UNI set to host North Carolina on Nov. 21

CEDAR FALLS - A matchup that was hinted at during the non-conference portion of last year's men's basketball season is now a reality.

Northern Iowa will host North Carolina on Nov. 21 at McLeod Center, which will bring Linn-Mar grad and Marion native Marcus Paige to his home state. Tar Heels head coach Roy Williams has long had a reputation of taking star players close to home in their final seasons, and ultimately that's what led to signing off on this game.

'It really came down to the decision (of) when Coach Williams talked to Marcus, asking if he was interested in coming back here to play a game and Marcus told Roy that this is something he'd like to do. That was all of it,” UNI Coach Ben Jacobson said Thursday. 'Roy has done that throughout the course of his career when he's had an opportunity to take one of his players back close to home. He's done it a number of times. Obviously that says a lot about him and the way in which he thinks about not just his program but the game of college basketball - and obviously his guys.”

Williams confirmed as such to The Gazette on Thursday, as well. He said a mutual admiration for Jacobson made honoring Paige's wishes easy.

'We wanted to give Marcus an opportunity to play in his home state and we wanted to play against a quality opponent, which Northern Iowa certainly is,” Williams said. 'I've known and admired Jake going back to when he was an assistant for Greg McDermott. He's a great guy. They have an outstanding program. I know Marcus is excited about being able to play in the state of Iowa for the first time as a Tar Heel.”

UNC's trip to Cedar Falls will reunite old friends and foes from their days playing high school basketball in the Mississippi Valley Conference, as well as in AAU. Former Linn-Mar teammate Matt Bohannon and childhood friends rivals in Cedar Rapids Washington grad Wes Washpun and Marion grad Kasey Semler. Several others on the team have played with or against Paige at one time or another before he returns to Iowa.

'It's a really cool thing. To have it finalized is pretty exciting and I think it's going to be a good thing for us,” Bohannon said Thursday. 'We (Marcus and I) were pretty close in high school, and we still keep in touch occasionally, but not on an everyday basis. I'm sure we'll be in touch once or twice before the game. But no trash talk or anything like that.”

North Carolina will bring in a loaded roster, returning starters Paige, Brice Johnson, Kennedy Meeks and Justin Jackson from a Sweet Sixteen team. The Tar Heels are one of the favorites to start next season atop the various polls, and should bring one of the best teams in the country to McLeod Center.

What awaits is a team that will have lost its best player in Seth Tuttle and key contributors in Deon Mitchell and Nate Buss. But the Panthers also return vital parts of last year's 32-3, Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship team in Washpun, Bohannon, Jeremy Morgan, Wyatt Lohaus and Paul Jesperson.

'There's a good chance they'll be ranked No. 1 in the country. They'll be ranked 1 or 2, I would think. That, by itself, tells us what kind of challenge it's going to be,” Jacobson said. 'Obviously it's really, really good for our program. It'll really be good for this upcoming year with the team we've got coming back. It's really exciting on all fronts.

'For our team that we've got back, it's a great opportunity. I know our guys are excited about that part of it as well.”

The boost UNI and its ticket office should get from this matchup will obviously be high.

What will that translate in terms of environment at tipoff? Probably nothing anything like UNI fans have experienced, Jacobson said.

'The environment should be every bit as good as anything we've seen in the McLeod Center,” Jacobson said. 'That's something everyone can be excited about - the players, our fans, the community. In a lot of ways, the state of Iowa, to have North Carolina come into our building and be here. And to have Marcus be a part of that is something we can all look forward to.”

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