PHILADELPHIA — Roy Williams is no newbie when it comes to net-cutting.
After all, this is his eighth Final Four. And he's won countless league titles and conference tournaments.
Yet he made a very rookie mistake — he injured himself while snipping the net following No. 1 seed North Carolina's 88-74 win over No. 6 Notre Dame Sunday night.
"He should be used to cutting nets," senior guard Marcus Paige said. "That's something he's done several times in his career. But couple of games ago he was bleeding as well. He came in the huddle and he was, like, guys I'll bleed for you guys if you keep playing the way you're playing. ... It might be good luck. We'll get him patched up, see if he starts bleeding again.
Said senior forward Brice Johnson: "It must be like Marcus said, it must be good luck. So keep bleeding, Coach."
Laughing, Williams responded to his players, sitting alongside him during the postgame news conference.
"I told them I'd do that and I'd do it again," Williams said. "But I did bite my tongue and it was bleeding the whole first half two nights ago. It's not very pleasant but I was screaming at Brice to get his rear end up off the ground. He'd slipped and fall and took a nap instead of getting up and running back on defense.
"So, today I was up there cutting the net and I started to take a step back and felt the ladder moved a little bit, and I grabbed, and when I grabbed I grabbed the end of the scissors, started bleeding. I've really got very good looking blood. It's very bright, very deep colors."
HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE 2016 FINAL FOUR TEAMS
