North Carolina men’s basketball team (7-2, 1-0 ACC) fell to defending national champion No 5. UConn (8-1, 0-0 BEC), 87-76, Tuesday night in Madison Square Garden. 
In the two opponents first contest since 2005, senior guard and New York native RJ Davis led the team in scoring, with 26 points. Graduate center Armando Bacot notched another double-double, with 13 points and 12 rebounds on the night. 
“We were upset that we lost, but it’s eight games in," head coach Hubert Davis said. "And so it’s encouraging, from my standpoint, how much we can get better.”
RJ Davis train the last three games particularly, and are able to go as far as his shooting has taken them. The Tar Heels will need to try and avoid one player burning them for 30+ points, as well as digging themselves into a hole with cold shooting, issues that have plagued them in their last couple games.
Not bad, considering he had been limited in practice after limping to a season-low six points, including a missed game-winning 3-pointer, four days earlier at Kansas.
"I put a lot of that (Kansas loss) on myself," Spencer noted. "I definitely came in with a lot of motivation and anger to help the team the best way I could. I thought we raised out intensity level from that Kansas game."
UConn (8-1) afloat while the Huskies clanged 12 of 16 3-point attempts.
In the final two minutes of the game, shots finally began to fall for North Carolina — but it was two little and too late. When the final buzzer sounded, the scoreboard read 87-76 in favor of UConn. 
“I thought we definitely fought," Bacot said. "I mean, in the second half I think the difference really was that they killed us on the offensive boards, they got a lot of second-chance opportunities and they were knocking down a lot of shots, especially in the beginning.”
The Tar Heels will next take the court to face off against No. 16 Kentucky as a part of the CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta. The game will tip off at 5:30 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 16. 
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