CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Armando Bacot scored 26 points on 11-of-16 shooting, RJ Davis hit four 3-pointers and finished with 19 points and North Carolina held on to beat Michigan 80-76 at the Jumpman Invitational.
Caleb Love added 18 points, including four free throws in the closing seconds, for North Carolina. The Tar Heels have won four games in row.
Kobe Bufkin led Michigan with 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting.
Jett Howard made 6 of 12 from the field and finished with 17 points.
The Wolverines used an 11-4 run to trim their deficit to 73-71 when Bufkin made a jumper with 1:23 to play.
Davis answered with a runner off the glass 34 seconds later and Michigan got no closer.
The game changed in the first half during two chippy moments.
Bacot seemed to take contact to the face, but a foul was not called, making coach Hubert Davis furious and animated on the sideline.
"I'm an emotional guy," Davis said. "They were getting fired up, I was getting fired up and I like them when they are fired up. I wanted to keep them fired up."
Later in the first half, the teams got in a scuffle on the baseline.
Love later said a Michigan player tried to step over him.
The moments served as a turning point for North Carolina.
"It got us going a little bit. We were already on edge," RJ Davis said. "The momentum was on our side and we made a run from that."