I’ll cop to it.

I thought Texas A&M lost its mojo. That’s why I had the Aggies losing to Providence in the first round. I saw a team that struggled closing games and did dumb things even when it did close games (T.J. Starks’ finger-shove of Collin Sexton was, um, not ideal). A team that goes 9-12 after Dec. 30 and loses in the first game of the conference tournament doesn’t exactly scream “ready for March.”

Well, somewhere between Starks’ heat check and Robert Williams’ windmill dunk on Friday in the NCAA Tournament, I got a reminder of why A&M got off to its best start in school history. The Aggies loosened up and looked a whole lot more like the top-5 team they were in December than the bubble team they were in late February.

Now, the Aggies get second-round a showdown with UNC. Let me rephrase that.

Now, the Aggies get a showdown Sunday with defending national champion UNC.

Call me crazy, but I can’t help but wonder if the Tar Heels are ripe for an upset. If they see the Texas A&M team that showed up to Charlotte on Friday, it’ll be a dogfight. The Aggies can be the team that nobody wants to play.

No, I’m not referring to the mid-major that hits a bunch of 3s and beats someone they shouldn’t have in the first round. I’m referring to the group that was a top-5 team for a reason, and after getting past suspensions and injuries, now looks like it can beat anyone in the country. That team isn’t fun to see in March.

It remains to be seen if the Aggies can embody that spirit, but they certainly aren’t lacking confidence.

“I know we have the advantage on the inside against pretty much everyone we play,” A&M center Tyler Davis said after Friday’s game.

Believe it or not, that’ll be true against UNC, too.

Credit: Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

In case you haven’t seen much of the Tar Heels this season, you might find it interesting that they start one true post player. And while Luke Maye took a major step as a junior, he’s a 6-8 stretch forward who can shoot his way out of a game.

UNC does often make up for that lack of starting lineup size. The Tar Heels aren’t the No. 1 rebounding team in the country by accident.

Still, I have no idea how UNC will defend Davis and Williams if they play like they did on Friday. That duo combined for 27 points and 29 rebounds against Providence. Those numbers would’ve looked even better if they could’ve shot better than 3-for-11 from the free-throw line. Either way, if Texas A&M works through Davis and Williams, it won’t have to rely on Starks or Admon Gilder catching fire from deep. That’s a better formula for an upset.

UNC might be a blue blood with a high seed and essentially a home-court draw, but it isn’t without other flaws. Let’s not forget that the Tar Heels were 3-3 coming into the tournament. Shoot, an 11-7 conference record isn’t exactly “invincible.” A team that doesn’t defend particularly well is always vulnerable against a hungry team in March.

A year ago, we saw that play out when another ACC blue blood forgot how to defend against a physical SEC team. Remember Duke and South Carolina? That was also a second-round game between a No. 2 seed and a No. 7 seed. After the Gamecocks pulled off the stunner, Mike Krzyzewski called South Carolina “the most physical team they faced all year.”

I could picture Roy Williams saying something along those lines after 40 minutes with the Aggies.

And why shouldn’t Texas A&M play like that? The only way a team can take down a defending champ is if it plays with a chip on its shoulder. After all, this was the group who was written off after an 0-5 start to SEC play. What do the Aggies have to lose?

That’s not an excuse to take ill-advised shots or to freelance on offense. But this team can get rolling and put up 88 like it did against West Virginia or it can drop 84 like it did against Kentucky. As long as the Aggies don’t try and play an up and down game with UNC — Joel Berry and Theo Pinson thrive at that — they have all the weapons to get in a nice offensive rhythm like they did Friday.

That’s easier said than done. So is flipping the switch and playing like a top-10 team on a given day in March. Despite all the peaks and valleys of A&M’s season, one game separates the program from what would be a monumental feat.

CBS sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson asked if Davis after Friday’s win if he feels like the Aggies have the consistency to make a run.

“It’s a new season,” Davis said on the CBS broadcast. “This team is great. We showed that at the beginning of the season. We went through some things, but we’re here. We’re ready to play every game.

“Forty minutes.”