Four players score double digit points, leading UNC to 103-59 win over Robert Morris

Coach Roy Williams knows Marcus Paige can score.

After dropping 17.5 points per game last season for the North Carolina men’s basketball team, there was never any doubt that Paige could carry the offensive burden.

Instead, this season, it was question of whether or not he would have to. Sunday night, Williams got his answer.

In No. 6 UNC’s 103-59 thumping of Robert Morris, four different players, including Paige, scored double digit points. The ACC Preseason Player of the Year, who finished the night with 15, was only UNC’s third-leading scorer.

Question answered? Maybe.

“I think we’ll have five or six guys who over the course of the year will have 20 points at one time or another,” said Williams after Friday night’s 76-60 win over North Carolina Central. “I think we’ll have that kind of ability to score, but I’ve always liked a balanced team so much better — it’s harder to prepare for a team that’s got more than one guy doing the scoring.”

Sunday night, those guys were Kennedy Meeks and Brice Johnson. Meeks, in his third career double-double, ended the night with 21 points and 12 rebounds. He had seven of the team’s first nine points.

Johnson, not wanting to be outdone, led the team with 23 points and tacked on an additional eight rebounds.

Both had 15 at the half.

“Obviously, tonight we had Brice and Kennedy, they had really great games,” said Justin Jackson, who finished the night with 13. “I mean you’re gonna have games like that where some people just kind of go off — it’s their night. But with the type of team that we have, we can make them go across the board.”

But where does that leave Paige, the team’s leading scorer a season ago? Through two games in 2014-15, he has yet to match his 2013-14 average of 17.5 points, recording just eight against NCCU and 15 against Robert Morris.

It doesn’t matter to the junior guard. Correct, he hasn’t had to shoulder the same offensive burden he did a season ago, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing in his eyes.

“I had to carry a lot of the load offensively last year, but I still tried to do it in an unselfish way— I shot when I had to shoot, and I still tried to be a guard that set up guys as well,” Paige said. “I think our team kind of takes on that mentality of being aggressive but at the same time being understanding of if a teammate has a better shot, then you’ve gotta give the ball up.”

Sunday, that was on display. Five players finished the night with at least three assists. J.P. Tokoto, known for his highlight-reel dunks and acrobatic layups, led the team with ten assists.

No player all of last year had more than eight.

Back to Marcus: does he expect to score 15-20 night in and night out? Or does he agree with his coach, that a number of players can carry that load on any given night?

“I can’t say,” Paige said. “We knew the bigs were gonna have a big night just due to the nature of their defense. There’ll be some nights where maybe a team doesn’t defend the pick-and-roll as well, or they struggle to guard the ball off the bounce. Then we know our guards are gonna have more opportunities.

“It’s a game-to-game basis, but having the option and the ability as a team to exploit either way is a good thing.”

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