If Marcus Paige’s return can keep the Tar Heels’ motor running on all five cylinders, this team is not overrated and can go a long way.

Marcus Paige's return

Marcus Paige’s return to the hardwood was a success. (Photo by Todd Melet)

Paige’s presence in short pants against Maryland Tuesday night energized the entire building, got the near-capacity crowd up early and often and, most important, stoked the UNC big men to play their best collective game of the season. The “bigs” are juniors and seniors, and their time is now.

Make no mistake about it, whether the Tar Heels get to Houston for the Final Four, and hang another banner, will depend far more on the play of Brice Johnson, Kennedy Meeks and Isaiah Hicks than their senior All-American guard. They must have Paige playing well, for sure, but when it gets down and dirty in the NCAA Tournament you need big tough guys to rule the paint.

Carolina has two of the most skilled big men in the country in Johnson and Meeks. Johnson can score from anywhere and the slimmer, quicker Meeks works the baseline and basket for first and second shots. But they often don’t play hard enough for long enough. Coaches judge players by their “motors” and for Johnson and Meeks that sometimes means cruise control.

Hicks, the first sub in the post, can be more physical than the starters and probably needs a few more minutes to polish his once-raw game. But the Heels don’t lose anything in passion play when Hicks is in the game. His mistakes are mostly those of aggression.

UNC vs. Maryland 022

Big men Kennedy Meeks, Brice Johnson, and Isaiah combined for 32 points and 18 rebounds against Maryland on Tuesday night. (Photo by Todd Melet)

Against Maryland, Johnson, Meeks and Hicks combined for 18 rebounds (6 each) and 32 points. They were slightly below their collective season average, but the Terrapins are the biggest and best team the Tar Heels have faced so far. Roy Williams called it a tournament-type game in the Smith Center, and that’s the kind of opposition you meet, and must beat, in the post-season.

Most impressive about the big three playing a total of 70 minutes was that none of them seemed to take plays off, a habit of Johnson and Meeks that drives Williams crazy. Maryland might have shot 51 percent, but 45 of its 81 points came from the three-point line and the foul line. Johnson, Meeks and Hicks held the opposing big men to 24 points and all stayed out of foul trouble.

The guard play on both ends was spectacular from Paige’s 20 points and four three-balls to Joel Berry’s 14 and three treys. Nate Britt’s minutes were reduced to 10 but he made two big baskets and three assists. Six-game starter Theo Pinson, down to 18 minutes due to Paige’s return, contributed six points and four rebounds. Justin Jackson, adjusting to playing small forward, got started late but finished with 9 points, 3 assists and five steals, some of them leading to Maryland’s best player, Melo Trimble, turning it over eight times.

The Terps can light it up from downtown and, led by Trimble and former Dukie Rasheed Sulaimon, erased comfortable Carolina leads three times like lightning. Trimble, no relation to former Maryland star Jap Trimble from the Tom McMillen-Len Elmore era, has the quickest release in college basketball. But after making 12 of their first 22 three-pointers, they tired and missed their last four from the arc. That preserved the last lead for the Heels, who went cold at the foul line and clanked 7 of their last 9.

No one player, or two, wins a national championship. The best teams have both star players and role players and all of them, as a famous NFL coach likes to say, do their jobs. The Tar Heels are quick and talented and tall. But how tough they are, especially down where the dirty work is done, will determine if they are still playing basketball in April.