The preseason All-American candidate battled injuries last season, but is considered UNC’s best player and was a big reason the Tar Heels were ranked No. 1 in the preseason polls. Paige finished the game in his first game back with 20 points on 7-for-12 shooting along with hitting four 3-pointers. Trimble had 21 points and 12 assists slicing the Tar Heels defense at will especially during the beginning of the second half.
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Overall, the Tar Heels and Terps put on a fun show. The Terps missed 13 of their last 17 shots, including eight of their last 10.
“Maybe in pickup over the summer”, Joel Berry II said, “but I don’t think I’ve ever seen it in an actual game”. They finished the season 11-1, capped by a 16-7 win over Texas in the Bluebonnet Bowl.
“I like my team”, Williams said. “It sounds amusing. We were 6-0, and we lost the game, but my guys showed me a lot tonight”. Incredible crowd, incredible atmosphere and they played well. “You’ve just got to get in the cold tub and get your body back to normal because we knew what we signed up for when we started this season”. He felt happy for his players, but didn’t feel good about getting the best of Turgeon.
The defensive players at Clemson can say the same. Our intensity level was higher and better and more consistent than it was all year long. “It was a lot of fun having [Paige] back out there, that’s for sure”. Perhaps the only question when it ended was this: Was it as good of a return as Paige envisioned? Maryland committed nine turnovers in the first seven minutes of the game.
Why they can beat Clemson: North Carolina’s offensive line is big – the average starter is just over 6-foot-4 and 303 pounds – and experienced with 20-plus games together playing in this up-tempo attack.
While North Carolina is terrific against the pass, ranking 19th in the nation, Watson could be in for a big day on the ground.
Asked later if he thought he got tackled, Trimble smiled.
Trimble said that the difference between the first half and the second half was in his head. They have the seventh-highest percentage of their total passing yards coming after the catch, and in total, they’ve racked up 1,534 yards after first contact this year, ninth-most in the Power 5. “But I knew I had to overcome, and I couldn’t let it affect me anymore what it did at night”. I just wanted to do whatever it took to help the team win.
“I told myself, I’ll be back here”. Venables said freshman Jalen Williams is his only other option at linebacker. His great play all year has made the Tigers an elite team and even earned him ACC Player of the Year honors.
And that, more than anything, is the story from Tuesday night, that the Marcus Paige that Roy Williams now has at his disposal is the Marcus Paige that took the ACC by storm as a sophomore; the Marcus Paige that was so dominant late in games that he earned the nickname “Second Half Marcus”.
The high-level game did the rest. Unfortunately, I still believe Clemson football fans are worrying too much about this game and I believe that they forget that UNC makes mistakes, as well. They’re a big-time basketball team.
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As it turns out, Chizik improved UNC’s defense in virtually every facet this year, which is why the Heels are playing in the ACC championship game, but when it comes to that top priority, it’s hard to undersell the work he’s done, particularly considering he’s done it with virtually the same roster.
