UNC Basketball comes up short against Alabama in the Sweet 16

The UNC basketball program's season came to an end on Thursday night, as the Alabama Crimson Tide battled back from a double-digit deficit to knock off the No. 1 seed in the West Region.

It started as a literal track meet between two fast-paced teams, as the first 20 minutes featured a lot of offense and not much defense. North Carolina knocked down 10 three-pointers in the first half, as an 11-2 run to end the half put them up eight heading into the locker room.

However, the Tar Heels came out historically cold in the second half, as they went from shooting 52.6% in the first half to an awful 25% over the final 20 minutes of action.

You can point to various different things that hurt the Tar Heels in this one.

For starters, All-American RJ Davis was not himself. This was the first game all season in which the senior guard didn't make a three-point field goal. He finished with 16 points but made only four of 20 shot attempts, as he couldn't find a rhythm throughout.

An Armando Bacot missed dunk, an ill-advised three-point field goal attempt from Jae'lyn Withers in the final minute with the Tar Heels up one, some questionable shot attempts, and, at times, a lack of focus regarding rebounding the basketball. All these types of things come back to haunt you, as Alabama gained momentum and ran with it to advance to the Sweet 16 for the first time in 20 years.

Of course, there's many questions that you can ask from this one, especially the different lineups that Hubert Davis elected to utilize. Elliot Cadeau and Seth Trimble had very strong starts but were essentially tied to the bench late in the second half, as Davis used Paxson Wojcik and the aforementioned Withers in lineup combinations that we haven't seen all season long.

The UNC basketball program had every opportunity to win this game but didn't. It's frustrating, given what a great season this group had in Chapel Hill, but unfortunately, the main goal for this season wasn't achieved.

They'll be plenty of time to talk about the future of the program, but for now, this loss stings.