University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: Rapid Reactions
January 18, 2014 | Men's Basketball
1. Welcome back, Marcus Paige. That was the exact version of Paige the Tar Heels need, with efficient scoring and good decision-making. Paige finished with 21 points on 7-for-10 shooting and made seven trips to the free throw line (uncharacteristically making just five).
2. The Tar Heels were successful in speeding up Boston College a little more than the Eagles might have liked, coaxing 18 turnovers and turning that into a whopping 24 points. Carolina played just one possession of zone (it turned into a three-pointer) and really didn't trap all that much, but were able to play basic on the ball man-to-man defense against an opponent that was fully committed to dribble penetration and then kicking out for three-pointers (the Eagles hoisted 23 three-pointers and just 25 two-pointers and actually shot better on the 2s than they did on the 3s).
3. Kennedy Meeks was tremendous in the second half, playing 13 minutes and putting up 10 points and six rebounds. He also helped limit Boston College's Ryan Anderson to just one second-half field goal.
4. It's getting a little uncanny how the Tar Heels have been so completely unable to put the team on the floor that Roy Williams wants to utilize. Coming off a week of practice, Williams decided to shake up the starting lineup and insert Jackson Simmons and Leslie McDonald. So what happened? Simmons suffered a cut less than two minutes into the game and had to return to the locker room, jumbling the rotation Williams had planned to use.
5. The road trip at Virginia on Monday now becomes a very, very big one. The Cavaliers are playing well, and Charlottesville has been a tough place for UNC to play.
Adam Lucas is the editor of CAROLINA.
