University of North Carolina Athletics
Britt N' Berry
November 18, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Note: This article originally appeared in the November 17 issue of CAROLINA, the official magazine of The Rams Club and Carolina Athletics.
by Turner Walson
Life without Marcus Paige continues for the Tar Heel men's basketball team, as the senior standout continues to nurse a broken hand. But the schedule won't wait for the nation's top-ranked team. Carolina opened the season with a pair of wins: against Temple at the U.S. Naval Academy and at home against Fairfield. In Paige's absence, sophomore Joel Berry and junior Nate Britt have stepped up to help direct the Tar Heel offense from the perimeter.
Berry has started at point guard in the Tar Heels' first two games, with Britt the first guard off the bench. Berry scored 14 points in 32 minutes last Friday against Temple, and Britt scored 15 in 27 minutes. The two combined for five assists and were 5-6 from the three-point line. In the home opener against Fairfield, Britt tied his career highs with 17 points and four three-pointers, while Berry scored 15. This time, the two combined for nine assists.
In both games, Carolina got off to somewhat sleepy starts, as the Tar Heels tried to find ways to probe defenses without the ball in Paige's hands. Temple led the Tar Heels early Friday before a Berry score put Carolina up 12-11. Temple tied the score at 26 with 5:45 to play in the first half, but a Kennedy Meeks bucket followed by a Berry three gave the Heels a lead they would not relinquish. A pair of Britt threes late in the half helped push the Tar Heel lead to 11 at intermission.
Similarly, Berry helped kick-start the offense Sunday afternoon. Three straight Berry field goals followed by a Britt three-pointer gave the Tar Heels a spark when they needed it. “ I saw the opportunity to knock down a shot, so I took it and I shot it with confidence,” Berry said afterward. “That's what I wanted to come into this season and do, is just shoot it with confidence. It helped us get out of that little funk that we had, and that was good for us.”
Britt scored five and then six straight himself to help Carolina pull away from the upstart Stags. “Nate came off the bench and really made some good shots for us,” Tar Heel head coach Roy Williams said. “Shooting the ball in the basket always makes everybody feel better.” Williams pointed out Britt's five assist to two turnover stat line on Sunday, and seemed to think the junior appears to be coming into his own as a player. “I think he's comfortable. He's confident. Confidence does a lot of things for you. He's gone through some major changes, from (shooting with his) left hand to right hand and had some good things happen for him last year, but I think it's more just his work and the time that he's put in.”
“Nate knew how to play basketball before this stretch,” Theo Pinson said, helpfully. “I'm not shocked. He's just knocking down shots. We knew he could knock down shots. We've all been in the gym working on our jumpers and all the guards were, after practice, getting up a lot of shots, so the time is paying off.”
Though Berry and Britt are both capable of playing point guard, Paige's injury means that the Tar Heels have one fewer player in the 1-2 rotation. Still, with Justin Jackson elevating his game as a sophomore and a healthy Theo Pinson on the wing as well, Williams can afford to play Britt and Berry together at times, providing a dynamic that opposing teams can have trouble keeping up with. “Me and Nate, we're kind of the same player,” Berry said. “Nate's probably a little quicker than I am, but we like to get in the paint and distribute the ball, and if we need to shoot it, we like to do that too, so I think me and Nate have a good chemistry together and as you can see, we're capable of making shots.”
In the situations in which they're on the floor together, Berry is usually the designated point guard with Britt sliding over to the two, though, as Britt says, it doesn't often matter. “I guess you would say on Joel's the point guard and if we go to a set he'll run the one but we like to run a lot so whoever gets it on the break is whoever gets it,” Britt said. “Both of us know each position, so it's just kind of 'go with the flow.'”
Through two games, Berry and Britt are averaging 30.5 and 26 minutes, respectively. That will change when Paige returns, but the experience the two are gaining is invaluable. “We've got to keep fresh people in there,” Williams said. “And then when the other little fella gets back out there, then we'll still have the same kind of rotation, but he's going to get a lot of minutes.”
Paige's injury was announced on November 4, with a timeline of three to four weeks given for his recovery. That puts his return in the range of November 25 to December 2 at the earliest. The Tar Heels are fortunate that they have the depth to weather Paige's absence and still play winning basketball. Williams knows the players' individual strengths, and he's not asking them to be something they're not.
“We've still got to be ourselves,” Jackson said. “Coach always tells us, don't try to play ten levels above what you play normally but you've got to step it up one level. Everybody's got to step it up one level to make up for our leader being out.”
Similarly, Britt and Berry don't have to be anything but their best selves. “Just be a better Nate Britt,” Britt said. “Coach asks the same thing of all of us. He wants each and every player to be a better individual, and I feel like that's what we've been doing.”
“They don't ask much of me, just to be the point guard and do what I have to do for the team,” Berry added. Coach is not putting any pressure on me just because Marcus is out, but he knows that I'm a player and he just wants me to play. That's all.”
For Britt and Berry, so far, so good.
