Film Room: UNC leans on same quick screen over and over late in loss

There's something to be said for sticking with what's been working.

North Carolina held a lead for most of Thursday's Sweet Sixteen game against Wisconsin and appeared set to knock the No. 1 seed off. They had pushed the pace, as they do and as Wisconsin prefers not to do, limited turnovers and hit the offensive glass well enough.

And then things kind of got off the rails, owing more to Wisconsin getting unseasonably hot than UNC's offensive game plan going cold. A 51-44 lead became a 69-64 deficit over the course of nine minutes, and UNC found themselves on the ropes.

That's when UNC, in need of a big bucket, pulled out a pet play. And then did it again. And then ran very similar plays over and over down the stretch once it was clear they were working.

But let's back up and have a look at the initial play, which saw Marcus Paige come off a complex double-screen to pop free above the 3-point arch. It wasn't particularly effective getting him space, but it got the Tar Heels the look they wanted, and Paige canned the triple.

One good turn deserves another, as they say, and so on the very next possession, the Heels ran the exact same action, again freeing Paige for a three, this time with even more space.

The next trip down the floor, UNC ran a similar action, this time sending Paige around a single screen to get him switched onto Frank Kaminsky while on the move. That much worked, and the original screener, Isaiah Hicks, cut to the basket for a pass, getting fouled in the process. He'd miss a pair at the line, but the play produced a desired result.

With two threes and a foul drawn from Paige coming off screens on the weak side, it made sense to give it another shot. This time it was a decoy, with Paige coming high around the same screen but Joel Berry II opted to drive, drawing a foul in the process. Notice that while Berry did well to draw the foul, Paige would have found himself wide open for another three.

Despite these relative offensive successes, Hicks's missed free throws put the Tar Heels too far behind, and they were down 77-72 with 16 seconds to play. They needed a three and though they shot 35.1 percent from long range for the season, they were 8-of-11 to that point, and Paige, a 39.1-percent shooter, was 3-of-4.

And so it was another screen for a Paige three. This one didn't quite work out.

UNC may have come out on the losing end, but they got good mileage from a pet play late, with two threes, four three throws and just one miss over five possessions.