BLACKSBURG—On Tuesday afternoon at 4:21 p.m., Roy Williams gathered his team around him at midcourt at the Smith Center. His squad was about to go through the 66th practice of the season. In a couple of hours, they would make the three hour and 15-minute bus ride to Blacksburg for the 18th game of the campaign, an Atlantic Coast Conference contest against Virginia Tech.
But first, Williams had some news for his team. He explained that senior Brandon Robinson would not travel with them. He told his team—which has now lost a combined 57 games to injury so far this season—that Robinson had lingering neck pain from a car accident ten days ago.