It had been nothing but smiles around Chapel Hill for a while now. North Carolina has a football team in the heat of a conference championship race, and it’s basketball team had just been voted atop the pre-season AP poll for a record ninth straight time. Everything was going well for the Tar Heels on multiple fronts, until it wasn’t…
The University of North Carolina Men’s Basketball Team announced on Wednesday afternoon that starting senior point guard Marcus Paige suffered a fracture in his non-shooting hand on Tuesday in practice, and is expected to miss the next three to four weeks with the injury. Paige is no stranger to being banged up, as he played a majority of his junior year through multiple leg injuries en route to averaging a modest 14.5 points and 4.5 assists per game a year ago.
Marcus Paige has only missed one game in his entire career, so head coach Roy Williams is entering uncharted waters without his top point guard on a team expected by many to be a favorite to win the national championship in April. While it is unclear who will replace Paige in the backcourt, Joel Berry and Nate Britt are the first two names that come to mind in taking over the ball-handling duties for Carolina.
The Tar Heels will be participating in the Veterans Day Classic, as they open up their season in the event on November 13th against the Temple Owls.
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