University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: UNC Basketball Notebook
January 13, 2015 | Men's Basketball
By Adam Lucas
Marcus Paige first brought up the issue of his foot pain to a handful of reporters over a week ago. That was after the loss to Notre Dame, when he first mentioned that he hadn't gone full speed in practice for over a week.
Now, eight days later and after a game-winning buzzer-beater from Paige that came in a game when the junior guard also battled a tweaked ankle, his health issues have gone mainstream. Roy Williams spent a large portion of his Monday teleconference discussing Paige's injury.
"We're still having to be concerned about his conditioning and his plantar fasciitis,” the head coach said. “We're trying to hold him out of practices.”
A few minutes later, Williams—who has also suffered from the same condition in the past—elaborated on Paige's status.
“We've tried to get him the right orthotics, get him the right therapy every day,” Williams said. “The day before the Louisville game I think he participated in about 15 plays in practice. And then you have to get him on the bike because you have to keep his conditioning up. It is something that is extremely painful. It is very much at the top of our attention in trying to make sure we do things to try to get in front of it and help him get better.”
Rest, perhaps, is one of those treatments that might help Paige's foot heal. But in the middle of the Atlantic Coast Conference season, there isn't much time to rest him. Even after leaving the court to get retaped against the Cardinals, he still played a team-high 30 minutes, and he's averaging 31.3 minutes in Carolina's three conference games.
Seeing improvement: Most of the attention on the final offensive possession went to Paige's game-winner. But on Monday night's radio show with Jones Angell, Williams pointed out another big contribution: Kennedy Meeks set two solid screens to free Paige.
That had been a point of emphasis for the Tar Heels last week after a substandard screening performance against Notre Dame. “We had talked in the film session on Wednesday about setting better screens and not rolling out,” Williams said.
That's what Meeks did on the final possession, first setting a sturdy off the ball screen on Chris Jones to free Paige to receive the pass, then setting a ball screen on Jones to force Louisville to switch and create an alley for the eventual winner.
Williams also suggested an interesting comparison for Paige's game-winner, as he said it reminded him of Michael Jordan's shot over Patrick Ewing in the 1982 national championship game. That very underrated shot is at the 10:40 mark in this video:
On to Raleigh: Williams will talk more about NC State this afternoon at his regularly scheduled press conference, but on Monday he was already well aware of the Wolfpack's much improved recent play, including a 10-for-16 performance from three-point range in a win over Duke on Sunday.
“If you watched that game (Sunday) and didn't think they are a really good basketball team, then you're watching a different sport than I am,” Williams said. “That's part of their game. What they did defensively may have been more impressive than making 10 out of 16.”
