DURHAM – It didn’t seem possible North Carolina could suffer a more damaging, and in some ways embarrassing, loss than last week’s 70-50 humiliation at home against James Madison. But the Tar Heels found a way.

On the surface, 70-50 at home against a G5 team that was in FCS several years ago is downright brutal. But a week later, leading your rival 20-0 midway through the third quarter and seemingly in total control of the game before losing to Duke, 21-20, will linger longer.

Had the Tar Heels closed out the final 23 game minutes the way they played the first 37, everyone could look back at last week’s ugliness against JMU as a one-off. A terrible, but perhaps a massive detour in an otherwise decent season with a tad bit of momentum gearing back up.