CHAPEL HILL, NC – Roy Williams, of North Carolina, became the fifth Division I coach in men’s basketball to achieve 900 wins on Saturday, and he was able to celebrate the milestone in front of the home fans for the first time in this season.
Descending 16 points to the 11th state of Florida just before the break, Tar Heels had a 20 point performance from freshman Walker Kessler to mount a comeback against the ACC main team. UNC celebrated the longtime coach in the middle of the court after the game, raising a number 900 shirt in his honor.
Williams joins Mike Krzyzewski, Jim Boeheim, Jim Calhoun and Bob Knight as the only Division I male basketball coaches to achieve 900 wins. He is the fastest coach in Division I to reach the mark, doing so only in his 1,161st game as head coach.
Williams said he was only focused on taking North Carolina to its 15th win this season, but admitted after the game that it was a beautiful achievement. “It’s cool and I thank all the players who have already been involved in these things,” said Williams. “My assistant coaches, for 33 years, felt like I had the best coaching staff in the world and I believe in that every day. But it was good.”
Saturday also marked North Carolina’s first home game with fans in attendance, which came after Governor Roy Cooper loosened public meeting restrictions earlier this week to allow at least 5,000 covered arenas to house up to 15% of that total.
This means that North Carolina could have about 3,200 fans at the Smith Center, which holds more than 21,000.
Williams, 70, started his career as a head coach in the 1988 Hall of Fame in Kansas. In 2003, he started his term in North Carolina, where he won three NCAA championships.
Saturday’s victory served to boost the Tar Heels curriculum for this year’s NCAA tournament. UNC was trending in the right direction by winning nine out of 12 after the Louisville explosion last weekend. The loss to Marquette on Wednesday wasted some of that momentum, but Tar Heels responded well against a tough Seminole team.
North Carolina overcame its biggest deficit at the break at home with a victory since February 2006 against Georgia Tech.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.