The North Carolina Tar Heels are set for a top 10 matchup in the Dean Smith Center Tuesday night. And they’ll have an addition to the lineup in senior guard Marcus Paige.

UNC head coach Roy Williams said at his press conference on Monday that Paige would start, if he felt healthy leading up to tipoff.

“He’s our best player, our best defensive player,” Williams said, “and that’s what everybody forgets. I think that we’ve got to get a lot better defensively than the way we played those first six games. I think that’ll help us and his intensity level helps raise everybody else’s level too.

“That’s something we need to have at a higher level on a more consistent basis.”

Williams adds Paige practiced for the first time five-on-five on Saturday and that Paige will “likely” replace Theo Pinson in the starting lineup.

Paige said he felt good after going through a couple of days of full practice.

“My body feels good. My hand feels good,” Paige said. “I guess my hand won’t be technically, fully 100 percent for a while, but I don’t have any pain. To me, that’s 100 percent. If I don’t have to worry about it or think about it, I feel 100 percent.”

Paige did concede he probably won’t be “peak Marcus” right out of the gate but said he’s excited to get back on the floor with his teammates.

And the ninth-ranked Tar Heels have a tough matchup with a former conference foe – the second-ranked Maryland Terrpains.

Sophomore forward Justin Jackson says the team is excited to get “back to normal” with their senior leader on the court.

“Not having him out there those first, what, six games was definitely different,” Jackson says. “Having him out there the last, I guess what, two real practices and then walk through yesterday, it’s great to have him back out there.”

The game is part of this year’s ACC/Big Ten Challenge and pits Roy Williams with one of his former assistants in Mark Turgeon.

Carolina fans will see a familiar face for Maryland with former Duke guard Rasheed Sulaimon, who transferred to Maryland after being dismissed from Duke.

Tipoff of the top-ten matchup in the Dean E. Smith Center is set for 9:30.

WCHL’s coverage of the game will begin at eight o’clock with Countdown to Tipoff Presented by UNC Healthcare on 97.9 FM/1360 AM.

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