SAN ANTONIO — As he had done so many other times, Fred Hoiberg called a timeout to prepare his team for the next possession.

Except this time, he was drawing up a play with 15 seconds left and with a chance to get his team to the Sweet 16.

DeAndre Kane took the ball to the right wing past a screen from Melvin Ejim, drove right into the teeth of the UNC defense and wildly finished over the top of two Tar Heel players, making it 85-83 and after that, a clock error ended the game.

On Sunday, mighty North Carolina was big, but Iowa State was better, winning its way into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2000.

“We’ve been playing like that all year and that’s how we’ve been successful,” Kane said. “Playing for each other, buying into coach’s system and loving the game of basketball. Sticking together through tough times and bad times.

“We knew we had to stick together at the end and that’s what we did and came away with the victory.”

Without Georges Niang to get the Cyclones a bucket in a drought, Kane acted as the facilitator of the offense, finishing with 24 points on 9-of-18 shooting, 10 rebounds and seven assists.

But without Niang’s production, others stepped up in his place. Daniel Edozie started, Ejim took Niang’s place in the two-man pick and roll offense and Monte Morris played more on the ball than usual.

“We were faced with some huge adversity and we came out and had a great performance,” Ejim said. “Guys stepped up and made plays. I’m really proud of these guys and really proud of this team, it was an incredible feeling at the end.”

Ejim finished with 19 points, Dustin Hogue had 14, Morris added 13 and Naz Long added 12 with four timely 3-pointers, including a late triple that came on a step-back in transition.

“They believed,” Hoiberg said. “One thing this team doesn’t lack is confidence. If we’re within a couple possessions at the end, we’re going to find a way to win it. We’ve done it all year.

“That’s been the biggest thing about this team that I’ve enjoyed, just how much they stick together during tough times.”

The tough times came throughout the entire game, but the Tar Heels nearly landed a knockout punch when they took a four-point deficit and turned it into a 10-0 run to make it 66-60 with 7:58 left in the game, spurring a Hoiberg timeout.

In that timeout, just as they did all season, Iowa State came together and withstood the UNC run, just before coming back with its own.

“We just huddled together and we told each other we’re going to fight,” Hogue said of that timeout. “We have so many guys who can make plays and so many guys with heart.

“With enough heart anything could happen in this ball game, no matter how much we were down.”

From there, Iowa State went on a run to tie the game, capped off by a Long 3-pointer to tie it at 81-all. After a Kane bucket in the lane and two McAdoo free throws, Kane drove the lane and won the game.

Then in the locker room, surrounded by the hordes of media, Kane took a second to think about the team meeting that was held before the game, where they told Niang they were going to leave everything on the court for him.

“It was definitely emotional, touching knowing that we couldn’t go out there with our brother, our leader,” Kane said. “He knew that we were going to play hard for 40 minutes, whether we came away with the win or not, we were going to leave it all out there for him.

“We did that and now we’re going to the Sweet 16.”