The Tar Heels improved to 15-0 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in the Roy Williams era.
COLUMBUS, Ohio – North Carolina played up to its top seed billing after regrouping from a shaky first half in running past No. 16 seed Iona, 88-73, on Friday.
On a day in which No. 1 seed Virginia trailed at half to No. 16 seed Gardner-Webb and No. 1 seed Duke trailed midway through the first half to No. 16 seed North Dakota State, the Tar Heels experienced similar pitfalls in the first half, shooting 32.5 percent from the floor while the Gaels made nine of their final 14 field goal attempts to take a 38-33 lead into halftime.
Iona led by as many as eight points in the first half, courtesy of 10 made three-pointers. The Gaels, who entered the NCAA Tournament averaging 8.8 three-pointers per game, finished 15-of-41 from long range, setting a new NCAA Tournament record by a UNC opponent (Weber State made 14 in 1999).
“I don’t think that they thought it was going to be easy,” UNC head coach Roy Williams told reporters after the game. “I just don’t think we had the passion to play. And especially on the defensive end when they’re spreading you, it’s not easy. You’ve got to get there and you can’t let a guy stare down at your feet and pull up shoot a three. You can’t let them drive to the basket and lay it up. It was a total breakdown on the defensive end and then they’re making the threes. We started looking at the score and I think perhaps got a little tight.”
The Tar Heels eliminated any thought of an upset with a 27-9 run in the opening eight minutes of the second half. They led by 20 with 6:02 to play.
UNC shot 45.2 percent for the game, including 60.6 percent after halftime, and held Iona to 40 percent shooting, including 32 percent after halftime.
Cameron Johnson led UNC with 21 points on 7-of-13 shooting to go along with seven rebounds and four assists. Nassir Little turned in one of his best performances of the season with 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting and four rebounds.
Williams improved to 29-0 all-time in the NCAA Tournament’s first round, including a 15-0 record at UNC.
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