No one wants to lose. Ever.
Not the fans. Not the players. Not the coaches. But it's part of sports. Very rarely do you go an entire season without a loss, much less multiple losses.
Dean Smith once said:
"If you make every game a life-and-death proposition, you're going to have problems. For one thing, you'll be dead a lot"Dean Smith
UNC Basketball experienced the highest of highs on Saturday night, and somehow was expected to move on, get on a plane, and travel to Miami and play a game 72 hours later with no hangover from the previous game.
That's a difficult task.
And unfortunately, for a program that's been inconsistent over the last 5 years, this team doesn't have a lot of experience to fall back on for winning a big game in the fashion they did and then turning around to focus on the next opponent.
It was a perfect storm (or should we say Hurricane) for Miami on Tuesday night in Coral Gables to pull the upset over No. 11 North Carolina. For as good as they played down the stretch against Duke, it was a complete 180 last night.
Derek Dixon had four assists and four turnovers while looking lost at times. Seth Trimble was a ghost. Four points on 0-5 from the field and didn't even have a FG attempt until the second half. Henri Veesaar needed 12 shots to score just 11 points and Caleb Wilson, well... had his worst performance of his freshman season (and it was trending that way before the wrist injury).
Here's the crazy thing: All of those things happened, and North Carolina STILL had a chance to win as they trailed 64-60 with 2:07 remaining.
Unfortunately at that point, it was just too late to mount a comeback.
Why this is a good thing
Hot Take (or maybe just the truth): The 2025-2026 Tar Heels needed this loss.
They had won five in a row, including second-half comebacks over Virginia and Duke. They had re-focused from the west coast blunder that was Stanford and California.
But sometimes, you get comfortable. And coming off a win like the one they had against Duke, this team was definitely relaxed, and it showed against the Hurricanes. They came out and thought the talent would just guide them to victory with no effort.
That's a great learning moment for a team with only one senior member. This team is good enough to beat ANYBODY in the country (Kansas, Kentucky, Duke). BUT, when they don't bring an A+ effort, they can also lose to anybody (Stanford, Cal, Miami).
This isn't to say Miami is a bad team. They're on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament and currently sit at 19-5. But if they play 10 times, North Carolina should win the majority of those games.
And of the next few games, it's probably the best opponent they could lose to and it be "acceptable." A road loss at a 19-5 team is better than any opponent on the near horizon that players or fans would be okay with taking a loss to.
Hit the reset button
So now, the Tar Heels get to go home and don't leave the state of North Carolina except one time between now and the NCAA Tournament.
A great opportunity to hit the reset button, learn from the game last night, but put it behind you. It's over and done with.
Learn from it, make adjustments, and make sure it doesn't happen again. Seven games remain. The Tar Heels hopefully just learned that no matter how talented they are, they must bring their A game with energy and effort every single game.
Shots aren't going to always fall. But don't get outrebounded and don't give up second-chance points at a high rate.
What's Next?
Re-group, re-focus, and finish strong. Seven games.
Pittsburgh comes to Chapel Hill on Saturday with a 2-10 record in conference play. That doesn't mean sleepwalk through the game. It means the Tar Heels need to come out and assert their dominance early, unlike they did against Miami.
Then it's a tough stretch remaining with games @ NC State, @ Syracuse before returning home for a three game stretch of Louisville, Virginia Tech, and Clemson.
And of course, the return trip to Durham. No one expects an undefeated stretch from the Tar Heels over the remainder of the season, but certainly don't lose games due to poor effort and energy like the loss in Coral Gables.
Learn from it. Regroup from it. Move on.
Hit the reset button.