CHAPEL HILL – Cole Anthony just wanted to play basketball.

He could have opted out of returning to struggling North Carolina, especially as he watched in street clothes as the losses piled up during the two months he missed recovering from a knee injury.

A projected lottery pick in this summer’s NBA draft, Anthony likely wouldn’t have hurt his stock had he not returned to the Tar Heels, and probably would have garnered plenty of support for making that decision. But that’s not who he is.

“This day and age, a lot of people in my situation probably wouldn’t have come back, and I can’t blame them for that,” he said, following UNC’s 71-70 loss to Boston College on Saturday night at the Smith Center. “But at the end of the day, if you love basketball you’re going to come back and play. And I love this sport, it’s my favorite thing to do in the world.”

As much as Anthony loves the game, he’s human, so one simply can’t swat away some things that are sure to accompany an anticpated return after being out for so long.

“It was a little nervous at first,” he admitted. “Shots were short, but at the end of the day, basket is basketball and that’s what I love to do. Just having fun out there.”

Anthony missed his first four field goal attempts and didn’t even convert a shot aside from free throws until 14:34 left in the game when he stroked a 3-pointer. He hit another one at the 11:53 mark triggering an 11-0 UNC run that erased a 10-point deficit. Anthony had seven of UNC’s points during that stretch.

Initially, however, it took some time before it appeared he fully lost himself in the game. Perhaps thoughts about the partially torn meniscus that went under the knife in December strangled his game some or maybe it was some general rust shaking off.

“I’ve been confident on (the knee), I don’t think that’s the problem,” said Anthony, who finished with 26 points on 4-for-14 shooting, plus he hit all 14 of his free throw attempts. “It’s just getting that feel back. There’s nothing like real game experience.”

The thing about game experience is the Tar Heels had played 11 times since Anthony went down, so they’d moved on, grown, developed a bit and changed a lot. So, the freshman phenom was returning to a group that was rather different than when he last laced them up during a loss at Virginia on Dec. 8.

Andrew Platek said Friday it was “weird” having Anthony practicing five-on-five Thursday. So, it was and remains a process for them as well as for Anthony.

“Try not to overstep my boundaries early in,” Anthony said. “Obviously, I’m still trying to be a leader for this team, but I’m not going to come into the game, my first game back and start barking at dudes telling them what to do, what they need to do…

“I’m going to come in, feel my way through it and just try to build with these dudes.”

Carolina’s uphill climb just got a bit steeper with the loss to the Eagles, who entered with an NET ranking of 153, by far the lowest in the ACC. So this was more than a disheartening defeat, it was damaging, too.

The Heels (10-11, 3-7 ACC) were hoping to turn their two-game winning streak into something far more significant with Anthony back, but if that happens, it took a detour Saturday.

“It’s a little deflating to lose a game like that at home,” Anthony said. “But at the end of the day, a lot of basketball yet to be played, our season’s not over and we’re going to regroup and get better. We’re going to learn from this.”

But at least the Tar Heels will learn with Anthony healthy and on the court. And that makes them and him quite happy.