Maryland men’s basketball plagued by turnovers in loss to North Carolina

“I thought he was terrific”. But I’m not expecting myself to be ideal tomorrow.

Everything was going to script on Tuesday night in Paige’s return. Both teams shot over 50 percent from the floor as they combined to score 170 points. And how would others adapt to his return? And then in the second half he made no shortage of important shots – momentum-swinging shots – while Maryland attempted a comeback of its own after trailing by 13 early. Maryland made 12 of 26 3-pointers…. About a minute later, he made another 3. Those two Paige 3s inspired roars that might have damaged some eardrums among those in attendance at the Smith Center. He practiced Friday and Saturday and coach Roy Williams said prior to Monday’s practice that Paige would be in the lineup barring something unexpected.

“I, personally, think Stanford’s resume, if they win a conference championship this weekend, could be the team that eventually creeps back into the top four if North Carolina upsets Clemson”, he said. “I do think everyone is more comfortable with me on the court”. Should Stanford lose to Southern Cal, that could be enough to vault them to the No. 4 spot, even ahead of defending champion Ohio State, which is No. 6 and out of the running for the Big Ten title because No. 4 Iowa and No., 5 Michigan State are playing for that title. Paige, meanwhile, said it felt like “the middle of January”. In a seemingly role reversal from earlier in the season where Sulaimon was the main distributor, the sophomore guard showed he can do absolutely everything.

That explosion is back, so much so that Paige rose up and tried to dunk on Jared Nickens in the second half-something he wouldn’t have tried a season ago.

The Maryland men’s basketball committed 22 turnovers on Tuesday evening. How about Trimble and Paige? Plus, anyone who watched that game will remember that they should have won the game.

Paige said he hadn’t called for an alley-oop since he was in high school, “on the playground”.

UNC: Joel Berry II finished with 14 points and five assists, making three 3s…. “Having him out there the last, I guess what, two real practices and then walk through yesterday, it’s great to have him back out there”.

The victory leaves UNC with some things to work on. After being down as many as 13, if you told Mark Turgeon that his team would be down six after committing 13 first half turnovers that North Carolina cashed into 14 points, he would probably be happy on some level.

Behind Melo Trimble and former Duke player Rasheed Sulaimon, the Terrapins forged back and with 13:40 to play, took a 59-58 lead on a four-point play from Trimble.

Entering the season, 3-point shooting appeared to be the Tar Heels’ achilles heel because in 2014-15 they were 344th in the nation in points produced behind the arc. Jackson is capable of beating a team in multiple ways.

“No”, Johnson said matter-of-factly when asked if he’s ever seen Paige do that before.

Losing to SC is a complete disaster, don’t get me wrong, but that loss happened on September 5th.

After a long wait came more waiting, given the late tip-off on Tuesday night.

WCHL’s coverage of the game will begin at eight o’clock with Countdown to Tipoff Presented by UNC Healthcare on 97.9 FM/1360 AM. “Kids like Marcus are so conscientious and care so much, but I had a feeling the little rascal would be pretty good”.