The Tar Heels played with a lot of heart, all broken at the end.

For the second time in three outings, Carolina did well enough for most of the game to win. But the Heels missed some pressure shots and made enough mistakes to let the desperately needed victory slip away. While this may well pay dividends down the road, try telling that to a bitterly disappointed team.

Playing again without recent leading scorer Brandon Robinson, whose early-season absence put pressure on Cole Anthony before he too got hurt, UNC was tougher and smarter than Virginia Tech for most of this freezing night in Blacksburg.

Had just one of those free throws or field goal attempts gone in at the right time, the Heels would have snapped what is now a 5-game losing streak and not fallen to 1-6 in the ACC and 8-10 overall. They deserved to win, and then they didn’t.

If these injuries weren’t so sad, they would be almost comical. Robinson was left home with a sore neck likely from the car accident he was in 10 days ago. You need a calculator to total up the man-games missed so far in this painful season. And consider that double-double machine Garrison Brooks basically played one-armed in the second half after slamming his right hand on the rim as the first period ended.

One silver lining is that the others who lasted through both overtimes made some plays they haven’t so far. Grad transfer Justin Pierce started at small forward and had his best game here, netting 15 points and 8 rebounds.

With Armando Bacot in foul trouble, Pierce also played power forward as Jeremiah Francis came in for 23 good minutes and had several strong drives down the lane. Andrew Platek and Leaky Black fought their guts out and both missed shots that would have been buzzer-beaters had they dropped through.

Moving the ball crisply that also moved the defense, the Heels got better looks and made more than half of them for most of regulation. But they got tired and/or tight late.

If you didn’t care who won, you saw a dramatic basketball game. One day soon, all in Heartbreak Hill who do care will be rewarded.

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