UNI basketball seals home game with North Carolina

Northern Iowa coach Ben Jacobson tweeted Thursday morning that the Panthers will host traditional powerhouse North Carolina this upcoming men's basketball season.

The game is set for Nov. 21, according to Jacobson's tweet. It will be a homecoming to the state of Iowa for Marion native Marcus Paige, the star North Carolina guard. Paige had been pushing for a UNI matchup for a while.

"I've talked to (North Carolina coach Roy Williams) 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 of Cedar Rapids late last year. "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."