Even if it was the best performance of the season, that doesn't mean all the other games were crap games for him. He's their best player, and no one should be surprised that he performed well last night. Did anyone really expect him to be a dud?

[Edited on January 15, 2015 at 12:15 PM. Reason : I mean, he was preseason #2 player for college basketball, and has just had a few off games. He's still the team leader.]

[Edited on January 15, 2015 at 12:18 PM. Reason : ]

1/15/2015 12:13:00 PM

Not a dud, but you're acting like shooting 100% from 3 is the norm for him . No, it was a deviation, and quite a significant one. Preseason is just shit for announcers to lick their chops about, its meaningless. Remember, when we were preseason favorites in the ACC two year ago?

1/15/2015 12:21:25 PM

It was basically the norm for him against State, since the 2nd half of last year's game. Sure 100% isn't the norm, but I expected him to have a big game.

1/15/2015 12:23:51 PM

Quote :

"and I'm frankly surprised at all the people who think he hasn't been playing at that level all season. Several of UNC's wins are credited to him alone."

he has been one of the biggest underachievers in the NCAA this season

and if he'd been playing at the level he played at last night all season, he'd be in the middle of one of the greatest seasons of all time

1/15/2015 12:48:04 PM

Man, all I care about is our norm and if that is good enough to make the NCAAs

1/15/2015 12:56:35 PM

Honestly, he's been good all year. His shot is supposedly "off" but he's still shooting almost 40% from deep. He's great on defense, and his quickness and IQ are off the charts.

His expectations were insanely high -- which they should be for a 1st team All American. But he's still been good all year (not great). Without him, UNC has a .500 record or worse.

1/15/2015 1:02:27 PM

Wasn't Paige suffering from multiple injuries coming into this game? And of course he still dominates us. Just like last year when he scored 35 points and the game winning layup.

1/15/2015 1:06:23 PM

if paige was suffering from anything, you couldn't tell. seemed to be running circles/pushing around just fine.

1/15/2015 1:12:55 PM

Bigs giving up dunks is all you have to talk about.

How does their elephant on the court run directly to the basket without anyone noticing or stopping him? Multiple times? Have we never seen a pick and roll before? Why do our hedgers not redirect the ball handler -- if you don't all you are accomplishing is leaving your guy open.

Just dumb defense. The guys clearly don't know the why of what they are doing on defense. They just go through the motions

1/15/2015 1:13:24 PM

Honestly, I just think our big guys have low bball IQ. Freeman is the only one who can hedge effectively. Abu is a freshman, so there's still hope, but the other two seem lost on defense when they're not blocking shots.

1/15/2015 1:19:03 PM

oddly enough, we moved up a couple spots on Kenpom, and UNC moved down.

1/15/2015 1:26:22 PM

Quote :

"Just dumb defense. The guys clearly don't know the why of what they are doing on defense. They just go through the motions"

this was obvious when we went to the zone. i was at the game and everyone around me was screaming for it...i was just shaking my head. i hate the zone especially went the other team has arguably the best player in the country. left paige wide open at least a couple of times because bigs got sucked into the paint when the should have been covering the wing/corner.

luckily for us roy for some reason decided to play britt at the point instead of paige which helped us get back in the game.

1/15/2015 1:31:52 PM

paige is not having a bad year at all. its as simple as due to the breakout he had last year he gets a LOT more attention from the defense. meaning less shots, less stats.

only against nc state though does he get enough shots, wide open shots, and make sure he doesn't miss one of them.

1/15/2015 1:34:54 PM

nobody has said that he's having a bad year

he just isn't having as great of a year that was expected after his great season last year

almost all of his numbers are down

1/15/2015 1:38:04 PM

yeh, he's a cancer on their team.

1/15/2015 1:42:59 PM

Quote :

"UNC should of beat us "

"should of"

1/15/2015 7:30:41 PM

http://chapelboro.com/columns/sports-notebook/arts-angle-dog-crowd/

So was it really that quiet and empty? Either way, screw this cross-eyed bastard.

1/15/2015 8:40:04 PM

"State may have restricted signs and discouraged negative cheers about UNC’s academic scandal, but it dawned on me that maybe their students can’t read the stories that said some Tar Heels can’t read."
clearly trolling

also, I was there and thought the crowd was fine, although I think Carolina kinda took the fans out of the game for a few minutes by hitting every shot. posted this on the last page:

Quote :

"also, I don't know how it sounded on TV, but it was really loud in there any time we were not clanking shots, especially when we mounted our comeback down the stretch. there were times that it seemed louder than any point in the Duke game, save the final seconds"

1/15/2015 8:45:04 PM

It's probably been mentioned, maybe, but for some reason cops had traffic standing still. One of my friends left the Raleigh side of Cary at 6:35 and missed the first few minutes of the game. I'm sure people filtering late doesn't create a good impression, and he probably didn't notice when it filled more (I'm guessing, I wasn't there)

1/15/2015 8:48:03 PM

Unfortunately I have to agree that it sounded quiet. I only saw it on TV, but I was shocked how quiet it sounded and out of it the crowd seemed for most of the game, especially against UNC. *cue obligatory "back in my day..."*

1/15/2015 8:50:57 PM

The crowd seemed *nervous*. We really dread losing to them.

1/15/2015 9:17:04 PM

Crowd did seem to get loud as shit on TV, but only for a minute or so

1/15/2015 10:47:07 PM

part of the problem was that we had a really tough time gaining momentum for much of the second half. pretty much every time the crowd really got going, Paige would hit a dagger or we'd give up an and-1 that'd (temporarily) suck the air out of the room.

1/15/2015 11:41:16 PM

the relative quietness of the crowd on TV was noticeable compared with how loud it was just a couple days earlier vs. duke.

1/16/2015 12:02:05 AM

lol, someone made a comment in Arts shitty editorial that UNCs rivals are now auburn and SMU. He was too fucking stupid to get it.

1/16/2015 6:56:31 AM

They would actually allow this sack of shit to be published, oh can't be surprised its chapelboro. For a group of people that doesn't count this as a rivalry they are finally managing to have an orgasm which is surprising. Congrats UNC, you played the best game of your season and still barely beat State. When we play the best game of the season we beat undefeated teams like Duke. Hope our team rip these jerk offs a new one in the Dean Dome.

1/16/2015 8:07:42 AM

lol, i was wondering if the turnout was going to come up. the lower level definitely had some noticeable empty seats, especially side behind the benches. the cheap seats (where i was sitting) were packed though. i took a picture but it didnt really come out that well.

it honestly really didnt get loud until we made the comeback. definite nervous energy in the air.

another lol, for whoever thinks you can leave at 6:35 to get to the carolina game by 7 is a good idea.

1/16/2015 12:57:40 PM

I usually don't care, since I hate both teams, but this year I will be actively rooting for duke to push unc-cheat's shit in.

1/16/2015 1:49:41 PM

yeah i think:

Quote :

"the relative quietness of the crowd on TV was noticeable compared with how loud it was just a couple days earlier vs. duke."

is because:

Quote :

"pretty much every time the crowd really got going, Paige would hit a dagger or we'd give up an and-1 that'd (temporarily) suck the air out of the room."

In the Duke game, we had stretches where shit just kept breaking our way play after play after play. Turnover, 3, defensive rebound, dunk etc. Not really the case for the UNC game.

1/16/2015 2:11:16 PM

it fucking sucks losing to UNC every year, but going 1-2 in that 3 game stretch (and being competitive in the losses) is quite encouraging. it's all meaningless if we can't take care of business vs teams like FSU and Clemson later in the season. hopefully this serves as a confidence boost to the team and we'll be better down the stretch. there's plenty of season left - i think most people have said it all along, but how we play and respond after this brutal stretch of UVA, Duke, UNC would be just as important (or more important) than those 3 games themselves.

1/16/2015 2:21:19 PM