Paige ain’t half bad as UNC overcomes adversity

Marcus Paige.
Marcus Paige.
Too bad for Carolina fans that the 78-65 win at Georgia Tech was not on ESPN because of weather issues. It was one of UNC’s best performances of the season, especially in the second half.

Georgia Tech never led but it was just a one-point game at the half.

Marcus Paige had a near perfect second half as he hit all his shots and didn’t turn the ball over.

In the first half, Paige was just one of seven from the field and was a non factor.

Out of Carolina’s 20 games, UNC coach Roy Williams says Paige has played poorly in one half in 15 of them.

“I can’t explain it,” Williams said. “If I had the answer I’d sit him during the bad half and play him the good half.”

For his part, Paige said he his trying to figure it out. He says he’s a laid back guy and perhaps he’s not preparing mentally well enough to start the game. It’s true that usually the first half is the bad half.

The whole team played better in the second half. Carolina fans must have enjoyed seeing – or at least hearing on the radio – the successful free throw shooting down the stretch.

UNC hit 16 of 20 in the second half, including the final 11 in a row.

The game actually did air visually on ESPN3 on the Internet with the naturally biased Georgia Tech radio announcer handling the play-by-play. Most people, even with fast Internet service, run into some issues – whether picture quality or time synchronization – when watching on the Internet.

For more on the game, please click here.

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