North Carolina's Marcus Paige fought to the end, 'this close to that dream
Marcus Paige heard someone talking, someone saying how proud he was of what the North Carolina Tar Heels had just done. Telling them, in the wake of losing the most exciting national championship game in history on a last-second shot, that it was going to be OK.
It took him 30 seconds to figure out who was speaking. His head was blurred by the memories: of Villanova’s Kris Jenkins popping out, impossibly open, to shoot that final three in a 77-74 Wildcats victory. Of the shot Paige himself had hit to tie the game, which for about four seconds stood as the most clutch and difficult shot in NCAA tournament history.
Michael Jordan, former North Carolina national champion and the most popular NBA player of all time, was trying to console the team at it’s most inconsolable moment: having come, Paige was sure, one defensive stop from winning it all.
“You’re so close to that moment, you’re 4.7 seconds away from winning the game,” he said. “Because I told the team we were going to win if we got to overtime. All we had to do was get to overtime and the game was ours. And I truly believe that, and I think our whole team believes that.”
Paige had pulled North Carolina back, helping it close a 10-point gap in the last 5:29 of the game. He grabbed a defensive rebound that led to a Brice Johnson dunk, assisted on a Joel Berry three, hit a three to cut it to 67-70 and then ripped his own missed rebound from the hands of a Villanova player for a putback that made it 72-71.
Josh Hart hit two free throws with 13 seconds left, setting up a chance for North Carolina to tie if it could hit from deep.
The Tar Heels ran a screen to get Paige open on the right wing. As he rose, a defender stepped up and he briefly thought of passing the ball to Johnson in the paint.
He remembered the need for a three and, on the way down, shot-putted the ball toward the rim.
“So much of this year and last year, especially even more so this year, they were criticized for not being tough enough,” Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said in the postgame news conference. “I don’t know that I’ve ever had anybody make a tougher shot than Marcus Paige.
Williams adores Paige, as a player and person. He handed the starting point guard to Paige as a freshman and watched him blossom, then asked him to move off the ball this year and saw him struggle to score at his usual pace. Through it, Paige remained upbeat, a consummate leader. While Paige — as eloquent a college basketball player as you’ll find — talked about taking off his jersey for the last time, Williams covered his eyes momentarily to shield the tears he could not contain.
“I’ve never coached anybody that tried to will things to happen even when he wasn’t playing as well as he could play,” Williams said.
That’s certainly what Paige did against Villanova. He finished with 21 points on 4-for-7 shooting from deep. He added six assists.
Paige scored 17 of those points in the second half.
“As the clock got lower and lower, our season on the line, I can’t help it,” he said. “Something about that moment, I just want to start fighting. If you could fight somebody I’d probably do that if it was within the rules.”
Instead he carried his team within inches of overtime. Paige was quick to shoulder some of the blame for North Carolina’s final lapse, saying he perhaps did not take the stop seriously enough and was guilty of ball watching instead of guarding. He had crept over toward the baseline, clearly anticipating a feed to the corner.
“When you’re a kid growing up you don’t dream of missing the last second shot or you don’t dream of a team beating you at the buzzer,” he said. “You dream of having that moment, that confetti, seeing your family over there crying tears of joy, hugging the guys you gave blood, sweat and tears with for four years. That’s what you dream of. And we were this close to that dream.”
It took him 30 seconds to figure out who was speaking. His head was blurred by the memories: of Villanova’s Kris Jenkins popping out, impossibly open, to shoot that final three in a 77-74 Wildcats victory. Of the shot Paige himself had hit to tie the game, which for about four seconds stood as the most clutch and difficult shot in NCAA tournament history.
Michael Jordan, former North Carolina national champion and the most popular NBA player of all time, was trying to console the team at it’s most inconsolable moment: having come, Paige was sure, one defensive stop from winning it all.
“You’re so close to that moment, you’re 4.7 seconds away from winning the game,” he said. “Because I told the team we were going to win if we got to overtime. All we had to do was get to overtime and the game was ours. And I truly believe that, and I think our whole team believes that.”
Paige had pulled North Carolina back, helping it close a 10-point gap in the last 5:29 of the game. He grabbed a defensive rebound that led to a Brice Johnson dunk, assisted on a Joel Berry three, hit a three to cut it to 67-70 and then ripped his own missed rebound from the hands of a Villanova player for a putback that made it 72-71.
Josh Hart hit two free throws with 13 seconds left, setting up a chance for North Carolina to tie if it could hit from deep.
The Tar Heels ran a screen to get Paige open on the right wing. As he rose, a defender stepped up and he briefly thought of passing the ball to Johnson in the paint.
He remembered the need for a three and, on the way down, shot-putted the ball toward the rim.
“So much of this year and last year, especially even more so this year, they were criticized for not being tough enough,” Tar Heels coach Roy Williams said in the postgame news conference. “I don’t know that I’ve ever had anybody make a tougher shot than Marcus Paige.
Williams adores Paige, as a player and person. He handed the starting point guard to Paige as a freshman and watched him blossom, then asked him to move off the ball this year and saw him struggle to score at his usual pace. Through it, Paige remained upbeat, a consummate leader. While Paige — as eloquent a college basketball player as you’ll find — talked about taking off his jersey for the last time, Williams covered his eyes momentarily to shield the tears he could not contain.
“I’ve never coached anybody that tried to will things to happen even when he wasn’t playing as well as he could play,” Williams said.
That’s certainly what Paige did against Villanova. He finished with 21 points on 4-for-7 shooting from deep. He added six assists.
Paige scored 17 of those points in the second half.
“As the clock got lower and lower, our season on the line, I can’t help it,” he said. “Something about that moment, I just want to start fighting. If you could fight somebody I’d probably do that if it was within the rules.”
Instead he carried his team within inches of overtime. Paige was quick to shoulder some of the blame for North Carolina’s final lapse, saying he perhaps did not take the stop seriously enough and was guilty of ball watching instead of guarding. He had crept over toward the baseline, clearly anticipating a feed to the corner.
“When you’re a kid growing up you don’t dream of missing the last second shot or you don’t dream of a team beating you at the buzzer,” he said. “You dream of having that moment, that confetti, seeing your family over there crying tears of joy, hugging the guys you gave blood, sweat and tears with for four years. That’s what you dream of. And we were this close to that dream.”
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