PITTSBURGH _ When it was time for North Carolina's players to finish packing the visitor's locker room and board the bus to the airport, Cole Anthony stayed back and waited for his teammates as they got dressed and finished up their media interviews.
Anthony was already dressed in a burgundy suit, a burgundy and white tie and white tennis shoes. His eyes were glued to his phone. He made the trip with his teammates to Pittsburgh for UNC's game against Pitt, but did not play. He's still rehabbing from a knee surgery last month that was done to repair a partially torn meniscus. He's expected to return any day now.
For the Tar Heels, that day can't come quickly enough. They have lost four straight games, and after their 66-52 loss to Pitt on Saturday are 8-9 overall and 1-5 in the ACC, tied for dead last in the conference with Wake Forest.
"It's pretty high," UNC coach Roy Williams said when asked his level of frustration. "There's no question about that. I've lived a charmed life. I know we've lost the first game of the season a couple of times. Two times we lost the first game of the season so we started 0-1 and went to the Final Four.
"Having a losing record right now is not something we're very familiar with."
Any hope for a NCAA tournament berth is long gone. Now one has to wonder whether the Tar Heels' resume will be good enough to earn an NIT bid.
The way this season has gone recently, that too may be in jeopardy. The Tar Heels' last four losses have come against teams in the bottom half of the ACC standings.
This past four-game stretch in UNC's schedule _ record-wise _ was its easiest. Three were also home games.
But the Tar Heels lost all four.
The last time UNC came close to this type of territory was during the 2009-10 season, when it started 14-14 and ended up in the NIT. That was also the last time UNC did not make the NCAA tournament.
