The UNC senior guard somewhat broke out of a massive slump by scoring 12 points on 4-9 shooting, including 3-8 from 3-point range in Carolina's 89-62 win over Boston College at home Saturday. Here i what Paige had to say about his performance:
On the team performance against BC:
We played ok. We shot the ball a little better. I think we were 50% for a couple halves so that was an improvement on the way we’ve been playing offensively. We did some things that I hope can help us moving forward.
How good was it to see the ball go through the basket?
Yeah, I mean it felt good. I was 1 for 4 from the free-throw line which is inexcusable on my part, and I kind of started the trend today of bad free-throw shooting. But it felt good for me, I mean I got some really good looks. I took a couple bad threes but take those away and I was 3 for 6.
On his quick two shots after the first made three:
When I hit my first three I was like “we’re good, let’s hoop.” It felt great. I felt great this week of shooting, better than I have been. It felt great on the first look so I decided to get a couple extras up just to test the gun out and make sure it was working. One of them probably should have counted, it was an illegal screen.
On the look on his face after making the first 3-pointer and what he said
I want you to go to the gym, miss twenty-something in a row, and then make one and have the whole arena cheer for you and let’s see how that feels. It felt good obviously. I’ve never missed that many shots in a row in my life so it was very relieving.
It was just a sigh of relief I didn’t really say anything. I just came off of our big three set, got a good shot, I was finishing forward and it just went through. Just a big deep breath. It felt like a big monkey jumping off my back. It was just a good feeling.
On his shooting mechanics
I went back and watched synergy clips of all my misses and all my makes separately and, you know, today on a couple that I missed I was fading away I was shooting fade always quickly instead of holding my follow-through. I’ve made it a point all week to hold my follow-through and stay in on my shot. Obviously its turned out better than the past couple games.
On mental aspects of staying confident in his shot
Just reps. We do a five-minute shooting drill and I broke my own record this week in practice. That just goes to show the confidence I have in myself. I’m missing in the games but I look back but I’m fading away, I’m not saying in on my shots. So I correct that. I’m confident with where I’m at right now.
On the drill he mentioned:
It’s a five-minute shooting drill where you shoot three threes and one two around the arc. Coaches want us to get like 55, I think got 81 this week which is the highest I’ve got.
On the upcoming schedule
You want to say that you look at every stretch of the season and every stretch of the ACC schedule the same, but that’s just not human nature. I mean obviously we know we have road games coming up against really good opponents. These next 10 games are a lot bigger that the first 8 in terms of match-ups and what we have at stake. This is when it gets fun to me. I love this part of the schedule. This is when you can potentially separate yourself as the best team in the ACC.
On defensive improvement today
I think we had 30 points off turnovers or something like that. We know we want to establish our pressure defense. Our offense is pretty good. We have been struggling offensively the last couple of games but we know our offense will come around. Our defense has a chance to make us elite and, you know, even more dominant than we have been recently. So that has been our biggest focus. They also threw the ball away a little bit today but a lot of that was because of our pressure.
On feeding off defensive intensity when his shot is not falling:
Especially lately when I have not been making shots, I want to be a positive influence on the game, scrapping on defense, getting assists, attacking the basket, making chances happen. That’s what I try to do. You know, when I’m making shots I want to be that guy also.
- Adam Kaus
On the team performance against BC:
We played ok. We shot the ball a little better. I think we were 50% for a couple halves so that was an improvement on the way we’ve been playing offensively. We did some things that I hope can help us moving forward.
How good was it to see the ball go through the basket?
Yeah, I mean it felt good. I was 1 for 4 from the free-throw line which is inexcusable on my part, and I kind of started the trend today of bad free-throw shooting. But it felt good for me, I mean I got some really good looks. I took a couple bad threes but take those away and I was 3 for 6.
On his quick two shots after the first made three:
When I hit my first three I was like “we’re good, let’s hoop.” It felt great. I felt great this week of shooting, better than I have been. It felt great on the first look so I decided to get a couple extras up just to test the gun out and make sure it was working. One of them probably should have counted, it was an illegal screen.
On the look on his face after making the first 3-pointer and what he said
I want you to go to the gym, miss twenty-something in a row, and then make one and have the whole arena cheer for you and let’s see how that feels. It felt good obviously. I’ve never missed that many shots in a row in my life so it was very relieving.
It was just a sigh of relief I didn’t really say anything. I just came off of our big three set, got a good shot, I was finishing forward and it just went through. Just a big deep breath. It felt like a big monkey jumping off my back. It was just a good feeling.
On his shooting mechanics
I went back and watched synergy clips of all my misses and all my makes separately and, you know, today on a couple that I missed I was fading away I was shooting fade always quickly instead of holding my follow-through. I’ve made it a point all week to hold my follow-through and stay in on my shot. Obviously its turned out better than the past couple games.
On mental aspects of staying confident in his shot
Just reps. We do a five-minute shooting drill and I broke my own record this week in practice. That just goes to show the confidence I have in myself. I’m missing in the games but I look back but I’m fading away, I’m not saying in on my shots. So I correct that. I’m confident with where I’m at right now.
On the drill he mentioned:
It’s a five-minute shooting drill where you shoot three threes and one two around the arc. Coaches want us to get like 55, I think got 81 this week which is the highest I’ve got.
On the upcoming schedule
You want to say that you look at every stretch of the season and every stretch of the ACC schedule the same, but that’s just not human nature. I mean obviously we know we have road games coming up against really good opponents. These next 10 games are a lot bigger that the first 8 in terms of match-ups and what we have at stake. This is when it gets fun to me. I love this part of the schedule. This is when you can potentially separate yourself as the best team in the ACC.
On defensive improvement today
I think we had 30 points off turnovers or something like that. We know we want to establish our pressure defense. Our offense is pretty good. We have been struggling offensively the last couple of games but we know our offense will come around. Our defense has a chance to make us elite and, you know, even more dominant than we have been recently. So that has been our biggest focus. They also threw the ball away a little bit today but a lot of that was because of our pressure.
On feeding off defensive intensity when his shot is not falling:
Especially lately when I have not been making shots, I want to be a positive influence on the game, scrapping on defense, getting assists, attacking the basket, making chances happen. That’s what I try to do. You know, when I’m making shots I want to be that guy also.
- Adam Kaus
