PORTLAND, Ore. — Caleb came up big — but not that Caleb. Iowa State senior Caleb Grill had one of the best games of his life, scoring a career-high 31 points and guiding Iowa State to a second-half come-from-behind 70-65 win over No. 1 North Carolina in Friday’s Phil Knight Invitational semifinal.
Tar Heels star Caleb Love had 12 points, but only three points in the second half. A UNC team that had been flirting with fire by playing close games against mid-major opponents finally got burned by failing to execute its offense against the first power-conference opponent the Tar Heels (5-1) played this season.
Iowa State, which two seasons ago went 2-22, has started a second consecutive season 5-0 under second-year coach T.J. Otzelberger, who is 6-7 against AP Top 25 teams at Iowa State. The 5-0 Cyclones will play either UConn or Alabama in Sunday’s PKI championship game.
The victory was just the third time Iowa State had defeated the No. 1 team in the AP rankings in 23 tries. The Cyclones had victories against top-ranked Oklahoma on Jan. 18, 2016 and Kansas on Jan. 14, 1957.
This story will be updated