Sixteen games into the season and the point guard corps of the North Carolina men’s basketball team had sustained a season’s worth of injuries.
No. 15 UNC entered its 81-79 win over N.C. State Wednesday night with only two of the team’s five point guards dressed to play. Luke Davis has missed all season with a stress fracture in his right foot. Stilman White will be on the sideline for at least four weeks with a boot on his right, stress-reacted foot.
But the biggest blow came when freshman Joel Berry reaggravated a strain in his groin at Tuesday’s practice: an injury that will cause him to miss at least two weeks.
That left Nate Britt and Marcus Paige to serve as the team’s sole floor generals against the Wolfpack. Even Paige came into the game battling a weeks-long injury in his right foot, which has been plagued by plantar fasciitis. In UNC’s 72-71 win against No. 5 Louisville Saturday, Paige rolled his ankle and had to get it re-taped before coming in to hit the game-winning layup.
“We had some fun the other day (against Louisville) because I played three point guards at one time,” Coach Roy Williams said. “I’d been wanting to get to that point, we finally did it and then Joel gets hurt ... But I thought Nate and Marcus did a really nice job.”
Paige especially rose to the occasion. The preseason ACC Player of the Year played with the poise the postseason requires, delivering a team-high 23 points on 5-for-5 shooting from 3-point range, nine assists and zero turnovers. With few backups, Paige played a team-high 36 minutes.
“I was up there in minutes today,” said Paige before pausing to look at a box score and check. “That number would have been down to the 30, 31 range if Joel’s able to play. But sometimes when people go down, you gotta step up. I really didn’t want to come out in the second half. And I felt good despite my foot and stuff. I just wanted to play through it.”
But Paige didn’t have to do it by himself. On Wednesday, UNC showed just how well-rounded its backcourt can be. Starting freshman swingman Justin Jackson chipped in seven points and junior swingman J.P. Tokoto held N.C. State leading scorer Trevor Lacey to just 4-of-13 shooting.
