likely done for the season.
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While Williams is averaging just 6.2 points per game, he was able to win the starting role over junior Theo Pinson because of his disciplined approach to defense. Aside from last night’s matchup with NC State, he has played in every game and started all but seven. Pinson got the start in Williams’ place, scoring 12 points in the Chapel Hill victory.
This is especially bad news for a Tar Heel team that is nursing only a one-game lead in conference play over three other nationally ranked ACC teams (Duke, Florida State and Louisville). UNC has struggled to defend ACC opponents at several points throughout this season, including their losses to Georgia Tech and Miami, (which they lost by a combined 27 points) and a slim 3-point victory over Clemson.
In order to finish the regular season at the top of the ACC, the Heels need to step up defensively in order to make up for Williams’ absence. Pinson should be more than ready to move into the role of a starter, but he has big shoes to fill on the defensive end.
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North Carolina will close out the regular season with four tough games, featuring Louisville, Pittsburgh, Virginia twice, and then Duke at home. While they currently sit in first place in the ACC with a 10-3 conference record, they are only two games ahead of sixth-place Virginia. With the way the year has gone so far in the ACC, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the top spots in the conference continued to act as turnstiles.