College basketball: Iona suffers first loss to Belmont, will face No. 4 Kansas on Sunday

After Iona pulled off an upset of No. 10-ranked Alabama on Thanksgiving, the program's first win over a top 10-ranked opponent in 41 years and the MAAC's first upset of a top 10-ranked team in conference history, the Gaels fell to Belmont in the ESPN Events Invitational semifinals, 72-65.

Friday night's loss marks Iona's first of the season, after starting 6-0.

"Coach Pitino had been warning us about this day for quite some time," Iona assistant coach Casey Stanley said. "Getting off to that poor start and trying to save the day at the end, and finally, the guys see it. They have to prioritize the decisions we make early and how we're playing. We can't just assume we're going to bail ourselves out at the end."

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The Gaels had won a couple of games that came down to the wire, but they couldn't muster the necessary plays to sustain their winning momentum.

Despite a sluggish start on both ends of the court, Iona eventually settled in and erased an early 13-point deficit. Belmont held onto a 38-36 lead at the half.

The game remained a closely-contested affair until the final buzzer. With nine minutes remaining, Ryan Myers scored to give Iona a temporary 58-57 lead.

The Gaels went cold on the court, only making two shots for the rest of the game, with one of those baskets coming in the closing seconds when the Bruins had already pulled away.

They also struggled with turnovers and couldn't get into a rhythm late.

"It was hard, because we would make a mistake and we all tried to get it back with one shot, one pass or one home run play," Stanley said. "Instead of being consistent and doing the things that have helped us down the stretch and making good decisions, we made some poor passes. We took some poor shots. We had some defensive breakdowns late in the clock and fouled."

Walter Clayton Jr. had a team-high 13 points, with five rebounds, off the bench. Nelly Junior Joseph added 12 points, 15 rebounds and two blocks. Iona had 11 of its 13 turnovers in the second half.

For Belmont, Ben Sheppard finished with a game-high 25 points. Nick Muszynski had 19 points on 8 of 12 shooting, with eight rebounds and three blocks.

"They pass the ball so well, they cut, they move without it," Stanley said of Belmont. "You've got to be locked in for the entire 30 seconds of the shot clock and if you lose sight of your man off the ball, he's cutting backdoor for the layup."

After pulling off a monumental win for the program, and Pitino's biggest since arriving at Iona, the Gaels were afraid of a letdown.

Stanley doesn't believe the loss could be attributed to complacency or still being caught up in Thursday's victory.

"Coach Pitino spent his entire time spent his entire time making sure that they did not feel too much satisfaction and that they'd be ready to go," Stanley said. "That was a big point of his. We have an older veteran group that have had success in their college careers, so we're hoping that was not the case. It was just a matter that we ran into a really good team and we didn't really execute."

After playing on back-to-back days, the Gaels will have a couple of days to regroup and prepare themselves for Sunday's third-place game.

Although they'll be playing in the consolation bracket, their next opponent is no pushover. Iona will prepare to take on Kansas, the fourth-ranked team in the country.

The Jayhawks also had their undefeated start come to an end, after they were stunned in the semifinals by a buzzer-beater from Dayton. The Flyers won, 74-73, dropping Kansas to 4-1.

Kansas is led by senior Ochai Agbaji, who is averaging 24.3 points per game — the third-highest scoring mark in the country. The Jayhawks also feature junior guard Christian Braun, who averages 12.0 points and a team-high 7.0 rebounds per game, as well as former Arizona State standout and graduate transfer Remy Martin.

Martin enters with 11.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.

As a team, the Jayhawks rank fifth in the country in offensive efficiency and 20th in defensive efficiency, according to KenPom. Although they have skilled shooters, they excel inside the arc, where they make 59.0% of their attempts (14th best in the country).

Defensively, they are adept at shutting down opponents from the three-point line, limiting them to just 28.3% from beyond the arc.

"They're super athletic, they have size, and they run the floor extremely well," Stanley said of Kansas. "Transition defense is going to be a priority. It's something we didn't do a good job with today, so it's something that we can build off of. They put a lot of pressure on the rim and in the paint, so we have to do a better job of getting back and not giving up lobs and dunks, and offensive rebounds. We have to handle their pressure, then be smart with the ball."

Iona will try to pull off another big win and topple a second top 10-ranked team this week. Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on Sunday from Orlando.

Follow Eugene Rapay on Twitter at @erapay5 and on Instagram at @byeugenerapay.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: College basketball: Iona loses to Belmont, will face No. 4 Kansas