Paige, McAdoo spur UNC to win against Eagles

It wasn’t a basketball move. It wasn’t a strategic move.

It was a something-had-to-change move.

After losing its first three games of ACC play, North Carolina (11-6, 1-3 ACC) defeated Boston College 82-71 Saturday with Leslie McDonald and Jackson Simmons starting, and Nate Britt and Joel James starting the game on the bench. The lineup was a new look for the Tar Heels, but it wasn’t their only change.

No, the changing actually began a week ago, on the plane ride back from Syracuse, where the Tar Heels fell to the No. 2 Orange 57-45 for their third straight loss. Frustrated, sophomore Marcus Paige and junior James Michael McAdoo — UNC’s team captains — discussed the need for a team meeting to talk about the lack of effort and concentration that contributed to UNC’s recent struggles.

“You can only hear it from the coaches so many times until you just have to say, ‘Guys, we did it our way for the first three games, and it didn’t work, so we’ve got to change something,’” Paige said. “‘We have to change the effort. We gotta to come more committed to getting better every day in practice.’

“There was no screaming or foul language, but it was a serious reminder that these guys have won quite a few games. Coach, he’s not crazy, he knows what he’s doing.”

Appropriately, it was Paige and McAdoo who set the example for UNC early in Saturday’s win, and it didn’t take long for the rest of the Tar Heels to match their energy.

After 12 first-half points in his last four games combined, Paige scored 14 in Saturday’s first half on 6-for-9 shooting. Meanwhile, an aggressive, driving McAdoo scored UNC’s first six points of the contest and finished the half with 11.

Combined, the duo scored 25 of UNC’s 36 first-half points, giving UNC a shot in the arm.

“You saw James Michael at the beginning of the game. He really set the tone for us, attacking the basket, getting to the foul line, getting the other team in the bonus,” Paige said. “When he does that, and I was able to knock down a couple of shots and get aggressive and get in the paint a couple of times, as the leaders on this team, when we set the tone, that gets contagious.”

Paige had a quieter second half, attempting one field goal as he ran the point for most of the last 20 minutes, but the rest of UNC’s offense upped its production. J.P. Tokoto and Kennedy Meeks scored 10 second-half points apiece and McDonald scored seven, joining Paige and McAdoo as double-digit scorers.

In all, UNC shot 53 percent for the game — better shooting that coach Roy Williams attributed to the stars and moon aligning.

But the improved performance likely had more to do with UNC’s team captains aligning.

“Recently, in the ACC I think there was a lack of concentration, whether it was turning the ball over at Wake Forest or letting guys get a lot of 3-point shots in the Syracuse game, letting bench players go off for big numbers in the Miami game,” McAdoo said. “I think that starts in preparing, it’ll start tomorrow when we look at (Virginia), and I think that was huge today.”

For UNC, that preparation began on last Saturday’s plane ride.