Paige: Tournament is 'Chance to be Remembered'

North Carolina is a number one seed in the East Region of the NCAA Tournament and will take on No. 16 Florida Gulf Coast on Thursday night. A 16 seed has never beaten a No. 1, but Carolina head coach Roy Williams remembers a few times these games have been a little too close for comfort.

“There’s always the expectation that a one [seed] can lose to a 16 [seed],” Williams said at his press conference on Wednesday. “And I think we probably came as close as anybody a long time ago, I think it was 2002, when I was coaching at Kansas and we played Holy Cross. Kirk Heinrich had gotten hurt during the game and with four minutes to go in the game nobody knew who was going to win.

“But I can assure you, at that moment, that I wasn’t thinking about, ‘God, we’ve got to be careful or we’re going to lose to a 16 seed.’ I was thinking about how in the dickens we could get it turned around and play better.”

Senior leadership on this year’s UNC team seems to add the veteran savvy to know this is too big of a game to look past. Guard Marcus Paige said Florida Gulf Coast is more athletic than the majority of 16-seeds.

“I think they present some challenges, but it’s the NCAA Tournament so we don’t expect it to be a cakewalk,” Paige said. “They’re a good team, and it’ll be a good challenge for us right off the bat.”

UNC senior guard Marcus Paige. (Photo by Todd Melet)

Paige added UNC is looking forward to facing a team that prefers to play the same style that the Tar Heels favor.

“It’s interesting, both teams really like to throw the ball inside,” Paige said. “A lot of college teams now prefer to space the floor and shoot jump shots and drive and attack the basket.

“They really like to pound the ball inside, and they get the majority of their points in the paint. And we do the exact same thing. Hopefully we’ll be a little bit better at it.”

Senior forward Brice Johnson said the Tar Heels can’t afford to take any opponent too lightly.

“You don’t know what to expect coming into the tournament,” Johnson said. “You might have an off night and somebody might beat you.

“We are built to win [a national championship], it’s just we’ve got to go out there with the focus and the intensity to be able to go out there show it. We’ve got to be able to play defense great every night.”

Paige said the Tar Heels, coming off of an ACC Tournament Championship, are playing better late in the year as the seniors know it is their last run.

“It’s definitely a change,” Paige said. “But I think it comes from understanding that this is it and this is were you get a chance to be remembered.”

The journey to be remembered for the Tar Heels will begin at PNC Arena in Raleigh at 7:20 on Thursday night against Florida Gulf Coast.