Charlotte witnessed a quartet of four-second pauses from UNC basketball coach Hubert Davis within the interview room at Spectrum Center late on Tuesday night. After the Tar Heels' heart-wrenching 90-84 loss to No. 7 Florida in the Jumpman Invitational, Davis had few new answers. This season, UNC (6-5, 1-0 ACC), which is 0-4 against ranked opponents, has faced similar issues in its biggest games. Double-digit deficits? Present. An inability to string together defensive stops? Present. Coming up short in the final stretch? Present.

Coach Davis' Puzzlement

During his 10-minute press conference, Davis expressed his confusion after one of the extended pauses. He "can't explain" the "head-scratching" starts that keep hindering the Tar Heels. "To play with that type of energy and effort in the second half and not have it consistently in the first half or for an entire game... that's been the consistent theme for us this year," he said. It's something UNC needs to "figure out," added Davis.

The Gators' Dominance

The undefeated Gators (11-0) sprinted to a 17-point lead in the first half. UNC rallied in the second half and took a four-point lead with just over four minutes remaining. However, from there, Florida had an 8-2 rebounding advantage, including four offensive rebounds, and made all eight of its free-throw attempts. The Tar Heels were outscored 13-3 in that stretch, including an 8-0 run to end it, and didn't score in the final 2:13.

Player Perspectives

UNC guards RJ Davis, Seth Trimble, Elliot Cadeau, and Ian Jackson echoed their head coach's sentiments. "We're right there at the end of the day. … Those timely little mistakes that we keep having, we can't have them," said RJ Davis, who scored a game-high 29 points along with 8 rebounds and 4 steals against the Gators. "We gotta get rid of the slow starts," said Jackson, who scored all 11 of his points in the second half. Cadeau and Trimble reflected on the "flashes" UNC has shown at times this season and the need for consistency. "I feel like we've shown flashes of how good we can be," said Cadeau, who had 11 points and seven assists. "We just need to work on staying there for a whole game, for 40 minutes." UNC, Trimble noted, is "too far in the season just to continue to show flashes of how good we can be." "We've shown it, so that belief is still there," said Trimble, who had 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 steals. "It's time to do it. No more flashes. No more flashes, it's time to do it."

Looking Ahead

UNC has five losses before Christmas for the first time since the infamous 2001-02 season, a year that ended with the Tar Heels winning only eight games. "You have a choice, but you really don't have a choice. You can stay down, you can point fingers, you can whine and complain, you can make excuses or you can get your tail back up and step forward and start swinging again," Hubert Davis said. The next opportunity is No. 18 UCLA on Saturday (3 p.m., CBS) in the CBS Sports Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The Tar Heels have followed the same path through 11 games. At some point, they'll either chart a new course or continue on a road that could lead to missing the 2025 NCAA Tournament. If the same problems persist, the same script is likely to play out.Rodd Baxley covers Duke, North Carolina, and N.C. State for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Follow his ACC coverage on X/Twitter or Bluesky: @RoddBaxley. Got questions regarding those teams? Send them to robbaxley@fayobserver.com.