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UNC's Williams: No Timetable on Lawson

By Dane Huffman

Feb 11, 2008

North Carolina plays at Virginia on Tuesday night, and it’s still uncertain if point guard Ty Lawson will return to UNC’s starting lineup.

Lawson has not played since injuring his ankle at Florida State Feb. 3.

“I don’t think that there is timetable,” UNC coach Roy Williams said Monday. “We’ve just got to wait until he starts feeling better with it.”

Williams said Lawson is still feeling pain in the ankle, which is why he didn’t play Sunday night against Clemson.

“We’re just going to have to wait until it stops hurting,” Williams said.

Williams praised senior point Quentin Thomas, who has stepped into the starting role with Lawson hurt and Bobby Frasor out for the season with an ACL injury.

“His maturity allows him to settle down and he has to _ there’s nobody else,” Williams said. “You do things out of necessity and that’s part of what Q is doing.”

Williams said it was particularly gratifying to see Thomas succeed because “he’s worked four years and had so much adversity with his body.”

The previous two seasons, Thomas missed games with a stress fracture in his left foot.

Meanwhile, Williams said wing Marcus Ginyard – the backup point guard now – was also hobbled with a sprained ankle in the Clemson game. Williams said he knew Ginyard was hurt when he didn’t move defensively like he normally would.

Asked if he had a contingency plan for Ginyard if he didn’t play Tuesday, Williams said,
“No. I’ve never had to worry about who your fifth point guard is.”

As for Sunday’s win, Williams praised both Tyler Hansbrough and his team as a whole.

“I just loved our toughness down the stretch,” Williams said. “I thought that was really something.”