Brice Johnson has career game against Maryland

Brice Johnson knows that sometime after the North Carolina men’s basketball team’s 75-63 defeat of Maryland, he’ll get a phone call from his father.

Herman Johnson — Brice’s high school coach at Edisto High School in South Carolina — will remind his son that he missed three free throws Tuesday night . That he needs to start consistently knocking down his foul shots if he’s going to excel in Division I basketball.

But certainly that won’t be the only thing he’ll say.

“My dad’s always been telling me, ‘Just work on your shot, you have a nice touch — I taught you well,’’’ Johnson said.

And if there was ever a time when that touch was in its nicest form and those father-son lessons were translated into their fullest capacity, it was Tuesday — when Johnson shot a perfect 100 percent from the field , knocking down all eight of his field goals en route to a 19-point performance .

He can’t remember the last time — if ever — that happened.

But for a few moments after his career-high performance in an ACC game, he tried.

“I don’t think I’ve ever made all my shots in a game. Hold on, no, I take that back,” Johnson said.

He began to stutter.

“I think I made — I think I did hit all my shots in Peach Jam in AAU. I think I did hit all of my shots in that game now that I think of it. I’ll have to look it up,” Johnson said.

He smiled at the reporter who asked him the question.

“I’m glad you said that,” Johnson said. “I’m gonna have to look it up for real now because I can’t remember a game.”

Regardless, he likely won’t forget this one. It was only fitting.

“I thought Brice really came through. He had his best practice of his entire life yesterday, and I hope that translates into good play the rest of the season,” coach Roy Williams said.

“But he was really important to us.”

And Williams made sure to tell his 6-foot-9, 210-pound sophomore forward exactly that in the locker room.

“It took me until the end of the game. It took me until I walked in here (to know) and coach was like, ‘Yeah, Brice, you was a hundred percent from the floor,’’’ Johnson said.

“I was like, ‘Oh, OK.’’’

Johnson said his approach was the same and that he took the same shots he always takes: short turnaround jumpers and an occasional 15-footer.

Sophomore guard Marcus Paige, who also had an ACC career high with 25 points, said that when Johnson is thriving offensively, it provides a spark that the rest of the team easily feeds off.

“He can get his shot easier than most (players) on our team, so to have him consistently knocking down his jump hook or getting to the foul line, getting some easy dunks and put-backs, that’s easy offense that we need because we’re not the most prolific offensive team,” he said.

“He’s big for us.”

But Brice Johnson’s not too big for his father.