UNC basketball: Roy Williams passes coaching legend on all-time wins list

Legendary North Carolina Tarheels basketball program coach Roy Williams has passed Bob Knight on the Division I all-time wins list.

The North Carolina Tar Heels defeated the Virginia Tech Hokies 81-73 on Thursday in the quarterfinals of this year’s ACC tournament. The Heels were able to wiggle away from the No. 22 ranked Hokies in what was a tough, physical game from the start. Roy Williams’ team is now 18-9 overall on the season and 10-6 in conference play. Armando Bacot had himself an evening for the team from Chapel Hill, scoring 17 points and grabbing 13 rebounds.

While they move on to face Florida State Friday evening for a chance to be in the finals, Williams will surely be taking a moment to celebrate the fact that he’s overtaken yet another coaching great on the “all-time” list.

The legendary coach notched 900 wins last month.

Roy Williams passes Bob Knight in Division I wins

Williams has spent the last 18 years at North Carolina. Before that, he was the leader for Kansas’ men’s program for 15 years. He’s made nine Final Four appearances over his extensive career, including three national championships for the Heels.

On Thursday, with his 903rd win, Williams surpassed Bob Knight for the third spot on the all-time Division I head basketball coaches list. He now only trails Duke’s Coach K and Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim.

North Carolina won by eight points in Chapel Hill when they met up with Florida State earlier this season. The win helped kickstart their NCAA Tournament run. The winner of tonight’s matchup will face Georgia Tech tomorrow after the Yellow Jackets automatically advanced to the final after Virginia withdrew due to their own positive COVID test.

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