Paige to make return trip to home state?

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - Roy Williams has a history of taking seniors to their home states so they can play one game in front of their home fans.

For Marion native and Linn-Mar graduate Marcus Paige, that means returning to Iowa. The North Carolina junior, who averages 15.2 points a game, already has discussed with Williams the possibility of playing one game in Iowa.

'I've talked to Coach about it a couple of times and there's something in the works with, I think, Northern Iowa trying to schedule them to play at Northern Iowa next year because they just have the most flexibility in their schedule,” Paige told The Gazette on Tuesday. 'I'm not sure if it's finalized anything but we've talked about it and it would be pretty cool because it's only an hour or so away from home. For me to do that would be a lot of fun.”

Williams said nothing is finalized with regards to future scheduling. Of course there's the possibility that Paige - a preseason All-American - could enter the NBA draft after the season, too. That would prevent North Carolina from traveling to Northern Iowa.

Any high-profile game played at Northern Iowa - whether it's North Carolina or an instate game - would be held at the McLeod Center.

'We'll have to wait and see,” Williams said. 'We don't have the schedule for next year completed. I don't think they'll let him stay past next year so if we're going to get it done, we'll have to get it done next year.”

Northern Iowa Athletics Director Troy Dannen echoed Williams' remarks.

'There is no scheduling agreement for North Carolina and Northern Iowa to play next season at this time,” Dannen said.

Paige already has played Iowa State in the NCAA tournament and will face Iowa on Wednesday. He said 'it would be cool” to play three teams from his home state in his college career.

'It's something I never anticipated when I came down here,” Paige said. 'The chances of actually having that happen were, at the time, slim in my eyes. I didn't think I'd be able to play against any of the Iowa teams, let alone all three. So that would be pretty unique, and it would be weird to see a guy that leaves the state end up playing every single team in the state.”

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