Is Embattled Marcus Paige Suddenly the Best Guard in the Country?

Has Second-Half Marcus become Postseason Marcus?

Label his play however you want—all that matters to North Carolina is that its best player seems to have shaken off his season-long, injury-fueled slump to become the leader everyone expected he would be this year. And it couldn't come at a better time with the fourth-seeded Tar Heels (26-11) set to face No. 1 Wisconsin (33-3) in Thursday's West Region semifinals in Los Angeles.

Marcus Paige, a 6'1 junior guard who found himself listed on pretty much every preseason All-American list that was published—including ours—after more or less carrying the Tar Heels in 2013-14, has rarely looked like that kind of a player through much of this year.

That is, until the regular season ended and the real games began.

Category	Regular Season	Postseason
Points per game	13.5	17.0
Assists per game	4.4	5.0
Field goal percentage	40.6	45.3
Three-point field goal percentage	38.5	41.5

Including the ACC tournament and UNC's two NCAA tourney games, Paige has averaged 17.0 points and 5.0 assists per game while shooting 45.3 percent overall and 41.5 percent from three-point range. Those numbers are a huge spike from what he put forth in the Tar Heels' first 31 games, when Paige often looked uncertain and lacking in the kind of confidence he showed throughout the previous season.

Strong guard play is a key to making a deep run, and if Paige is able to continue at the level he's been at the past two weeks, he may just be the best at his position still alive in the tournament. Proponents of Notre Dame's Jerian Grant, Utah's Delon Wright and Wichita State's Fred VanVleet may beg to differ, but there's something Paige has shown of late that those others have not: another level.

We might be jumping the gun here, but Paige's sudden uptick is eerily similar to how Connecticut's Shabazz Napier came alive last March and carried the Huskies to the national title.

This season, there were flashes of the player who had come to be known as "Second-Half Marcus," his nickname from the previous year, as Paige would flip a switch and take over games down the stretch. But more commonly seen was a Paige who lacked confidence and seemed to be letting issues with plantar fasciitis get the better of him.

That injury still exists, though the pain hasn't bothered him much since the final week of the regular season. But rather than letting the injury decimate his game, Paige is putting it aside and focusing on the more pressing issue, which is being the leader that UNC needs at this time of year.

This was evident in UNC's 87-78 win Saturday against Arkansas, when he had 20 of his 22 points during the second half after going 1-of-8 shooting from the field before halftime. Earlier this season, if he'd struggled early, Paige would step back from trying to score, instead looking to create for others, yet there wasn't always someone else able (or willing) to step up and take that role.

"At this point in the year you don't want your last game to be played poorly and this could have been the last game for us," Paige told Andrew Carter of The News & Observer.

The biggest difference between this year's UNC team and the last one isn't how Paige has played, though. Instead, it's how those around him have fared and follow Paige's lead. If he does well, others follow suit, but there were also many times that Paige's struggles during the year were masked by teammates filling the void.

Despite Paige shooting just 2-of-11 for a season-low five points, the Heels nearly won in overtime at Duke. And while Paige ultimately hit the game-winner in a huge January victory over Louisville, the comeback from down double digits was fueled by the play of Joel Berry II, Nate Britt, Brice Johnson and J.P. Tokoto.

Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Against Arkansas, Paige's 20 second-half points all came in the final 13-and-a-half minutes, but before he caught fire, the Tar Heels were still faring well. That's because Britt, Johnson, Tokoto and Justin Jackson were all having big games.

Much of Paige's scoring came as the result of UNC needing to go small after Kennedy Meeks injured his knee. Meeks likely won't play against Wisconsin, but rather than have Paige do it all, the Heels will look to use a balanced attack to try to pull the upset.

Roy Williams will want everyone to contribute to the performance, but he also knows that, if needed, Postseason Marcus is available to be unleashed.

Follow Brian J. Pedersen on Twitter at @realBJP.