It was deja vu for the UNC Basketball program on Tuesday.
In No. 7-ranked Florida's 90-84 win over the Tar Heels in the Jumpman Invitational, UNC was overmatched in the first half. The Tar Heels have struggled to come out firing all year, and against Florida, the comeback effort once again fell short.
For already the third time this season, UNC appeared outclassed by a top-ten opponent — a troubling sign for a team hoping to compete for a national championship.
The first half was reminiscent of UNC's prior games against ranked opponents. The Gators jumped out to a double-digit lead by quickly taking control of the game. They seemingly couldn't miss a shot from beyond the arc; the Tar Heels struggled to put one through the hoop. Over ten minutes into the game, Florida converted more triples than UNC had field goals.
The Gators entered the break up 46-34. Their lead reached as high as 17 in the opening frame.
But as has been the script all season, UNC showed life out of the half.
The Tar Heels rushed out to an 11-0 run to cut their deficit to just one. An and-1 layup by Seth Trimble with 7:50 remaining in the game gave UNC its first lead of the game since 2-0. It looked like a completely different team.
Reminiscent of the Kansas game, though, as soon as UNC would take a lead, Florida would respond. And as the best teams in the country do, the Gators found a way to win.
An alley-oop to Jalen Washington with four minutes remaining gave the Tar Heels a four-point lead and ignited the bench. But the Gators kept crawling back and with 54 seconds remaining, they took the lead for good. As has been a consistent pattern all season, UNC could not convert on the big shots down the stretch.
UNC will look to earn its first win against a ranked opponent this season on Saturday against No. 18-ranked UCLA. The game will be part of the CBS Sports Classic in Madison Square Garden.