UNC Basketball: 5 Eye-Popping Stats from Tar Heels in 2014-15

Through 10 games of the 2014-15 season, the numbers reveal a handful of interesting developments for the 7-3 North Carolina Tar Heels.

Some of the gaudiest figures, either positively—such as Kennedy Meeks' field-goal percentage—or negatively— such as the team's three-point diet—are explainable even in their extremeness.

Others though just jump right off the proverbial screen. The following eye-popping stats deliver outcomes no one rightly expected while giving a fair representation of everything that's going on for UNC this season.

J.P. Tokoto's Free-Throw Percentage

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J.P. Tokoto is currently shooting 70.7 percent from the foul line.

For the uninitiated, this figure may not seem like a big deal in either direction, good or bad. However, North Carolina fans know just how impressive it is that Tokoto is shooting this well from the line.

As a freshman, Tokoto hoisted the ball at the rim during free-throw attempts. To say he "shot" his 26 free throws would be too kind.

Last year, there was a significant uptick in Tokoto's ability from the stripe insofar as he wasn't as ghastly as the year before.

This season, though, the junior has turned into a capable foul shooter, and it has trickled down to the rest of the roster. UNC is shooting above 70 percent as a team, which is a marked improvement from where it was a season ago.

Marcus Paige's Field-Goal Percentage

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Preseason Associated Press All-American Marcus Paige is shooting 34.8 percent from the floor this season. Of the Tar Heels who have attempted more than two shots on the year, only Nate Britt has been worse.

Of all the incomprehensible developments of the Heels' season, this has to be the strangest. Paige is still shooting well from the foul line, and his three-point makes are nearly identical to where they were last year (2.3-of-6.5 per game compared to 2.5-of-6.5). The only difference now is Paige doesn't seem capable of making two-pointers.

When he was one of the top scorers in the conference last year, Paige was connecting on 49.3 percent of his twos. This year, that figure has dropped all the way to 36.8 percent.

He still has time to turn his season around prior to conference play, but the folks who were thinking Paige would battle for a spot on the nation's All-American team may have to adjust their expectations.

Kennedy Meeks' Win Shares Per 40 Minutes

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According to Sports-Reference.com, Kennedy Meeks has been the team's most valuable player. But that doesn't even describe how good he's been. Meeks' .322 win shares per 40 minutes is almost double every other player on his team except for Brice Johnson.

For some point of comparison, that figure puts Meeks fourth in the ACC, ahead of Jahlil Okafor and Montrezl Harrell.

He's averaging 13.8 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.6 blocks while shooting 65.1 percent from the field (all figures lead UNC) in just 22.5 minutes per game.

His stamina looks good this season. Meeks is a force on the low block but can make plays work from the elbows as well. He is finishing anything and everything he gets his hands on.

There was a hope that Meeks would turn into a devastating player inside. No one expected it to happen this fast.

Brice Johnson's Minutes Per Game

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It is unfathomable that a player of Brice Johnson's skill and stature could be allowing himself to play only 20.6 minutes per game.

And yes, it is Johnson's fault that this figure is so low, not Roy Williams'.

With his proclivity for dumb fouls, lackadaisical play and poor decisions, Johnson makes it hard for the coaching staff to leave him in ballgames. For every sequence where he runs the floor well and flushes an open dunk, he forces a bad fall-away and turns the basketball over.

Every time he unleashes a series of blocks, he commits twice as many bad fouls on inferior post players. This is the nature of his game.

It was reasonable to expect Johnson's playing time to increase after last year, as he switched from a backup, rotation big to the starting power forward. It has—from 19.4 minutes to 20.6 minutes, which is hardly what fans were waiting for.

Offensive Rebounds

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North Carolina grabs 17.3 offensive rebounds per game, good for third in the nation. The Heels are second in the country in total offensive rebounds.

The only thing more unbelievable than the work the Heels are doing on the offensive glass is the work their opponents are doing on the offensive glass.

North Carolina is ranked 347th in the country in opponent offensive rebounding, according to Sports-Reference.com. That figure is so bad that the NCAA only ranks 345 teams in its statistics!

The juxtaposition between a team being so good rebounding the basketball on one end and so bad on the other is a conundrum for sure. Last week, I attempted to come up with some possible reasons for the gap but only managed to nail down a few contributing factors.

Like the Heels' season, this is still a work in progress.