"Jokingly," Williams said at his news conference. "But they don't know it's jokingly."
Tar Heels big man Tyler Hansbrough lived up to his image again, scoring 29 points, ignoring the forearms in his back, not noticing the scoreboard.
"I've never had anybody more focused and more driven than he is," Williams said.
But last night's other star wasn't one of Hansbrough's UNC sidekicks. Tyler Bernardini, a freshman forward at Penn, had 26 points after making 8 of 9 shots in the first half.
"I told our staff, 'Why the dickens didn't we recruit him?' " Williams, the gracious guest, said.
Penn senior Brian Grandieri had pointed out to his younger teammates that they probably wouldn't see a No. 1 team come to the Palestra again.
"Relax and compete," Grandieri told them.
Nobody's kidding anybody: Penn had the lead for only five seconds - and the score was tied for another 71 early seconds. The Tar Heels didn't hit many jump shots (and no three-pointers in the first half) but revved up their fastbreak. However, the Quakers didn't feel like roadkill in this one.
They got a couple of backdoor layups, but Williams explained that he can live with a couple of those as long as there are some turnovers to go with them. His prime concern is defending the three-pointer.
"I'm very good at math - they add up faster," Williams said.
The atmosphere was about as good as the place gets. When Hansbrough walked on the court for warm-ups, he saw the home crowd had done its best to match Duke's Cameron Crazies. In one corner, he was greeted by a Penn student section holding mimeograph photos - of his mother, a one-time Miss Missouri.
"The whole [North Carolina] team was laughing," said Lindsay Motlin, a Penn senior from Long Island who sat in the front row.
Hansbrough laughed, too.
