After getting off to a highly encouraging start in Big South play with five straight wins against a variety of challenges, the Coastal Carolina men’s basketball team has since been humbled a bit.

There was really no other way to put it Thursday night.

The Chanticleers never led, fell behind by as many as 20 points in the second half and simply dug too deep of a hole to crawl out of as UNC Asheville finished off a 75-65 win before a loud home crowd of 2,263 inside Kimmel Arena.

It was the second consecutive loss by double digits for the Chants (14-5, 5-2 Big South) and dropped the preseason conference favorites into a five-way tie atop the standings along with UNC Asheville (9-9, 5-2), High Point, Gardner-Webb and Charleston Southern.