Marcus Paige, JP Tokoto gear up for NC State

Marcus Paige might just love PNC Arena.

N.C. State’s home court is so kind to the junior guard that Coach Roy Williams has asked if Paige would like to play every home game there in Raleigh.

Unless the ACC grants that request in the next few hours, North Carolina and N.C. State will face off for the second time this season in Chapel Hill tonight.

That’s not a bad thing for Paige, though.

In five games against the Wolfpack, Paige has averaged 18.8 points per game while shooting 44 percent. Against everyone else, he drops 12.7 points, making 40 percent of his attempts.

Even this year, drawing more focus than ever before, Paige tallied 23 points in the two teams’ first matchup, which UNC won 81-79.

“This year, he’s even got more of the defensive attention and the shot hasn’t fallen in quite as much,” Williams said. “But I think he’s played so well, it’s hard to imagine anyone being able to do more with what he’s been able to get.”

And what he gets against N.C. State is something special. But why?

Is it his pregame meal? Or playlist?

“He goes out every night trying to give it his best, give it his all,” J.P. Tokoto said Monday. “It may be something against State that he just feels.”

“Hopefully that is the case and tomorrow he’s feeling it.”

If he’s not, though, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Williams calls Paige “naturally one of the best leaders that I’ve been around.”

It’s something the coach has pushed Paige towards since the first day the wide-eyed, teenaged guard took the helm his freshman year.

But that leadership has led the humble Paige to direct any and all blame towards himself.

Williams has had to remind his guard that just as wins aren’t achieved solely through one player’s efforts, losses are a team’s doing as well.

Though he’s shown his proficiency at it, Paige is not the only one who can lead this team.

That’s where Tokoto comes in, usually at 100 miles per hour, on a bee line for the moon.

The junior swingman has strayed from his high-flying, statement-making play in recent games, but rest assured, that’s over with.

“I definitely got away from that, just settling for jump shots,” he said. “To get to the rim more, to be more aggressive, I feel like that helps our team more.”

It was a put-back slam at Duke that spurred a Tar Heel run, and a 180 jam that gave UNC its first lead of the night, though it eventually fell in overtime.

It was a gutsy dunk from the free throw line against Georgia Tech that set the tone for the rest of the game, which culminated in UNC’s largest margin of victory since Dec. 27 against UAB.

Tonight, Tokoto’s gravity-defying efforts would be a welcome sight for his team, and so would Paige’s proof that a five-game statistical line against N.C. State is no fluke.

Does his coach see anything different in Paige’s eyes before he faces the Wolfpack? Does he expect to see it tonight?

“I’m not saying a word,” Williams said, all but knocking on wood.

Tokoto, however, was a bit less superstitious.

“He’s going to have a great game tomorrow night. I can feel it.”

sports@dailytarheel.com