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Front Page Follow-Up: 10 more facts on Taylor Hartzog and Marcus Paige

On Friday, The Daily Tar Heel published "You are the turning queen," a feature on dance team captain Taylor Hartzog. The story focuses on her as a dancer and her relationship with basketball player Marcus Paige — but not everything made the story. 

Assistant Arts & Entertainment Editor Ryan Schocket went back into his notes to find 10 more interesting facts about Hartzog and Paige.

1. Hartzog, who’s an admissions ambassador, wants Paige and Brice Johnson to crash one of her campus tours — and Paige said he wants to do it.

“(Taylor) has always wanted me and Brice to crash one of her tours. People would be like, ‘What is going on? Is that Marcus Paige?’ She was going to act like she didn’t know who I was. I’m really hoping I get a chance to do that,” Paige said.

2. Paige’s favorite dance team performance is the Britney Spears dance.

“The one they do at home games this year to Britney Spears is pretty cool. I shouldn’t know that because I was playing in the games, but I do notice that stuff,” Paige said.

3. Although post-graduation plans are still in the works for Paige, he said he has one more goal: to be Twitter verified.

“I want that blue checkmark,” Paige said.

4. The first time Paige’s mom Sherryl met Hartzog, it wasn’t her.

“(Sherryl) came up to our poster table, and I was away from the table at the time. She walked up to a girl and was like, ‘It’s so good to meet you!’ and was so sweet to her. And the girl’s name was Kasey. Kasey was like, ‘Oh no, no, no, ma’am. I’m Kasey. Taylor will be back in a few minutes,’” Hartzog said.

5. But despite the original mis-introduction, Hartzog is close to Paige’s mom.

“Now, her and my mom are really good friends. They text each other all the time,” Paige said.

6. Hartzog is friends with Paige’s friends from Iowa. She hung out with them during the Final Four tournament in Houston.

“I really enjoy spending time with all of them. Obviously I like him, and we tend to have the same taste in people. His friends are really awesome. I have so much respect for anyone who would fly all the way down from Iowa,” Hartzog said.

7. Paige loves when little kids come up to him.

“Marcus especially loves little kids, so when little kids come up to him, his eyes light up. He’ll sit there and talk to them for hours,” Hartzog said.

8. Paige and Hartzog like to go to La Res but have started going to TOPO because of the barrage of fans who want pictures.

“We usually go to bars — we’re too old for frats. We like to go to La Res. It’s pretty fun. Lately, this year, we’ve been going to TOPO. It’s a little less like, ‘Oh, take a picture with me,’” Paige said.

9. They used to go out a lot, but now they tend to stay in and watch movies.

“Until she started dating me, she hasn’t seen any movie ever. I try to get her to see movies that I think are funny. She hasn’t seen any Will Ferrell movies, so I’ve been trying to show her some of those. Movies like ‘Pulp Fiction’ and ‘Shawshank Redemption’ — she hasn’t seen any of those,” Paige said.

10. The two seniors plan on being together after college.

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“I don’t know where I’m gonna end up," Paige said. "I can be in any different city playing professionally or possibly playing overseas. We plan on being together for a while, so I think we’ll make it work, no matter how far away we are.”

@RyanSchocket

arts@dailytarheel.com