University of North Carolina Athletics
Turner's Take: Feeling It
March 26, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Turner Walston
By Turner Walston
Marcus Paige's fourth three-pointer of Friday night's East Regional semifinal matchup with Indiana came just four minutes and 41 seconds into the game.
Joel Berry had gotten a steal from Indiana's Yogi Ferrell and barreled downcourt, looking to connect with Brice Johnson for a dunk. But Berry misplayed the ball and ended up in the corner. The defense caught up, with Ferrell looking to trap Berry. Paige was the trailer, jumping in from the wing. Berry found him over the top. And Paige rose and fired. The ball connected cleanly with the back iron and caromed through the net. Paige was feeling it.
“After I'd hit two in a row –I haven't hit two in a row in a long time, so to knock down two in a row, I felt like, 'Uh oh, I might mess around and make a couple more,' so that's what I did,” Paige said. “I just wanted to stay aggressive, and the rim looked pretty big to me today so I hope it's just this arena so I can do it again on Sunday.”
On Senior Night on February 29, Roy Williams talked of this 2015-16 Tar Heel team as one of his all-time favorites. Not so much for what they had done, but for what they had endured. That team had not yet secured the ACC regular season title, was 12 days away from the ACC Tournament championship, had never won a Sweet Sixteen game. Twenty-three days later, they are capturing those goals and reaching for more. Marcus Paige has struggled in this his senior season, but Friday, he rose to the occasion. “I've been waiting for this moment, in terms of a chance to get to the Final Four, for a long time,” he said. “That's more what my focus has been. I think that's why I played better today, because I had all day to sit around and think about how close we were to getting to our goals, so I really wanted to just come out and give our team a lift.”
Hot shooting (the Tar Heels were 7-8 from three in the first half) propelled the Tar Heels to 52 first-half points, despite just six points combined from Joel Berry and Brice Johnson. But the two combined for 28 in the second half – Berry by pushing the tempo, forcing the issue and making open shots, and Johnson by staying aggressive down low and getting to the foul line.
With Carolina hitting a season-high 11 three-pointers on the night, one could be forgiven for overlooking a big man who played with the most confidence we've seen in weeks. Kennedy Meeks played 29 minutes –one off his season high– and quietly (somehow) put up 15 points and grabbed nine rebounds in the Tar Heel effort. Meeks' first field goal attempt fell just short, but he was 5-9 from the floor and 5-7 from the free throw line. In the postseason, he'd averaged just 4.2 points per game and had been visibly frustrated. Recently, match-ups had not been good for him, and Isaiah Hicks and Theo Pinson were more effective off the bench. But Friday, Kennedy got his groove back. “The main focus for me is to keep playing as aggressive as I can and continue to think that things will fall in my favor,” he said. To change up his mojo, Meeks changed sneakers and didn't wear his tights. He's going to stick with the new look for a while.
“I don't think it's the shoes,” he said. “I think it's just going into the game with the right mindset, but just a superstition.” Whatever the thinking, if the Tar Heels have even the threat of that kind of night from Meeks, he has to be accounted for. That opens things up for his teammates. “If all of us are as aggressive as we were today, I think the sky's the limit for this team,” he said.
The atmosphere at tip-off was electric on Friday. Notre Dame's thrilling win over Wisconsin created a buzz in the arena. “Both crowds were great and into it,” Paige said. “It just felt like one of those big-time games, and those are the ones that I like to play,” he said.
And with the Tar Heels and Irish advancing, Carolina will face off with Notre Dame for the third time in 2016, after dropping an 80-76 decision in early February and earning a 78-47 win two weeks ago in the ACC Tournament. Twenty-seven points on aggregate means nothing in college basketball. “You can't put any (stock in it),” Justin Jackson said of the Tar Heels' tournament win over the Irish. “They got us once in the year, but you can't look at that. They caught us on a really good day, so we've got to come out, and hopefully we can be on a really good day on Sunday.”
Indeed. Friday night, Marcus Paige, Kennedy Meeks and the Tar Heels were feeling it. Feel it again on Sunday, and they'll be in the Final Four.
