Hoops fans across the country should be grateful for what they’re going to witness go down tonight in Chapel Hill.
The Maryland Terrapins will be facing the North Carolina Tar Heels for the first in a non-conference contest since 1960. Before the season, the Tar Heels were ranked number one, mainly due to the fact they returned nine of their top 10 scorers from a season ago.
However, their star player, Marcus Paige, has been absent due to a fracture bone in his non-shooting hand. Without Paige in the lineup, this Heels team just isn’t the same.
Through six games, the Heels have struggled to find their stroke from the perimeter. They’re shooting a dismal 32 percent from distance, while only shooting 71 percent from the charity strike.
The return of Paige should help improve both departments.
“I feel good going into the game,” Paige stresed Monday. “My body feels good. My hand feels good. I guess my hand won’t be technically, like, fully 100 percent for a while. But I don’t have any pain.”
Tonight’s game would’ve had more sizzle if the Heels didn’t get upset by Northern Iowa.
On the flip side, although Maryland is unbeaten, they haven’t looked like a top two team by any stretch of the imagination.
The Terps struggled to put away Rider and Illinois State, winning by 7 and 11 respectively.
In that same breathe, when Maryland was in a big game environment against rival Georgetown, they were able to come through in key moments to prevail 75-71.
Head coach, Mark Turgeon, knows playing in Chapel Hill will be a different animal, however.
“I like playing great teams, and North Carolina is a great team with a great coach, so it should be fun,” Turgeon said. “It’s been a highly anticipated game on the schedule since it came out.”
The pace of this game should be very up-tempo because both teams are comfortable with their guard play and who wouldn’t be?
Maryland’s Melo Trimble and UNC’s Paige are probably the two best point guards in the country. With them virtually cancelling each other out, this game will come down to who’s able to control the paint.
The advantage inside clearly goes to the Heels.
Kennedy Meeks is averaging 14.7 points per game on 50 percent shooting, while power forward Brice Johnson is averaging a double-double with 13 points and 10.3 boards per game.
It’s impossible to say one team needs this win more than the other since both teams have tons to prove. Casual observers are refusing to believe the Maryland hype, especially since they’ve been playing down to their competition and with North Carolina, there’s still question marks on how mentally tough they are.
Prediction: Don’t expect Marcus Paige to be the real Marcus Paige early on in this one, but as it goes on, he should be able to find his rhythm at home. Nonetheless, the Heels should look to take advantage down low with Meeks and Johnson. Second chance opportunities will be key and if their outside shots start falling, which tends to happen more at home, UNC should win this game by 4-6 points.