GREENVILLE, S.C. -- North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said he normally would prefer to play an early afternoon game, but he's glad the Tar Heels are playing the Arkansas Razorbacks at 5:10 p.m. today in the NCAA Tournament.
Williams said the later tipoff might be a plus with North Carolina starting guard Joel Berry nursing a sore right ankle.
Berry, a junior who averages 14.5 points and 3.7 assists, injured his ankle in the Tar Heels' 103-64 victory over Texas Southern on Friday, but he played later in the game.
Williams said Berry was held out of Saturday's practice and is questionable to play today.
"The way I look at it, that's four more hours for Joel to heal," Williams said of today's starting time. "So I'm hopeful we'll have him.
"He's been getting treatment. We'll just have to wait and see."
Berry said Saturday his ankle felt better.
"I'm walking better than I was yesterday," he said. "It's just a little sore. But overall I'm feeling pretty good."
Williams said if Berry doesn't play, it will mean more minutes for seniors Nate Britt and Stilman White, and freshman Seventh Woods.
Barford rolling
Junior guard Jaylen Barford is averaging 17.1 points in the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville's past 10 games. He scored 20 points in the Razorbacks' 77-71 victory over Seton Hall on Friday.
"I'm just staying aggressive and trying to make plays for everybody and myself," Barford said. "Because I know when I attack, it opens up a lot of things."
Arkansas Coach Mike Anderson said Barford, a junior college transfer, is taking command of the team.
"He's doing it kind of quietly," Anderson said. "He's not talking or boastful about it.
"I think we're just playing, and guys are following his lead. He's more comfortable in his role."
Barford was the nation's leading junior college scorer last season when he averaged 26.2 points at Motlow (Tenn.) State.
"Sometimes a junior college player tries to fit in," Anderson said. "But I didn't need him to fit in. I needed him to come play. I think he's taken that mindset and run with it."
North Carolina Coach Roy Williams said he's impressed with Barford.
"He's really got a great ability to get the ball to the basket and finish," Williams said. "He can go in the medium post and shoot his turnaround jumper. He's 6-3 and 210, and he looks like he plays even bigger than that.
"I think he's extremely important to them and he fits into that constant motion of harassment, havoc kind of mentality that Mike tries to push. He's been really good for them. He's a load for our guys, I can tell you that."
S-E-C! S-E-C!
SEC teams went 4-1 in first-round NCAA Tournament games with Arkansas, Kentucky, Florida and South Carolina winning and Vanderbilt losing.
"I know from a coaching standpoint you get nervous about that first game," Razorbacks Coach Mike Anderson said. "I think it speaks well in terms of what our conference is all about.
"People looked at our conference this season and thought it was down, but it wasn't. Our league is really good. You're in the family and you start fighting each other.
"So now it's kind of neat to get out of the family and go play some other teams and hopefully do well in the tournament."
Arkansas and South Carolina can help the SEC make another strong statement today when the Razorbacks play North Carolina and the Gamecocks play Duke in Greenville's two second-round games.
South Carolina beat Marquette 93-73 on Friday night for the Gamecocks' first NCAA Tournament victory since 1973 when they beat Texas Tech 78-70.
"All of us in the SEC understand that we're carrying a banner that's a little bigger than just our own schools," South Carolina Coach Frank Martin said. "We know we've got a real good league.
"I'm not saying our league's better than anybody's. I've been in other leagues. I comprehend how every league is. But we don't take a back seat to anybody.
"Collectively, the coaches, we're taking pride in trying to change this whole message about the SEC being inferior to other leagues."
Sports on 03/19/2017