University of North Carolina Ashville Athletics
Mike Gore’s "40-for-40": 2011 NCAA Tournament
03.23.2026 | Men's Basketball
The NCAA Tournament started last Tuesday night with the "First Four" in Dayton, Ohio.
It's been 15 years since the First Four debuted and do you know who played in the first ever First Four game and was the first winner?
Yes, it was UNC Asheville. The first ever First Four game came in 2011 when the Bulldogs traveled to Dayton to battle Arkansas Little Rock. And Asheville prevailed overtime, 81-77.
That 2011 Bulldog team is a special one in the annals of Asheville history. It was going through an up-and-down season until it won its final three games of the regular-season, including a dramatic win over regular-season champion Coastal Carolina, and then three tournament victories to punch its second ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
What a special three weeks it was for Asheville basketball. It was coming off two frustrating losses. The previous week had seen the Dogs blow big leads in two straight games. One was a loss at league foe Charleston Southern. On the bench for the Buccaneers that night helping the comeback was a young assistant coach named Mike Morrell. Later in the week, Asheville faced Northeastern in the Bracketbuster at Justice Center and lost a 19-point lead before falling, 84-83.
The Bulldogs would have to regroup quickly as they would travel to face a Coastal Carolina squad that had blown them out at Justice Center a month earlier. This was possibly veteran coach Cliff Ellis' best Chanticleer team that was running roughshod over the conference. However, their point guard hurt his knee and would miss the rest of the season and their top scorer would be ruled ineligible. Suddenly Coastal Carolina was down to eight players. Eight incredibly talented players but their depth had taken a huge hit.
Asheville would lead most of the game but could never put the Chanticleers away. The game was tied late when Junior guard Matt Dickey tried to win the game with a long jumper with three seconds left but missed and Coastal got the rebound with 2.7 seconds left.
It looked like the game would go to overtime but Matt Dickey made one of the greatest plays in the history of the program. Freshman forward Jaron Lane tipped a long inbounds pass. The ball went right to Dickey who stole the ball and hit a 27-footer as time expired to give the Bulldogs a dramatic win.
The game was broadcast on this new piece of technology called ESPN3. The shot gave Asheville some incredible national coverage. ESPN called it the "shot of the night." Matt was interviewed on the long bus ride home and several times the next day.
It was an incredible win but the Bulldogs didn't have time to bask in the victory. Two home conference games awaited, including a game with High Point just 48 hours after the win in Conway.
Asheville was ready to play and won handily, 76-62. The Bulldogs then finished the regular season with an easy 81-58 victory over Radford in the final regular-season home game at Justice Center. The three-game winning streak had propelled Asheville to a third-place finish in the regular-season and would allow the Bulldogs to start the Big South Tournament at home.
Justice Center would host one more game and it would be a tough one against a determined Charleston Southern club. Asheville was playing well though and built an 11-point lead midway through the second half but roared back to narrow the margin to 66-63 with less than a minute to play. Suddenly the Dogs were missing free throws and turning the ball over.
Leading 66-63, Dickey was fouled at the 45-second mark. He made both to give Asheville some breathing room. The Dogs would never let CSU score again as John Williams would score the final basket in Justice Center history with a resounding dunk.
On to the semifinals where they would face seventh-seeded High Point at regular-season champion Coastal Carolina. Asheville rolled into the semifinals with an easy 62-45 victory over the Panthers.
That set up a showdown with the Chanticleers for the Big South championship. Coastal was not thrilled with the loss to Asheville 10 days earlier on its home court. They publicly talked about how they had to watch Matt Dickey's steal and three-point shot repeatedly for the past 10 days. They couldn't wait for another shot at Asheville.
Be careful what you wish for.
UNC Asheville was ready to play from the start. The Bulldogs defense stifled the Chanticleers from the get-go. Junior guard Chris Stephenson set the tone with two steals in the first minute of the game and scored on layups to put Asheville in front to stay.
Despite a packed crowd of Coastal Carolina fans, the Bulldogs held the lead the entire game. Dickey provided another dagger to the Chanticleers when he sank a three-pointer with 1:30 remaining to put Asheville in front 56-47. Two Jaron Lane dunks sealed the win and the championship, 60-47.
Power forward John Williams limited Coastal Carolina's inside game with a Big South-championship game record six blocked shots, including three in the final five minutes of the contest.
Dickey was named MVP of the tournament with Primm and Williams joining him on the All-Tournament team.
Asheville awaited to find out whom it would play in the NCAA Tournament. And the Bulldogs found out on Selection Sunday that it would be a strong Arkansas Little Rock team from the Sunbelt Conference. The Bulldogs were headed to Dayton Ohio!
It was a historic night for college basketball when Asheville opened the tournament against the Trojans. The 2011 tournament was now 68 teams instead of 66 and the opening round was now four games instead of just one.
There was also a new TV agreement and CBS would send its top broadcast team to Dayton to cover the Bulldogs and Trojans. Jim Nantz, the voice of the NCAA Tournament for more than 20 years, would provide the play-by-play along with Steve Kerr and Clark Kellogg. This was before Steve Kerr would go on to coach the Golden State Warriors to four NBA titles. Nantz and Kerr met with the Bulldogs at practice the day before.
Asheville trailed for most of the game and it fell behind by 10 midway through the second half. But the Bulldogs kept coming and battling. Trailing by three with less than 20 seconds remaining in regulation, Asheville got the ball to Matt Dickey. He then sank a long three-pointer to tie the game at 72-72 with 11 seconds on the clock.
Jim Nantz on Dickey's shot – "Matt Dickey has hit the first big shot of this year's NCAA Tournament."
The game went to overtime and went back-and-forth before JP Primm and Asheville's defense delivered the victory. The junior guard went 5-of-6 from the free throw line to rally the Dogs from a 77-76 deficit to an 81-77 lead. His steal and two free throws with 12 seconds left sealed the win.
The victory was Asheville's 20th of the year and sent the Bulldogs to the second round of the NCAA Tournament where they would face Big East champion Pittsburgh. The Dogs fell 74-51 to the Panthers in a game that was much closer than the final score.
The win made the Bulldogs 2-0 in opening round games at Dayton as Asheville had won eight years earlier, also in overtime over Texas Southern.
So when you watch the NCAA Tournament over the next few years, watch that First Four game in Dayton. Remember it was the Bulldogs who played in the first ever First Four Game and were the first winner.
