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CHAPEL HILL -- North Carolina didn't lose the NCAA East Regional basketball final to Georgetown until overtime, but the moment that sticks in the minds of its fans came at the end of the second half.

With the scored tied at 81, shooting guard Wayne Ellington, moving from right to left on the right wing, took a pass from Ty Lawson. He rose from beyond the 3-point line and released his shot. It bounced off the back of the rim.

It was a shot that would have sent the Tar Heels to the Final Four last season. It's the kind of shot UNC likely will have to make more often if it wants to make that trip this season.

"This team's definitely got to shoot a lot better than it did last year," said junior swingman Marcus Ginyard. "Especially late in the season."

That's not necessarily a stinging indictment of the Tar Heels' touch from the outside. Everyone is aware of how strong Tyler Hansbrough is down low. So there aren't too many options for taking down the Tar Heels other than this one -- slow it down, pack it in and make Carolina hit shots from the perimeter.

"That's what I would do," coach Roy Williams said.

Just don't expect his team to play along. Every few weeks during the season, Williams will make light of the football coaching adage, "We'll just take what the defense gives us."

"I'm not like that," Williams said. "I want to get what I want."

What Williams wants is to get the ball as close to the basket and get the highest-percentage shot possible on each possession. The Tar Heels try that first via the fast break. Then they try it again via the secondary break. If that doesn't work, they'll try a third time in their half-court sets to get the ball inside. Williams knows that's what opponents expect and what they'll prepare to stop. But he thinks the talent of his players and the precision of their execution can trump the plans of any defense.

And if not? What happens when the fate of the game lies in the hands of the Tar Heels' outside shooters?

"It evidently concerns you guys a hell of a lot more than it concerns me," Williams said to a media gathering Tuesday, "because those are the only questions I'm getting."

Still, the numbers do stick out on an otherwise impressive stat sheet. Carolina ranked 131st in the nation last season in 3-point field-goal percentage (35.8). And the player who was most accurate from beyond the arc, Reyshawn Terry (43.7 percent), has moved on to professional basketball. No other Tar Heel shot better than 37.1 percent from 3-point range.

Maybe Williams is brushing aside worries about outside shooting because it doesn't go any good to dwell on the potential problem. As he acknowledged, he can't draft new players or trade for others.

More likely, though, he doesn't think the statistics from last season tell the full story. There were numerous times last season when he marveled at the poor luck Ellington had on his shot, the countless 3-point attempts that went halfway down and bounced back out. Williams thought Ellington was a great shooter then, and he thinks that missed shot could be motivation for improvement this season. Ellington echoes that sentiment.

"I want to come back and make every shot this season," Ellington said. "If that shot ever came my way again, I'd be much more prepared to knock it down."

Williams also thinks that fretting over missed outside shots misconstrues what caused the meltdown against Georgetown. Though Ellington's missed 3-pointer is what sticks in the collective memory of the public, the Tar Heels' problems went well beyond that shot.

"I'm hoping that our whole team will understand that wasn't what killed us," Williams said of Ellington's miss. "We took bad shots prior to that the last six minutes. We didn't guard for six minutes."

Valid points. But imagine if, this season, when UNC's fast break stagnates and opponents are suffocating Hansbrough down low -- it's bound to happen at least once in the NCAA tournament, right? -- the Tar Heels can rely on a shooter or shooters to knock down open 3-pointers.

Then UNC's opponents would be out of options.

"If we play our best basketball," said junior forward Danny Green, "we feel like nobody can touch us."

Contact Jim Young at 373-7016 or jyoung@news-record.com