Williams, 74, coached the Tar Heels to three national championships in 18 seasons. He watched all four games on the first day of the Maui Invitational from a front-row seat under the basket.

Williams fell during the game against Dayton when Javon Bennett’s momentum carried him off the field and into a photographer sitting on the baseline. Bennett tripped over the photographer and ran into Williams, who was getting up. Both fell to the ground. Williams stood up, smiling, and said something to Bennett before the game continued.

Williams coached in the Maui Invitational seven times (twice with Kansas and five times with North Carolina), winning one championship with Kansas and three with North Carolina. Perhaps he had some advice for Grant and Bennett in his brief conversations with him. It is more likely that he offered words of encouragement.

Dayton (5-1) will need all the help it can get on the second day of the tournament. On paper, his task becomes even more difficult with a game against No. 5 Iowa State (3-1). The game begins on Tuesday at 8:30 p.m. or 3:30 p.m. on Maui. It airs on ESPNU.

It will be crucial for Dayton to put a game in which it blew a 21-point lead behind it, although Iowa State faces a similar situation after losing in an 83-81 loss to No. 4 Auburn blew an 18-point lead (5-0).

“It’s a tough loss,” Grant said. “We felt like we had a chance to win the game. So we have to be able to be resilient and focus on the next game. That’s what I’m trying to do right now.

“We can’t really relive what happened tonight. We didn’t go our way. Our boys fought. We gave everything we had. Give Carolina credit. They were able to win the game. Now we have to prepare for another tough, really challenging game tomorrow.”

Here are five things you should know about the game:

1. Series history: The programs played a two-game series in 1987 and 1988. Dayton lost both games: 72-62 on January 7, 1987 at Iowa State and 84-80 on January 9, 1988 at UD Arena.

Jeff Grayer, Iowa’s all-time leading scorer (2,502 points), scored 32 points in the first game and 20 points in the second game. Grant played in the first game and had eight points. Bill Uhl Jr., who is in Maui to watch his son Brady play, scored a combined 21 points in both games.

Dayton is 3-12 against the Big 12 with wins over Cincinnati in 2023, Kansas in 2021 and Texas A&M, now in the SEC, in 1999.

2. Basketball schools: Iowa State ranked 18th nationally last season (13,868). Dayton finished 20th (13,407).

3. Strong program: Iowa State has appeared in 10 of the last 13 NCAA Tournaments. It reached the Sweet 16 twice in coach TJ Otzelberger’s first three seasons (2024 and 2022).

Iowa State finished 29-8 last season and was picked to finish third out of 16 teams in the Big 12 behind Kansas and Houston.

4. Top players: Keshon Gilbert, a 6-foot-2 senior guard, leads Iowa State with 15 points per game. He scored 23 points against Auburn. He played his first two seasons at UNLV and scored 16 points against Dayton in a 60-52 win in Las Vegas, Nevada in 2022.

• Curtis Jones, a 6-5 senior guard, averaged 11.0 points last season and averaged 14.8 points this season. He played his first two seasons at Buffalo.

• Tamin Lipsey, a 6-1 junior guard, is averaging 11.8 points.

5. Maui Story: This will be Iowa State’s third appearance in Maui. It is 3-4 in the tournament with wins over Chaminade (1990), Illinois (2018) and San Diego State (2018).

Iowa State lost to Auburn when Gilbert turned the ball over with 13 seconds left in the game. Auburn went the other way and scored when All-American forward Johni Broome converted a missed shot with 1.2 seconds left in the game.

“After the game there is definitely a lot of disappointment in the locker room, you can imagine that,” said Otzelberger. “We told our guys, ‘Use the feeling you have right now, bottle it up and then turn it into something positive.’ You come to such a great tournament and play these great programs and you know that something like this can happen. You have to learn from it. In areas where we haven’t been as strong, we need to make sure we address those, recover and get better. I trust our guys that we can do this and we will use it to our advantage to get better.”

6. Connections: Dayton assistant coach James Kane spent three seasons (2018-21) at Iowa State on Steve Prohm’s staff.

7. Little things: KenPom.com gives Iowa State a 68% chance of winning and predicts a score of 74-68. Iowa State is No. 8 in the Pomeroy Ratings. Dayton is No. 37.

• Dayton’s third opponent on Maui will be No. 2 Connecticut (4-1) or Colorado (4-1). Dayton plays Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. (9:30 a.m. in Maui) if it beats Iowa State or 12 p.m. (7 p.m.) if it loses to Iowa State.