Marcus Paige leads rally that could be a catalyst for North Carolina
When Marcus Paige rolled his ankle and hobbled to the bench Saturday midway through the second half, things looked bleak for No. 18 North Carolina down by 10 to No. 5 Louisville.
The Tar Heels eventually found themselves down 13 but Paige regrouped and came back into the game to spark the game-winning run bookended by his 3-pointer and game-winning layup. North Carolina earned a 72-71 victory that might finally get it on track toward the season it was thought to be capable of producing back in November.
Paige’s high-banking running layup dripped into the net with 8 seconds remaining and Louisville was able to get two shots off at the other end, but neither was true.
The Tar Heels overcame another strong outing from Louisville guard Chris Jones who was topped Saturday by teammate Terry Rozier, who finished with a game best 25 points. Jones had 19 along with five assists and can be credited for keeping the Cardinals in it during an otherwise lackluster first half.
Louisville did a good job of preventing the leak outs by North Carolina guards and transition buckets that cost it last season against the Tar Heels. But the Cardinals will lament the 17 offensive rebounds they gave up in this one. That is where North Carolina won the game.
Forward Brice Johnson produced a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds including three of those offensive boards. He scored six of the those 11 points during the decisive run in the final five minutes with two of his buckets coming off assists from Paige.
North Carolina was coming off a one-point loss to Notre Dame at home earlier in the week and avoiding a similar loss to another program with designs on winning the ACC title is big for coach Roy Williams’ team.
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[Kyle Ringo is the assistant editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at kyle.ringo@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KyleRingo
