CHARLOTTE, N.C. — The Michigan men’s basketball team faced its most hostile environment of the season yet at the Jumpman Invitational. Under three hours from North Carolina’s home court, the Tar Heels’ fans packed the Spectrum Center.
And at first, the Wolverines were comfortable being the heels. They embraced the neutral-site-turned-road-game, keeping the emotions of the event at bay and leading 26-22 with seven minutes left in the first half.
But every villain is met with a hero, and for UNC it wasn’t a person, but instead a moment that helped it slay its adversaries and protect a pseudo-home court in the Queen City.
That moment was an arena-rattling skirmish that led to technical fouls for both the Wolverines and the Tar Heels, but it was Michigan who paid the true price. Technical fouls for junior center Hunter Dickinson and freshman guard Dug McDaniel quickly sent them to the bench for the rest of the half, and the Tar Heels took full advantage. They flipped their four-point deficit into a seven-point lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.
“I’ll just say that we were both competing,” freshman wing Jett Howard said of the skirmish. “We wanna win really bad, and it’s gonna happen. It’s not going to always be great, but we’re all competitors here.”
The paint simply wasn’t big enough for two of the matchup’s stars — Dickinson and UNC forward Armando Bacot — and the orbits of each team’s shining star soon collided. Shortly before the brouhaha, Bacot was inadvertently hit in the face by Dickinson on a made basket, and tensions rose on both sides when they heard no whistles calling a foul.
From there, intensity flared as the game sped up. That culminated in Dickinson fouling guard Caleb Love on a strong drive to hoop. When Love was on the ground on the baseline after the drive, Dickinson stood next to him looming large and they began to shove each other to spark a heated exchange involving multiple players.
From the head coaches to the end of the benches, everyone at the Spectrum Center was animated.
“I’m an emotional guy,” North Carolina coach Hubert Davis said, reflecting on the occurrence. “They were getting fired up, I was getting fired up, and I like them when they are fired up and wanted to keep them fired up.”
With the arena in a frenzy, the public address announcer dramatically announced technical fouls, leaving everyone on edge with a long pause between declaring that there were technicals on the floor and announcing the names.
Deservedly so, those names included Dickinson and McDaniel, who were both heavily involved in the altercation. Although they weren’t out for the game, their time off the court swung the game squarely in the Tar Heels’ favor as they were both benched within the next minute to avoid excess fouls.
Did that change the game? Howard didn’t think so.
“Nothing really changed, we didn’t really harp on it,” Howard said. “… We talked (a lot about) more intensity.”
Despite the Wolverines not dwelling on how two key players took themselves out of the half, the box score said otherwise. The intensity only picked up for UNC thereafter, and the Wolverines’ early-game flow disappeared. Their new offensive maestro in McDaniel could only call signals from the sidelines, and Dickinson wasn’t on the floor to pressure the Tar Heels’ defense.
Without them, Michigan’s offense lacked continuity. Dickinson’s backup, freshman forward Tarris Reed Jr., used all of his six-foot-ten frame to create good looks and attack the boards, but struggled to consistently convert on his chances.
Meanwhile, the Wolverines’ regular defensive struggles were amplified, and UNC feasted. The Tar Heels went on a 10-0 run late in the first half, getting buckets with little resistance and taking advantage of Michigan’s disjoined lineup to take command of the game.
“It was a chippy game, but we kept fighting,” Bacot said. “That was fun for us, and we loved it.”
After the game got chippy, UNC certainly had its fun. Even after Dickinson and McDaniel returned in the second half and the Wolverines hung around throughout the rest of the game, they never got over the hump. Despite flirting with comebacks, they were never able to regain a lead.
All that happened because McDaniel and Dickinson’s early benching disrupted Michigan’s flow. And in a hostile environment, the Wolverines didn’t have the heroism needed to overcome the disruption and truly play the villain.