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He knocked on the door around 10:30 p.m.—not long after the ACC Tournament semifinal loss to Duke at Madison Square Garden.
North Carolina's Justin Jackson was still in his standard postgame attire—gray and black suit, blue shirt and black pants—when he entered his parents' 15th-floor room at New York City's Four Seasons Hotel. Sitting on a bench at the foot of the bed, the 21-year-old leaned forward and buried his head in his hands.
"This is tough," he said.
Less than a week after being named ACC Player of the Year, Jackson had missed 16 of his 22 field goal attempts against Duke, his worst performance in a maddening four-game stretch in which he shot just 33.