The North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball team dropped its third straight game on Wednesday night, a 94-79 defeat at the hands of the Alabama Crimson Tide in Chapel Hill.
The Crimson Tide knocked UNC out of last season’s NCAA Tournament in the Sweet 16, and RJ Davis and his Tar Heels teammates surely wanted revenge in the SEC/ACC Challenge. Instead of a bounce-back win, however, North Carolina gave up 43 points to the high-powered Alabama offense before halftime to fall helplessly behind.
Crimson Tide superstar Mark Sears led Alabama with 20 points, making half of his 14 shots for the night, and he set up his teammates for seven assists. Five other Alabama players put up at least 10 points, and the Crimson Tide made 49.3% of their attempts from the floor.
UNC star RJ Davis, the ACC Preseason Player of the Year, scored just 18 points on 24 shot attempts after he went 1/11 from behind the arc. Despite 23 points from freshman Ian Jackson off the bench, the Tar Heels could never cut into the Alabama lead.
After back-to-back losses to the Auburn Tigers and Michigan State Spartans at the Maui Invitational, North Carolina is now 4-4 for the season.