The calm before the storm is what is upon the North Carolina Tar Heels before they visit the Duke Blue Devils in Cameron Indoor Stadium on Wednesday night. The Tar Heels are reeling heading into the heated rivalry having lost three of four games. Meanwhile, the Blue Devils have won five in a row including two over ranked opponents. That’s not exactly the best forecast if you are Roy Williams and the Tar Heels.

While the minds of many might have been scattered in the wake of the death of Dean Smith and a triple murder in the community, the Tar Heels were outmatched in a recent 13-point loss to the Pittsburgh Panthers. One of the reasons for the loss was the play of point guard Marcus Paige. The ACC Preseason Player of the Year shot a dismal 3-for-11 from the field to finish with eight points. Even worse was Paige’s inept shooting from downtown, going 1-for-7.  On those same 11 shots, Brice Johnson scored 19 points on seven made field goals.

Overall in the game, the Tar Heels shot 49.2 percent from the field. Take away the shooting from Paige and that number is well over 50 percent. If Paige is going to take the same mount of shots, then he has to be more efficient from the field.

While it is understandable Paige is a focal point for opponents and takes on an enormous amount of responsibility, the Tar Heels need to have better options when he is off. Paige is shooting just 40 percent from the field on the year and 37.5 percent from behind the arc. Is it that hard for coach Williams to create offense for the rest of the team? Both Kennedy Meeks and Brice Johnson are capable big men who are averaging more than 12 points and seven rebounds per game while shooting well over 50 percent from the field. Getting them the ball in the paint would likely result in a higher percentage from the field and ease the burden of pressure away from Paige.

The Tar Heels like to run and Paige is a huge part of that, but the leader of the team simply cannot shoot those percentages for the group to be successful. Leaving it on the eve of the Tar Heels’ biggest game of the season against freshman phenom Jahlil Okafor and the Blue Devils might not be the best time to fix it either. If it does not come on Wednesday in a hostile environment, the adjustment has to be made in the future.

The talent is still all in place for this team to do significant damage in the ACC and NCAA tournament. The Tar Heels just need to tweak the game plan a bit to get it done.

Michael Costeines is the ACC basketball Blogger for www.Rantsports.com. Follow him on Twitter @MCosteines, “Like” him on Facebook or add him to your network on Google.