North Carolina Basketball: North Carolina Tar Heels Defeat Fairfield, Three Takeaways From the Game

The North Carolina Tar Heels are off to a 2-0 start after taking care of business Sunday Night, defeating the Fairfield Stags 92-65 in Chapel Hill.

North Carolina is figuring out life without Marcus Paige and you can see the improvement of Joel Berry and Nate Britt because of his absence.

Fairfield tried to keep it close in the early going and went into the locker room down eight points at the half. But the Tar Heels tightened up in the second half, forcing Fairfield to turn over the ball and coming away with the win.

As a team the Tar Heels shot 56.2% from the floor. They also took care of the pill only turning it over 10 times in the contest compared to 19 turnovers by the stags.

North Carolina had most of the answers in this contest. The only answer they did not have was one for Fairfield’s Marcus Gilbert who finished with 25 points on 8 of 18 shooting from the floor.

The Tar Heels are living up to their No.1 ranking early in the season.

Here are the three things that we will take away from this game.

North Carolina is Getting Used to Life Without Marcus Paige

In the early going of this game Fairfield was able to stay close mostly because North Carolina did not have a calming influence on the floor.

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There were times they looked like they were rushing when they did not need to, and times when they were searching for something and did not appear to know how to find it.

It is understood that this is what life is going to be like without Marcus Paige.

This, in the long run, is the best thing that could happen to the Tar Heels because other players are going to find their roles in the grand scheme in order to keep the ship afloat.

UNC still played a pretty solid game, but they are going to show the most growth once Kenny Britt or Joel Berry is able to understand the problem, find a solution and settle the team down so that they can solve it together without Roy Williams calling a time out.

This team is going to be well prepared and vastly more matured because of the Marcus Paige injury. By the time he returns, there are going to be other players that will be able to add to the leadership Paige will provide.

Nate Britt is Finding His Stroke

Speaking of calming influences, being able to get some consistent outside shooting will keep Roy Williams calm in a major way.

Fairfield decided that they were going to force the Tar Heels to knock down shots in the early going by zoning the Tar Heels up.

When it was all said and done the Tar Heels knocked down 8 of 22 from three-point range for the game which is decent.

Nate Britt’s targeting was sharp with deep balling in this game with him hitting 4 of 6 from deep. Overall the 6-foot-1 guard was 6 of 9 from the floor and finished with 17 points and five assists for the game.

He did not play rushed and got his shots in the flow of the offense while also finding available shots for his teammates.

Nate Britt is more than capable of holding down the fort until Marcus Paige gets back and continuing to play well while Paige is running the show.

Through two games Britt has hit 11 of 17 from the field and 7 of 10 from beyond the three-point arc.

His season is off to a promising start.

Leaner, Meaner Kennedy Meeks is Taking Care of Business

Through two games you can have a solid debate about who has been the best player for the North Carolina Tar Heels.

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Keeping It Heel

Some would easily say Nate Britt because of the way that he has been shooting the rock from the floor.

But this writer is biased toward the big man, and the leaner, meaner Kennedy Meeks is doing an outstanding job for Roy Williams down in the blocks.

Meeks went into the Fairfield game after punishing Temple with a 25 point and 11 rebound performance Friday night.

He followed that up with an eight point 12 rebound performance tonight on the UNC frontline.

Overall the Tar Heels were dominant in the paint doing what they do best — grabbing every rebound in sight.

Brice Johnson had the chunky double-double with 16 points and 11 boards knocking down 8 of 10 free throws in the contest.

But even with that, you cannot keep your eyes off Kennedy Meeks. Those who have followed him know that he has worked hard to slim down, and he looks very spry on the court.

Kennedy Meeks looks serious, and along with Brice Johnson is going to be hell for teams to deal with in the paint.

Oh by the way, Isaiah Hicks is a baller too.  He had eight points and five rebounds. North Carolina’s big man rotation is pretty good.