Williams ready as No. 3 North Carolina visits Boston College

Roy Williams is expected to return to the court when No. 3 North Carolina visits Boston College on Tuesday night in Chestnut Hill, Mass.

The 68-year-old coach of the Tar Heels had to leave the court because of vertigo in his team's most recent game Saturday against Clemson. Williams began to fall before assistant coach Steve Robinson caught him. It was the second time since 2016 vertigo forced Williams to leave a game.

Officials stopped play as the team's medical staff checked on Williams. Robinson filled in as coach for the rest of the contest, an 81-79 road win.

"I'm feeling a lot better than I looked when I walked out of the game on Saturday," Williams told reporters in comments published by the Charlotte Observer. "... It's excruciating pain for a little while. I started feeling a heck of a lot better, (but Robinson) was up six or seven at that time and I didn't want to jinx him. If we had lost, I would have gone out there with him."

North Carolina (24-5, 14-2 Atlantic Coast Conference) has enjoyed plenty of winning this season. The Tar Heels have won five games in a row and 12 of 13 as they prepare for the second-to-last game of the regular season.

Meanwhile, Boston College (14-14, 5-11) will try to play spoiler and climb back above .500 as tournament season draws near. The Golden Eagles have lost three of their past four games, including a hard-fought 81-78 overtime road defeat to Georgia Tech on Sunday evening.

The Tar Heels are led in scoring by Cameron Johnson, who is averaging 16.8 points and 5.6 rebounds on the season. Coby White (16.4 points) and Luke Maye (14.8) also are averaging double-digit scoring for North Carolina.

Johnson and White will try to stay hot after setting a school record against Clemson by becoming the first North Carolina teammates to make six 3-pointers apiece in the same game. Johnson shot 6 of 8 from beyond the arc, and White made 6 of 11 attempts.

Ky Bowman will lead Boston College's effort to stop the dynamic duo. Bowman leads the Golden Eagles with 19.2 points per game to go with 7.6 rebounds and a team-high 4.0 assists. Nik Popovic is next on the scoring list with 14.2 points per game, including a 24-point effort on 10-for-15 shooting against the Yellow Jackets.

Boston College coach Jim Christian has preached a detail-oriented approach to his players since the start of the season.

"Everybody on our team has got a chance to make winning plays," Christian recently told reporters. "If you're going to win at this level, in this league, you've got to make a million winning plays -- small, winning plays. That's what you have to do to be a good team."

Though they upset then-No. 11 Florida State on Jan. 20, the Golden Eagles are 0-3 against top-10 teams so far this season, losing by an average of 21 points in those three games.

"Everybody in this league goes through some stretches where the schedule gets really, really tough," Christian said. "Night in and night out, you've got to grind it out."

North Carolina fell a half-game back of Virginia in the conference standings after the Cavaliers' win on Monday over Syracuse, but the teams remain even in the loss column. Virginia finishes the regular season on Saturday vs. Louisville.

The Tar Heels finish up with a home game against Duke on Saturday.

--Field Level Media