CHAPEL HILL – Three nights after its mist exhilarating performance of the season, third-ranked North Carolina turned in its most perplexing of the campaign in an 80-76 loss to Clemson on Tuesday night at the Smith Center.

UNC beat rival Duke in this building Saturday night, but the hangover lingered and affected the Tar Heels against a hungry Tigers team needing a victory having dropped six of its previous nine games.

Carolina trailed 15-2 right out of the gate, and by as many as 16 points in the first half. It was 43-34 at the intermission.

UNC never led in the contest, and tied it at 70-70, but Clemson then scored seven consecutive points to grab hold of the game.

Armando Bacot led Carolina with 24 points and 13 rebounds, and RJ Davis added 22 points but on 7-for-22 from the floor.

UNC dropped to 18-5 overall and 10-2 in the ACC, while the Tigers improved to 15-7 and 5-6.

Here are some noteworthy takeaways from UNC’s loss to Clemson: