When UNC men's basketball fell 92-89 to then-No. 1 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse over a month ago, the team showed flashes of what it could be.
Yes, the Tar Heels fell behind early. But they showed fight, crawling back from a 15-point halftime deficit and taking the lead in what could have been a poetic revenge game.
And then the same thing happened at the Maui Invitational: three big deficits, and this time, one successful comeback. But the Tar Heels lost to a skilled No. 2 Auburn team and tied their second biggest comeback in program history to mount Dayton. Michigan State was a bad loss, but everything seemed explainable. The season was young, and Hubert Davis' squad had time to work out the kinks before three major matchups against top-25 teams.
But the Tar Heels lost 94-76 in a beatdown against then-No. 10 Alabama. Then North Carolina looked to change the narrative against No. 7 Florida in the Jumpman Invitational. Still, the same story persisted.
And with Tuesday night's 90-84 loss to the Gators at the Spectrum Center, the UNC men's basketball team is now 0-5 against non conference Power Five opponents this season. The Tar Heels have just one Quad 1 win against Dayton, a key metric -- however flawed it may be -- utilized in postseason tournament seeding and at-large bids. And North Carolina is running out of time to add quality wins to its resume.
"We can't beat good teams by playing one half of basketball," first-year guard Ian Jackson said. "We gotta play two halves and play out the whole thing."
Just four minutes into the first half, the Tar Heels found themselves in a familiar position: facing an eight point deficit. In every matchup against a high-major school this year, North Carolina has found itself trailing by at least eight points.