There are no real moral victories in college basketball, especially not when you’re the ninth-ranked team in the country, but what UNC did in Lawrence on Friday night is definitely as close as you get. The Tar Heels were lifeless in the first half, going down by as many as 20, so the fact that this was even a game is remarkable. They turned it around in a big way and fell just short of knocking off the top-ranked Jayhawks, 91-89.
A little of everything went wrong for Carolina in the first half. They let Kansas shoot 59% from the field while working themselves into a world of foul trouble.