LAWRENCE, KS – With 3:28 remaining Friday night inside frenzied and sweltering Allen Fieldhouse, North Carolina found itself leading by four points and in position to seal the deal on one of the greatest comebacks in the storied program’s history.

It was right there for the taking, and all the Tar Heels had to do was execute down the stretch, convert enough opportunities and they would have overcome a 20-point deficit against the top-ranked team in the nation in its fabled hall.

Only the ninth0ranked Heels did not execute down the stretch in falling 92-89.

“I knew we were up, and I think it was maybe four (points), and I think the defense got radical on us a little bit,” veteran guard RJ Davis said, standing in front of the team’s locker room. “Switching and (we) didn’t get the shots I know sometimes (we get). We had Elliot in ball screens because they were flat on his ball. For me, they were more up a little bit, so we were trying to get to the pocket pass to the corner.

“But it’s just late-game executions we have to improve that. Because we were up and you’ve got to do a better job of taking care of the ball.”

UNC led 87-83 after Jalen Washington sank one of two free throws. Leading up to that point, Carolina had converted 7 of its previous 10 shots from the field while in the same span the Jayhawks were 5-for-17.

The Heels were in control and all they had to do was finish the job.

Instead, Carolina was 1-for-5 from the field the rest of the way as Kansas was 3-for-4. Its last nine points were scored by 7-foot-1 center Hunter Dickinson and talented transfer Zeke Mayo.

In that closing span, the Heels had a turnover, missed a layup, and missed a pair of 3-point attempts by its 4 and 5 men on the court: Jae’Lyn Withers with 1:31 remaining and Washington with 38 seconds left.

Seth Trimble, who led the Heels with 19 points, didn’t attempt a shot in the closing stretch, and Davis, the ACC Player of the Year last season, missed the noted layup. And all of that led to the final seconds of the contest, with UNC in possession of the ball with 10 ticks remaining and trailing by the final score.

Carolina didn’t call a timeout, instead Hubert Davis let his team play on, sort of.

“Yeah, it was just called in,” Cadeau said, confirming his coach called a play from the sideline.

The play ended up with Cadeau attempting a 3-pointer from the wing that was just off. He missed, the clock expired, and Kansas survived.

“We just didn’t execute,” Carolina’s coach said. “We didn’t make the shot.”

An exact explanation of what was called wasn’t revealed, as the Heels will want to use that set in the future. Some of the Heels thought for a fleeting second the masterpiece of a game was going to overtime.

“Elliot got a great look,” Trimble said. “It looked good from where I was.”

But even though Cadeau missed the shot, it came down to needing it earmarks UNC not closing the game out when it had a chance.

Among the items from Carolina’s loss that mark the game’s checklist of what to work on, the final 3:28 will certainly be at or near the top.