The No. 24 North Carolina men’s basketball team, 6-3 on the season, will look to recover from a difficult loss at top-ranked Kentucky with a comfortable victory at UNC-Greensboro Tuesday night at 7 p.m inside the Greensboro Coliseum.

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The Tar Heels will be facing a few familiar faces on the UNC-G bench Tuesday night.

Spartan skipper Wes Miller and assistant Jackie Manuel both played on the 2005 national championship-winning squad coached by none other than Roy Williams.

But don’t expect Coach Williams to ease up on his former players turned coaches, especially after being outplayed Saturday at Rupp Arena.

Roy Williams showing frustration (Todd Melet)

Roy Williams showing frustration (Todd Melet)

“They were far more superior on the defensive end than our offense was. I thought they dictated what we did on the offensive end with their athleticism, their quickness, strength and size. We didn’t do a very good job of scoring in the half court,” Coach Williams says.

The Tar Heels have plenty of room for improvement. Coach Williams says careless turnovers, excessive fouling and lack of physicality doomed UNC’s chances last weekend.

“I thought two big keys for us was the number of turnovers and the fact that we wanted to play without fouling. We let them shoot 31 free throws, and I’m not saying that’s the referees. I said ‘we’. They were much more aggressive getting the back to the basket. It’s a physical game. They played better and coached better,” Coach Williams says.

Junior guard Marcus Paige, who eclipsed the 1,000-point plateau at Kentucky, seemingly found his shot in the second half against the Wildcats, finding the basket from behind the arc to keep UNC within shouting distance.

But Coach Williams says he needs to be a more consistent offensive weapon for the Tar Heels.

“He made some shots. We’ve been talking about his shot a little bit. There’s nothing mechanically wrong with his shot, but he probably needs to get his feet set a little bit more. We need him to shoot the ball like that, but we need some other guys to step and make shots also. You’re not going to beat Kentucky at Kentucky when they’re a real good team shooting 38 percent in the second half,” Coach Williams says.

Marcus Paige makes a play at the basket (Todd Melet)

Marcus Paige makes a play at the basket (Todd Melet)

UNC’s offensive efficiency has tended to improve in the second halves of games this season. A frustrated Paige says the team needs to find a way to put two halves of clean basketball together.

“I don’t think we need to rely on me, but I think I need to be a focal part of what we do in both halves. The coaches have talked about that. We don’t screen or move enough in the first half,” Paige says. “That’s why we take bad shots and have turnovers. When we settle down and run our stuff, the guys who we want to have the ball are touching the ball; we’re getting inside and also creating opportunities for me.  We just need to run our stuff better.”

As for UNC-G, the Spartans sport a disappointing 4-6 record on the young season, but they’re coming off an 80-79 road win at East Tennessee State.

The Tar Heels don’t have much head-to-head history against the Spartans, facing off for just the second time ever. UNC won the only previous meeting by an 81-50 margin in 2013.