Marcus Paige

Classroom

Marcus Paige is double-majoring in history and media and journalism. He is a two-time second-team Academic All-American, a three-time All-Atlantic Coast Conference Academic Team selection and was the 2015 Skip Prosser Award winner as the top men’s basketball scholar-athlete in the ACC. He has been on the ACC Academic Honor Roll in all three seasons with a GPA above 3.0. He could become just the third Tar Heel to earn Academic All-ACC honors four times.

Character

Paige will be the first three-time captain in University of North Carolina basketball history. He has spoken to the University’s Board of Trustees on behalf of all the student-athletes on campus about his academic experiences. Head Coach Roy Williams says Marcus is one of the most responsible and trustworthy players he has coached in his 38 years in college basketball.

Community

Paige participates in numerous community activities including shopping for Christmas presents for underprivileged children, signing hundreds of autographed balls for charity and hosting a clinic for Special Olympians. He was asked to announce a gift to a young man whose town had raised funds for him in his fight against cancer. The town (about 90 minutes from Chapel Hill) raised the money but wanted Paige to surprise the young man by announcing the town’s gift to him. That shows how much Paige is thought of in this area.

Competition

Paige is averaging 11.9 points and has 95 assists and 33 turnovers in his senior season. He has a school record 275 career three-point field goals and is second all-time at UNC in free throw percentage at .848. He is the only three-time Academic All-America in UNC Basketball history and just the third three-time Academic All-America in ACC Basketball history. Paige won the Skip Prosser Award for the second year in a row as the top men’s basketball scholar-athlete in the ACC and is a semifinalist for the Arthur Ashe Award. Paige has earned All-Atlantic Coast Conference honors in each of the last two seasons (first team in 2014, second and third team in 2015). He has won UNC’s Most Valuable Player award in 2014 and 2015, the sixth Tar Heel to win MVP honors as a sophomore and junior with Lennie Rosenbluth, Billy Cunningham, Michael Jordan, Antawn Jamison and Tyler Hansbrough. Entering his senior season, he had 1.416 points, 474 assists and 225 three-pointers and had led UNC in scoring in each of the last two seasons. He is Carolina’s all-time leader in free throw percentage (.865) and is sixth in ACC history. Prior to the start of the season, Paige was just nine three-point field goals away from setting a new UNC record. He scored in double figures in 70 of 107 games, starting 105 in his first three years. He had 17 20-point games and two 30-point games prior to this year and was named a preseason first-team All-American by The Sporting News.