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North Carolina Basketball Needs Marcus Paige to Be Better If Its Going to Contend in ACC

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By @Bigwoolf5

North Carolina, Marcus Paige

Bob Donnan-USA Today Sports

North Carolina pulled off their biggest win of the year on Saturday afternoon, beating a really good Louisville team who’s only other loss was to Kentucky. While the Tar Heels were impressive on Saturday, they are going to need Marcus Paige to be a lot better if they want to contend in the ACC and later in the tournament.

Paige scored the game-winning bucket on Saturday to give UNC the win and produced a really gutty effort all day. His numbers don’t look great (10 points on 4-of-12 shooting), but he sprained his ankle earlier in the game and was still able to come back and hit the biggest shot of the game. Carolina head coach Roy Williams revealed after the game that Paige is also dealing with plantar fasciitis, so his toughness cannot be questioned.

Despite the big shot Paige hit on Saturday, he is having a bad year so far and the Tar Heels need much more from him if they want to be true contenders. Paige this season is averaging only 13.5 points per game on only 37-percent shooting, which is a woeful percentage. Those numbers are both down from last season when he averaged 17.5 points per game on 44-percent shooting.

Paige was the ACC Preseason Player of the Year, and was also listed on many preseason All-American teams, but so far this year, he has failed to live up to those honors, and that’s a big reason why Carolina has struggled in big games this year.

The Tar Heels have a ton of talent on their roster, whether it be big man Kennedy Meeks, or the lengthy forward Brice Johnson, but the guy on this team is Paige, and if he continues to shoot this low of a percentage, UNC will continue to struggle against good teams.

It seems as though Paige will continue to deal with injuries for the rest of this year, but he showed Saturday that won’t stop him from making big plays. Paige is too good to continue to play the way he has so far this season. Maybe the tough floater he hit to beat Louisville will be just what Paige needs to breakout of his season-long slump, coach Williams and the Tar Heels better hope so because he is the key to their success.

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