North Carolina coach Roy Williams doesn’t buy that this season has been a “wild ride” or that there were any moments of panic for the Heels, but there were significant turning points that led to Carolina’s stunning regular-season title.

“I don’t think it’s been that wild of a ride with the exception of Larry Drew and the Georgia Tech game,” he said. “Those were things that were very emotional for our entire game. …

“Those were the two landmarks. And if I were to add another one I’d say the first game at Virginia. Things were about as ugly there as they could be.”

That win in Charlottesville was significant. Carolina used a 20-7 second-half run to win, 62-56, over a Cavaliers team that is stingy when it comes to surrendering points.

That win showed Williams that his team had an impressive level of toughness. But two games later, at Georgia Tech, the Tar Heels fell 78-58 in one of the most puzzling outcomes of Williams’ tenure in Chapel Hill.

Kendall Marshall moved into the starting lineup after that.

“For those first four games I was really pleased with our point guard play,” Williams said. “Kendall was doing some nice things, Larry [Drew] was doing some nice things.”

Then suddenly, Drew’s father called Williams to say the son was leaving school immediately.

“Larry’s deal really shocked us,” Williams said. “We realized we have to pull together even more.”

One real challenge for Carolina now is depth. Since last season, the Heels have had the Wear twins transfer, Will Graves drop off the team, Drew transfer in midseason and then Reggie Bullock go down for the year with an injury.

“It is a question mark for us. So we want to get some effective things done in practice this week,” Williams said. “We may have to use more timeouts than I have ever used.

“But our whole focus is going to be on that first game. If you don’t play well the first game, all that planning doesn’t do you any good.”

By the way, Williams has no plans to use his walk-ons more, even though they inspired the team with a strong start in Saturday’s Duke win. He said the “six walk-ons are wonderful kids” but are not in position to assume the roles of the eight scholarship players.

“We’ve got eight players that are going to play the minutes and that is what it is going to have to be,” he said.