The Iowa Hawkeyes will be on the road tonight in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge when they visit 12th ranked North Carolina. The Hawkeyes are 4-2 while the Tar Heels lone loss was to Butler in a 5-1 start.
“Anytime you play in this challenge you are going to play a terrific opponent, but everybody knows that Carolina is a little different,” Iowa coach Fran McCaffery says. He calls North Carolina one of the country’s marquee programs. “I played in that league, I coached in that state, I know what that means…it’s just a great opportunity for our guys to put together a game plan and try to go on the road beat a top 5 team in a difficult environment,” McCaffery says.
North Carolina’s leading scorer is Linn-Mar native Marcus Paige. The junior guard is averaging just over 15 points per game. McCafferey says Paige can have the ball or be off the ball and does whatever his team needs and says that’s why he was a preseason player of the year candidate.