Going into the NCAA Championships, the North Carolina wrestling team faced nearly insurmountable odds.

Between the North Carolina wrestling team’s four coaches lie eight NCAA Division I Championship appearances and three national titles.

North Carolina sophomore Evan Henderson threw his arms in the air, sending the crowd into frenzy.

North Carolina wrestler Joey Ward remembers the arms of his opponent tightening around his neck like a boa constrictor.

North Carolina wrestler Tanner Eitel had plenty to deal with as he stepped onto the mat Tuesday night.

Sandwiched between North Carolina’s wrestling duals with N.C. State and Duke was a less-hyped match-up with the Virginia Military Institute on Friday at Carmichael Arena.

Coming into Friday’s match against N.C. State, the North Carolina wrestling team was riding a four-match losing streak that included a performance against Navy coach C.D. Mock called one of the worst he’d ever seen.

Freshman North Carolina wrestler Nathan Kraisser is tenacious. He’s feisty. He’s a ball of hurt packed neatly into 125 pounds.

Last year, when Maryland defeated North Carolina’s wrestling team at home by 15 points, Coach C.D. Mock told his wrestlers — for what he hoped would be the first and only time — that he was ashamed to be associated with them.

Last weekend, North Carolina freshman 125-pounder Nathan Kraisser opened UNC’s dual meets against then-No. 11 Virginia and then-No. 9 Virginia Tech with upsets in consecutive days.

North Carolina wrestling coach C.D. Mock has said his team needs to start winning matches it’s not supposed to win.

North Carolina wrestling coach C.D. Mock is in his 10th season coaching UNC — 10 years of heading a roster of 20-plus Division-I wrestlers, some nationally ranked.

Last year on the second weekend in January, the North Carolina wrestling team lost to Edinboro and The Citadel which began a six-match losing streak that lasted until the early days of February.

North Carolina wrestling coach C.D. Mock acknowledges that dual meets are not his team’s forte.

After enduring several disappointing seasons, North Carolina wrestling coach C.D. Mock is confident that the new crop of Tar Heel wrestlers will help the team to bounce back from a 6-14 record last season.

As of 9 p.m. Sunday, the North Carolina wrestling team was gliding along the highway in a bus, hours still remaining on its trip back to Chapel Hill from the Nittany Lion Open in State College, Pa.

A week ago, in two separate outings, the North Carolina wrestling team had two contrasting performances.

For Evan Henderson, there was no solace in merely doing his part. The sophomore wrestler, ranked 19th in the country in his 141-pound weight class, may have secured a major decision during North Carolina’s dual meet with Arizona State, but Henderson regarded his performance — and that of his team — with pure contempt.

In one of his finest days as a coach, North Carolina wrestling coach C.D. Mock didn’t do any coaching at all.

The North Carolina wrestling team’s performance at the Hokie Open in Salem, Va., on Sunday, did not produce any first place finishes.