The Iowa men’s basketball team’s matchup with North Carolina on Tuesday was its fourth game of the season, but its first test. It was a test the Hawkeyes expected to pass, and did.

After overpowering North Carolina Central, Southern, and Western Illinois in its first three games, No. 3 Iowa defeated its first real threat this season, No. 16 North Carolina, 93-80 in the ACC/Challenge at Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

A win to be proud of, sure. But not one to celebrate too much. Not for a team with the expectations the Hawkeyes have.

“We expected to win,” center Luka Garza said.

“This is a game we should have won,” point guard Jordan Bohannon said. “We’re at home, we’re one of the top teams in the country and we believe we can win a national title.”

Iowa’s first test is out of the way, but it’s a season full of them for the Hawkeyes.

On Dec. 19, Iowa competes against the top-ranked team in the nation, Gonzaga, in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Three days after that game, the Hawkeyes begin their 20-game Big Ten schedule. The conference currently has six ranked teams, three of them in the top five, and three other teams receiving votes in the AP poll.

After handling three inferior opponents to begin the season, any doubts that Iowa could hang with a top-tier team in the country disappeared only minutes into Tuesday’s game.

Sharp shooting on the perimeter from Iowa’s trio of 3-point threats — Joe Wieskamp, Jordan Bohannon, and C.J. Fredrick — had Iowa up early. The Hawkeyes started the game on an 11-2 run, and at one point Iowa led by 16 in the first half.

Iowa led by 12 at halftime, but faced resistance in the second half on its way to win No. 4 on the season.

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North Carolina scored eight quick points in the first 93 seconds of the second half to cut into Iowa’s lead. Midway through the final 20 minutes of game action, the Tar Heels took a one-point lead, their first of the night.

“There was no panic in that huddle, no panic on the bench, no panic by anybody who was on the floor,” head coach Fran McCaffery said. “Let’s face it, if you’re going to beat that team, that’s what you have to have.”

On Iowa’s next possession after losing the lead, Joe Toussaint drove to the hoop for two points to put Iowa back on top. North Carolina responded with a layup of its own the next time down the floor to regain the advantage.

But the Hawkeyes took the lead right back. Then they extended it. Then they sealed the game.

Bohannon hit a 3-pointer, which was followed up by another Toussaint score in the paint, which was followed up by a second-chance layup from Keegan Murray off of a Garza miss, and as Hawkeyes continued to make plays, all of a sudden, Iowa went on a 14-0 run to secure its 4-0 start.

“I think we performed how I hope and expected,” McCaffery said. “We’ve got a veteran club. We’re playing a really good team. You know they’re going to make a run, they always do. We didn’t wilt. We made some mistakes. But we stayed together.”

Four Hawkeyes finished in double figures on the night, led by Bohannon with 24 points (7-of-16 from 3-point range). Fredrick and Wieskamp scored 21 and 19 points, respectively, and both hit five 3’s. Garza was Iowa’s fourth-leading scorer with 16 points, but also collected 14 rebounds and blocked four shots.

When Iowa wins by 13 despite Garza, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Year, shooting 6-of-20 from the field, that’s a good sign for the Hawkeyes.

But there wasn’t much celebrating from players in the Black and Gold after the game beyond high-fives and some smiles. Not after the fourth game of the year for a team thinking ahead. Winning games in December is nice, but it’s only part of the process of preparing the team to be in position to do the same in March.

“We have a lot bigger goals and we have big teams on the horizon to get ready for,” Bohannon said. “So we can’t be satisfied. Our end goal is to win a national title, and we’re not going to let anything get in the way of that.”