Roy Williams had to resort to screaming, because taking a nicer approach wasn’t getting the job done.
So the Hall of Fame coach got mad. And he yelled. And it worked.
It got freshman forward Justin Jackson listening — and more importantly, shooting — in the No. 20 North Carolina men’s basketball team’s 89-58 blowout over University of Alabama-Birmingham (4-9) Saturday, something Jackson had been too timid to try for the game’s opening 17 and a half minutes.
Instead, Jackson had been passing — to J.P. Tokoto, Marcus Paige, anyone and everyone across the floor instead of pulling the trigger himself.
So in the half’s dwindling minutes, during that period when he yelled at Jackson, Williams gave his 6-foot-8 swingman an ultimatum.
“Everyone wanted him to shoot it and he didn’t shoot it,” Williams said. “(I) told him to shoot the ball or come over and sit down.”
Jackson chose the former, and it made all the difference. Just moments later, not to his coach’s surprise, the freshman drilled a 3-pointer with 2:33 left in the half to give UNC a 34-17 advantage over the Blazers at the break, a team that beat the Tar Heels in 2013.
Fifty-two seconds after that, Jackson popped another 3-pointer, from the opposite side this time.
Swish again.