Marcus Paige helps North Carolina topple Maryland in his return

North Carolina’s Marcus Paige (5) guards Maryland’s Rasheed… The OVER is 4-1 in the last five meetings between these two teams. “I think he’s really reached out to us and really put some responsibility on us and not so much on himself”. The triple threat the Heels pose on the ground has lead to 230 yards per game, good for 18th in the nation, and can take over a game and cause major problems over the course of a game. But he saved most of his buckets for the most crucial juncture of the second half when the pressure rose after Maryland rallied from an early 13-point deficit to surge ahead.

Then came Tuesday night, and a return against No. 2 Maryland that Paige had been thinking about for more than three weeks.

When Maryland left for the Big Ten, its football program was wholeheartedly mediocre, its basketball program lost at sea, its uniforms a fashion disaster, Mark Turgeon no replacement for the sweat and foot-stomping vigor of Williams on the basketball bench.

In the second half, Maryland rallied behind its star sophomore guard Melo Trimble, who finished with 23 points and 12 assists.

UNC coach Roy Williams said on Monday that Paige would start tonight, likely alongside Berry. The best-case scenario for this one is that both teams play like the top-10 teams that they are. The Terps never led by more than a point…. All you can do is go forward in life, and I’m happy where I’m at.

“But I’m not too anxious about that if we’re playing like the best team in the country”.

Maryland, which had been averaging close to 21 free throws per game against lesser competition playing either at home or in neutral settings, took just 11 free throws, making nine.

The Tigers gave up 32 points to the Gamecocks and everyone knows that North Carolina’s high-powered offense is much more capable than that of the SC offense.

“It was physical, I wouldn’t say I got tackled”, he said. “In that second half [Trimble] came out and was just on fire”.

“They scored 35 points on us a year ago, and we had a pretty good group (on defense)”, Swinney said.

In his first game after recovering from a hand injury Paige finished with 20 points, five assists and one memorable post-game introduction to J. Cole, his favorite rapper and one who was in attendance on Tuesday.

Now, if you’re reading this as one of those laughers, let me be clear I am not saying Carolina is going to win this football game.

Now a member of the Big Ten, Maryland made its first trip to Tobacco Road since leaving the ACC before the beginning of previous year.

This game in Chapel Hill shows why the Tar Heels are favored, but Maryland is a very solid team that will hang around and play well. “He played on a team that was the most hated team in America where he went, so he’s used to it. He probably thrived on it. I thought he was terrific”. What if Clemson loses to North Carolina but still deserves a spot as a one-loss team without a conference title?

For his part, Williams said it brought him back to the past.

“That’s exactly what the crowd wanted me to do is make it a personal vendetta and get me out of my game”, Sulaimon said, “so I just tried to totally invest in our team and whatever the team needed me to do to help us win tonight”. That had the feel of an NCAA tournament game. “They hit three big plays on us”.