GREENSBORO, NC – In a season with wave after wave of the seemingly unimaginable for North Carolina basketball, the lowest of many low points found a home.

And it’s nestled amidst the debris from the Tar Heels’ gruesome 81-53 loss to Syracuse on Wednesday night, the program’s earliest exit ever from the ACC Tournament.

The buttons popped off the Tar Heels, as they went from scorching the nets versus Virginia Tech on Tuesday night to being run over by a freight train 24 hours later. So, about 20 minutes after the final second mercifully ticked off the clock, Roy Williams sat at the dais fielding questions from reporters.

What was the most frustrating part of the just-completed 14-19 season for the Hall of Fame coach, and what did he learn navigating through that process?

“Tonight,” Williams replied, before pausing. “First time in my life I felt sort of hopeless. I couldn't find any cures, couldn't find any solutions. You know, and I've lost before, Jiminy Christmas. We've had great teams that have lost before. But tonight wasn't much fun.”

This season wasn’t fun, either.

Murphy’s Law pretty much hovered over the Heels all season, from Brandon Robinson’s injury in an exhibition game versus Winston-Salem State to another Tar Heel (Armando Bacot) running through the tunnel during Wednesday’s game to get medical attention.

Stats are kept for just about everything these days, and if there’s an enterprising soul out there with too much time on their hands, perhaps they can do some digging to determine if the Tar Heels set a record for dudes running through various tunnels throughout the ACC and beyond this season.

It was that kind of year.

But there’s more to it than the ridiculous rash of injuries and its effect on all things in the name of chemistry and cohesion. The Heels just weren’t very good.

This team had a lower ceiling than any of Williams’ previous Carolina clubs and far less room for error. That doesn’t mean it couldn’t have been an NCAA Tournament squad had the boo boos never occurred, it possibly could have.

Consider: Williams built this group four times with noteworthy high notes: The win over Oregon the day after Thanksgiving was with a relatively healthy roster, all things considered. He was then forced to rebuild again in December and did with Jeremiah Francis and Anthony Harris playing key roles in wins over UCLA and Yale, both of which will be in the NCAA Tournament next week if there’s an NCAA Tournament.

Williams had to build yet again, this time with Leaky Black at the point leading to consecutive wins in late January before Cole Anthony returned after missing seven weeks.

And guess what, following a difficult adjustment period, Ol’ Roy got the horses humming one more time, leading to three consecutive wins before losing at Duke, routing the Hokies here in Greensboro and then culminating with this night’s debacle.

But there’s a clear flipside. The Michigan, Ohio State and Virginia games before Christmas occurred with the same composition that went into this final stretch that included surrendering 34 points to Duke over the final 11 minutes last Saturday night and Syracuse’s 19-2 run to close the first half Wednesday, which gave the Orange a 21-point halftime lead.

If you’re keeping track at home, that brought the season total of 20-plus point halftime deficits to three. The clubs that wiped out the Heels by the intermission (Georgia Tech, Pitt and Syracuse) have lost a combined total of 45 games.

So, the Tar Heels’ second losingest season in program history concluded with perhaps their most egregious performance of the campaign. How else can you describe a deficit of 15-2 in fast break points or 27-4 in points off of turnovers, 40 missed shots, 18 turnovers, not to mention five points and six turnovers from your most ballyhooed player?

Also add a 41-point swing from 11 days prior when the Tar Heels won at Syracuse by 13.

The 2020 college basketball season may eventually be remembered as the one that never had an ending, no NCAA Tournament or whatever the decision makers decide. But for North Carolina, it will be one its fans hope to soon forget, especially this exclamation mark of a performance in these Heels’ farewell appearance.