Already rewarded this season, Iona seeks upset of UNC in NCAA Tournament

From left to right: Asante Gist. Tajuan Agee and Rickey McGill field questions before Iona’s NCAA Tournament meeting with North Carolina. (Photo by Brian Beyrer/Iona College Athletics)

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Win or lose Friday, Iona’s season has already exceeded expectations from where it stood just six weeks ago, and even six weeks prior to that. But just because the Gaels have come so far so fast does not mean the four-time defending Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference champions are prepared to go down without a fight as the NCAA Tournament embraces the maroon-and-gold clad scrappers once more.

“We always thought we were a good team,” Asante Gist revealed as Iona — which started the season 2-9 entering conference play and was 7-15 overall as recently as February 8 — opens the postseason Friday night against North Carolina, the top seed in the Midwest Regional. “We always knew it was just minor things we had to get together, and we always had each other’s back.”

“We never looked and said, ‘Oh, we can’t do this.’ We always felt if we just got on the same page, that would be a scary sight. And now we’re here.”

The acclimation of Iona’s newcomers into head coach Tim Cluess’ system, coupled with the return of the squad to full health as the MAAC season entered its stretch run, served as the largest impetus behind the 10-game win streak the Gaels carry into Nationwide Arena this weekend, bringing it into battle against a UNC team much like Iona in its own right, with five players that are able to shoot and score efficiently in the same uptempo style favored by Iona, creating a challenge that junior forward Tajuan Agee is openly enthusiastic about answering.

“They like to get up and down, but we like to get up and down,” he said. “So it’s going to be a challenge that we want.”

Overcoming adversity has been a motif behind this season for Iona, and not just for its current roster — Scott Machado, the 2011–12 MAAC Player of the Year, fought through injuries and other setbacks before earning a 10-day contract with the Los Angeles Lakers Thursday — as the Gaels’ against-the-odds comeback was being crafted and honed into the potent rally it has since become over the last month. And for its architect, who now takes a sixth team to the highest postseason level in the sport, this trip may prove to be the most vindicating of them all.

“I think you can sit there — I said to my players and I meant it — just imagine what the story would be if we go from 2-9 to getting to play in the NCAA Tournament,” said Cluess. “And you’re looking at yourself, and everyone’s looking at me like, are you crazy? And part of me is saying to myself, ‘Am I crazy?’”

“But reality is when you do that and come back, and you can look back from where we were to where we are now. It feels like it’s been several years, not a few months, and to me, it was special because it was something brand new that the players really worked hard for. My assistant coaches worked their tails off to give these guys this opportunity, so I’m so proud of all of them and so happy for all of them to get this moment.”

Iona also takes the floor Friday with the knowledge that its situation is no longer impossible, thanks to UMBC’s historic upset of Virginia last year. Naturally, the Retrievers making history as the first No. 16 seed to advance to the second round was brought up to the Gaels, and one year after Cluess told his team to enjoy the moment and not die wondering what could have been — as he did prior to Iona facing Duke last March — his team is heeding that advice to the hilt.

“We’ve gotta play for 40 minutes just like they’ve gotta play 40 minutes,” senior point guard Rickey McGill astutely noted. “It’s a big game for us, bigger than any other game we’ve played this season.”

“It happened before, and it can happen again,” Agee said of a No. 16 seed emerging victorious. “So we’re going to come out and we’re going to play our hearts out and give it our all, and hopefully, we can get it done.”