NEW YORK, NY – Something happened to Armando Bacot’s knee in the first half while he was attempting a free throw, and it caused him some issues the rest of the night in No. 9 North Carolina’s 87-76 loss to No. 5 Connecticut at Madison Square Garden.

Bacot missed a the second of two free throws with 12:30 left before halftime, and subbed out 58 game seconds later. He got treatment for his left knee as well as the thigh area.

“At the beginning of the game, I shot a free throw, and I went to bend and, I don’t know, I don’t want to say it was a pop but I felt something in my knee,” Bacot explained after the contest. “And then really the whole game I felt that I just didn’t have that pop anymore. It was definitely tough on me.”

Bacot scored six of UNC’s first eight points, and the made free throw at the 12:30 mark gave him seven points. But he scored just six the rest of the way, and not at all over the final 19:34 of the game. The 6-foot-10 graduate from Richmond, VA, also pulled down 13 rebounds for the 73rd double-double of his career.

But it wasn’t easy given the discomfort, and that he had no clue exactly how it happened.

“It was weird, too, because I just really don’t know why I have it,” he said. “But (I) definitely felt it, too, when on the free throw line when I going to get in that bending motion, not really being able to bend my knees.”

Bacot entered the game having shot 84.7 percent(39-for-46) from the free throw line, but he was 5-for-10 in the game, including 2-for-7 with the bum knee. He was 2-for-9 from the field from that point on, too.

“It was a tough one,” Bacot said. “But luckily we’ve got (10) days to prepare for Kentucky, so I’ll be fine.”

The Tar Heels, who fell to 7-2 on the season, don’t play again until December 16 when they face Kentucky in Atlanta as part of the CBS Sports Classic.