North Carolina coach Roy Williams on Monday ended his 10-minute segment of the weekly ACC basketball coaches teleconference early: “I’ve got to go to practice,’’ he said. “…Hope everyone understands.”

After Saturday’s 33-point loss at Florida State? Yep.

The Tar Heels did not practice Sunday, the day after recording the most lopsided loss of the Williams era. Instead, they took part in their annual Special Olympics clinic.

So Monday’s workout was sure to be a doozy. Asked what signs he would be looking for to indicate how well the team had responded to the loss, Williams said: “If we live.”

Williams has been known for his grueling workouts after bad losses -- think post-Santa Clara in 2004-05, or post-Georgia Tech last season -- and this week should be no different.

The coach said Saturday there was no phase of the game that his Tar Heels wouldn’t need to work on after UNC posted season-highs in turnovers (22) and field goal percentage defense (48.4). And also handed out a season-low eight assists. And allowed FSU guard Deividas Dulkys to score a career-high 32 points, including eight 3-pointers.

And then there were the individual performances: UNC point guard Kendall Marshall set a career-high with seven turnovers. Forward John Henson missed all seven of his free throw attempts. ACC Preseason Player of the Year Harrison Barnes made only 5 of his 13 shots. The bench scored only eight points.

Only senior forward Tyler Zeller (14 points, 14 rebounds) graded out well.

“They beat us in every phase of the game,’’ Williams said. “We’re not very excited about the way we played, but we better be excited about getting better.”

Poise and mental toughness has become a particular problem on the road, as UNC’s players said they panicked in the second half against UNLV in Las Vegas, lost track of time in the final seconds of Kentucky and just weren’t focused on at FSU.

But Williams said he has had teams grow mentally tougher as seasons progress, pointing even to last year: “We were struggling, but boy, down the stretch, those guys got tougher and tougher and tougher, and hopefully this team will be able to do the same type of thing.”

Especially considering, with five returning starters, this is mostly the same team.

Next up is a trip to Virginia Tech on Thursday, and Williams said his squad must have great practices in order to have a chance beat the Hokies. Tech is a surprising 0-3 in the ACC, and a win over the eighth-ranked Tar Heels might be just the thing to push it back into the right direction.

That is, if UNC doesn't start changing its direction, as well.

“I don’t want to over-react, but that was a real butt-kicking that you can’t just ignore, either,’’ Williams said. “Even when we were winning nine in a row, or whatever it was [at home], go back to the press conferences, I wasn’t always saying glowing things, I was saying, ‘Our team’s got to get better.' And that’s the same party line today, it’s just that it hits the kids right between the eyes more.”

Follow Robbi Pickeral on Twitter at @bylinerp.