North Carolina, which led by only two at the half, blitzed Michigan in the second half to win 72-51, putting together its best game against a ranked team. (12/1)

The Tar Heels, playing at home, trailed much of the first half but outscored the Wolverines 7-0 over the last three minutes, highlighted by a high-arching three pointer by Caleb Love, to hold a slim 29-27 lead at the half.

A 14-4 Carolina run early in the half, following by a 20-5 run midway through the half, wrapped this game up in impressive fashion. A three from nearly straightaway from Dawson Garcia followed by a rebound follow by Garcia helped the Heels to their first double-digit lead of the game at 46-35 with just over 12 minutes to play.

Love, who tallied a game-high 22 points, sank a floater in the lane to give the Tar Heels their biggest lead of the game at 68-43.

“He was great,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said of Love. “He got after it on the defensive end and was aggressive on the offensive end.”

The Tar Heels turned the ball over only six times while forcing 13 Michigan turnovers and holding the Wolverines to 35 percent shooting. Carolina shot more than 60 percent in the second half to finish 47 percent shooting.

“We competed tonight,” UNC’s Armando Bacot said. “We’ve been hearing we can’t play defense but that was a pretty good defensive effort.”

Bacot, who finished with 11 points and 14 rebounds, said he took it to Hunter Dickinson on the offensive end to get the star Wolverine in foul trouble. He attributed the team’s improvement to attention to detail.

Coach Davis attributed it to good practices, including the best one of the season on Tuesday. “We had eight days off and we got back to fundamentals on the defensive end.”

Bacot helped the cause with three blocks while Love came up with three steals.

The Tar Heels, now 5-2, begin the ACC schedule early with an afternoon matchup at Georgia Tech Sunday.

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