No. 1 Seed UNC Rallies From Halftime Deficit to Knock Off No. 16 Seed Iona in First Round of NCAA Tournament

After a sluggish first half Friday night in Columbus that saw the No. 16 seed Iona Gaels take a stunning 38-33 lead into halftime, the top-seeded Tar Heels recovered to grab an 88-73 victory in their first game of the NCAA Tournament—earning the right to stay alive for at least one more game on Sunday.

Almost nothing went right for UNC (28-6) in the first half of the game, while Iona (17-15) made 10 three-pointers in the opening period to put the Tar Heels on big-time upset alert.

UNC would have become just the second No. 1 seed in the history of the tournament to lose an opening round game to a No. 16 seed, but order was restored back to normal in the second half.

Nassir Little’s 19 points off the bench came up huge for the Tar Heels, as they avoided a spirited upset bid from No. 16 seed Iona on Friday. (Todd Melet)

While it’s well known that the three-pointer is the great equalizer in March for the teams looking to wear Cinderella’s slipper, the Tar Heels were able to hold Iona to just 4-for-20 from long distance in the second half as they casually pulled away for the double-digit victory.

Using its dominant inside presence—scoring in the paint and outrebounding Iona 52-26–this UNC team made sure it would not be the answer to a trivia question in the future.

For head coach Roy Williams and company, the message is clear at this time of year. No matter what the score is, the job is simply to survive and advance.

As a result, just five more wins stand in the way between the Tar Heels and yet another national championship.

“I told them in the locker room, every tournament’s different,” Williams said after the game. “You build your momentum once you get in tournament.

“Some of you guys have heard this before, but I was on the staff of a pretty good team in 1982,” the coach added, in reference to UNC’s first national championship team under Dean Smith. “In the first game, we played James Madison in Charlotte. And we blew them out, 52-50.”

Senior wing Cameron Johnson led UNC with a team-high 21 points, while freshman Nassir Little added huge contributions off the bench with 19 points and four rebounds.

In addition to Johnson and Little’s strong performances, the Tar Heels also received 16 points and nine rebounds from Luke Maye and 10 points apiece from Coby White and Garrison Brooks—giving the team a total of five players in double figures.

Iona, meanwhile, was led by a game-high 26 points from guard Rickey McGill.

“If you’re a tough competitor, and you invest yourself into the game, you’re not just worried about the score,” Williams said. “You’re worried about how you’re playing. And I think for a couple moments there we were concerned about the score, more so than how we were playing.

“So I just tried to get us to focus on playing better,” he continued. “Playing better and doing what we’ve done all year long.”

Up Next:

The Tar Heels will take on No. 9 seed Washington on Sunday, with a trip to the Sweet 16 on the line. That game is set to tip-off at approximately 2:40 p.m.

Game Notes:

This was just the second time in UNC history that the Tar Heels have trailed at halftime against a No. 16 seed. The first was back in 1997 when Fairfield held a seven-point lead at the break against UNC in Winston-Salem.
Iona’s 15 three-pointers were the most made by any Tar Heel opponent so far this season.
Roy Williams is now 29-0 as a head coach during opening round play of the NCAA Tournament.

FINAL BOX SCORE

Cover photo via Todd Melet

No. 1 Seed UNC Rallies From Halftime Deficit to Knock Off No. 16 Seed Iona in First Round of NCAA Tournament

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