Kentucky Coach Billy Gillispie practically guaranteed that his team will play "dramatically" better in its second game of the season.
But given that the opponent is No. 1 North Carolina, Gillispie sounded braced for an 0-2 start to this season. That would be historic. Only twice since 1926 has UK started a season with two losses: 1975-76 and 2000-01.
Hansbrough, affectionately known as "Psycho T," is not happy to miss the Kentucky game.
"He's pretty snotty," Williams said.
Without Hansbrough, North Carolina would seem more vulnerable to a low-post threat like, say, UK sophomore Patrick Patterson.
Yet Patterson equaled a career low of four shots in the loss to VMI.
Gillispie cited the speed of the game, which VMI's quick shooting dictated, as 75 percent of the reason for Patterson's quiet night at home.
The other 25 percent Gillispie attributed to Patterson's slow start.
"As a sophomore, he didn't respond as well as I've come to expect him to respond," said Gillispie, who noted that UK's 25 turnovers complicated the chance to establish anything offensively.
But the UK coach all but promised a bigger impact for Patterson going forward.
"We're not going to ignore him anymore," Gillispie said. "There will be times we miss him. But we won't ignore him."
Gillispie again vouched for Patterson's health. Off-season ankle surgery interrupted the normal conditioning.
"I'm not concerned about Patrick," Gillispie said. "I know he's healthy. You're out six months, it's not going to be easy. But he's worked his tail off. We have to do a better job utilizing him."
Without Hansbrough, North Carolina does not have its best low-post defender.
"Last year Tyler did a great job trying to front Patrick Patterson," the Tar Heels coach said. "Nobody else guarded him worth a flip."
Junior forward Deon Thompson gives North Carolina an experienced front-line player.
As for center, the Tar Heels count on two McDonald's All-Americans in freshmen Tyler Zeller and Ed Davis.
"They're two of the top, if not the top two incoming post players in the country," said Gillispie, who noted how well Zeller and Davis fit North Carolina's system.
Each played well in North Carolina's opening-game victory over Penn on Saturday. Davis had a double-double (10 points and 14 rebounds). Zeller, or as Williams calls him "Big Z," is a native of Washington, Ind., and was once a prime recruiting target for UK. He scored 18 points against Penn.
As Gillispie promised better play, so Williams asked for more rebounding from his big men.
"I told 'Big Z', you've got to get more than two rebounds," the North Carolina coach said. "And it's something for everybody."