MILWAUKEE – Behind the vacant, shell-shocked stares, Hubert Davis had to overcome the disbelief as he addressed his players in the Fiserv Forum locker room after a disastrous first half.

The North Carolina head coach thought his team was over this Dr. Jekyll, Mr. Hyde impersonation. Not since a 20-point loss at Clemson almost six weeks ago – a game it trailed by 16 at halftime – had Davis needed to rally his players for a second half that had no hope.

Now it was the NCAA tournament’s opening round, and the worst instincts of these bipolar Tar Heels had surfaced. Lifeless energy. Inexcusable gaffes. An 18-point deficit against Mississippi that left little hope to advance past Friday’s first round of the NCAA tournament.

“They brought the physical, competitive fight in the first half,” Davis said. “Every category, every angle in regards to physicality they not only won in the first half, they dominated us. And it was only two choices coming out in the second half, either to respond in that same type of fight or get embarrassed.”

If avoiding embarrassment was a worthy goal in March, Davis’ halftime message was timely. His Tar Heels went on a furious second-half run, slicing a deficit that ballooned to 22 points with 17:48 left to a single possession down the stretch. In the process, North Carolina may have silenced a nation of naysayers waiting to prove their point that it never belonged in this NCAA tournament.

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The problem is moral victories don’t amount to anything this time of year, something a program with North Carolina’s prestige already knows. So the No. 11 Tar Heels’ eventual 71-64 loss to the No. 6 Rebels left nothing to be celebrated.

BOX SCORE:Mississippi 71, North Carolina 64

Only regret for what might have been with an opening 20 minutes that matched the last 20.

“We were really lifeless in the first half,” junior guard Seth Trimble said. “We had no passion. We had no joy. We looked like the group we were a few months ago.

“We were fortunate enough to listen just to what coach had to say in the second half. We checked ourselves, we got checked, and everybody kind of just had to look in the mirror. That second half, we pretty much just played with passion, with joy, and we played for each other.

“We were a team in that second half. That was the biggest difference. We weren’t in the first half.”

The Tar Heels huge, early deficit was built against what Rebels coach Chris Beard called maybe the best first half his team played all season. Mississippi, which ranks 160th in the national shooting the three, made six of its first seven behind the arc.

At that point, North Carolina trailed 26-14 lead with 10:39 left in the first half. It wouldn’t pull within single digits again until there was 6:19 left in the second half.

Only after Mississippi took its 50-28 lead early in the second half did North Carolina respond. The Tar Heels went on an extended 36-16 run that ultimately cut its deficit to 2 points after RJ Davis made a free throw to finish a three-point play with 1:09 left.

North Carolina wouldn’t score again in the final 69 seconds. After RJ Davis’ free throw, Rebels guard Sean Pedulla made a stepback 3-pointer to push the Rebels lead back out to 5 points.

“Got the and-one,” RJ Davis said, “and momentum was on our side. That was thing that goes through my mind, it was about making sure I knock down this free throw. Obviously, coming back from a (17-point) game at halftime and clawing our way through all the way down to the end, it sucks. Because it was a game we should’ve won.”

The hardest part might have been wondering what might have been. Not only Friday, but this season for a team that ranked ninth nationally in the preseason but never could maximize its potential.

At the end, the Tar Heels inability to play a complete game was an identity, a fatal flaw, not an afterthought it left behind as the season turned to March.

“I was really proud of how our guys fought back competitively, and got back into the game,” Hubert Davis said. “But just the whole game, that wasn’t us the past two months. That was us the first four months. And I told them that at halftime. I said, ‘I haven’t seen this team since Clemson.’ Against good teams like Ole Miss, it’s just not sustainable. I’ve said this to you guys before, coming back from 18, coming back from 22, that’s just (not sustainable).

“It’s just too hard to flip it against good teams.”