Finally Healthy Marcus Paige Gives Glimpse of Tar Heels' No. 1 Potential

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Marcus Paige spent the wee hours of Tuesday night writing a paper for his Globalization class that was due Wednesday morning.

"Decline of the nation-state and how that affects the global economy," Paige said was the topic.

Sounds depressing.

The story he and his teammates penned on Tuesday night when No. 2 Maryland came to town was more uplifting.

Rise of the Tar Heels and how the return of their star affects the college basketball season.

The title probably needs some work, but North Carolina's 89-81 win over the Terps should send notice to the rest of the country.

Preseason No. 1 has finally arrived.

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A week ago Marcus Paige sat on the bench in Kansas City with his knees shaking and his eyes constantly peeking up at the scoreboard.

The Tar Heels looked mediocre for most of that night against Kansas State—four days after losing on the road to Northern Iowa.

For two years, Paige had been the savior. And a week later, he knew he was going to make his season debut against Maryland.

But if this was how it was going to play out—Marcus Paige to the rescue!—then that preseason No. 1 ranking was a big tease.

These were just going to be the same old Heels.

Too reliant on No. 5.

But something happened in the final minutes of that K-State game that carried over and could be one of those seminal moments that comes to define a season.

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Without Paige to bail them out in Kansas City, other guys stepped up. Joel Berry II hit a three. Kennedy Meeks got a steal and dunk. Justin Jackson and Theo Pinson hit jumpers. Brice Johnson had a huge block.

"I think (in the past) it would make the guys look and say, 'Where's five, where's five? He's got to do something for us,'" coach Roy Williams said after the K-State win. "They realized they were able to make some plays without him." 

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Everything was going to script on Tuesday night in Paige's return. He drove down the lane the first time he touched the ball and found Meeks for a layup. The second possession of the game, he had some airspace on the wing and decided to take what he knew wasn't a great shot. It swished, and the Dean Dome erupted. 

"I'm sure it was relief for the entire crowd, the team," said Paige, who finished with 20 points and five assists in his season debut. "I know I felt that way."

The pace was fast. The shots were falling for the Heels, and Terps star Melo Trimble was fumbling the ball all over the gym. 

The Heels threw a jump-trap at Trimble early on and double-teamed him coming off ball screens, not giving the star point guard much room to operate—he finished with eight turnovers. 

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But eventually, Mark Turgeon countered by having his big men set screens farther out on the court, and Trimble found his space and got rolling. His threes started falling. And this is when the Heels of the past would crawl under the bed and hope Paige could save them.

Put the Heels in a close game and it turned into Marcus and his Minions.

On Tuesday, though, when the game got tight—there were two lead changes in the second half and five ties—Paige had answers, but so did Berry and Jackson and Pinson and Meeks and Johnson.

"The ball ended up my hands in a couple of those situations, and obviously I'm going to be aggressive, but I didn't feel like I had to do it," Paige said. "Whereas my sophomore year, we'd get in certain situations and times my junior year, I felt like I had to almost press too much. But we have such good balance this year, that I don't think I have to do that too much."

There will be times when Paige still plays hero this season, and he's in better shape to do it than he was last year. Paige had nagging foot and ankle injuries a year ago that slowed him down. He said he took more threes to compensate for a lack of explosion.

That explosion is back, so much so that Paige rose up and tried to dunk on Jared Nickens in the second half—something he wouldn't have tried a season ago.

"My body felt better than I thought it would coming off of that break," Paige said.

Paige said his hand didn't bother him at all, and any fear that injury will slow him down should be out the window.

This version of Paige was reminiscent of his sophomore season...only better.

The same could be said of Jackson, Berry, Johnson and Meeks.

Jackson is playing with more aggressiveness this season, and even though he only scored nine points against Maryland, he made an impact on the defensive end with five steals. Berry had his best defensive game of the season, frustrating Trimble early on and hitting some big shots of his own to finish with 14 points. He and Jackson combined to hit four of seven threes, and Paige is no longer the only UNC threat from deep. 

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Meeks got the best of Maryland's potential one-and-done freshman, Diamond Stone. Johnson had multiple highlight dunks and played with great energy. 

"I like my team," Williams said. "I like it a lot better when No. 5 is out there." 

It's completely reasonable to believe Paige is going to play the best basketball of his life this year. Tuesday night could be the start of a Player of the Year campaign. 

Only now he has help. 

And that combination could have the Heels playing into the wee hours of the season.

C.J. Moore covers college basketball for Bleacher Report. You can follow him on Twitter @CJMooreBR.