BOSTON -- Roy Williams had a message for the media after leaving Tuesday night's game at Boston College with an attack of vertigo.

"I'll be fine. I'm not dead yet," the Hall of Fame North Carolina coach said after his ninth-ranked Tar Heels rallied from behind with him in the locker room and avoided a brutal upset with a 68-65 victory.

Williams, trying to argue a call early in the second half, snapped his head quickly, which is what usually triggers his "benign positional vertigo," something he's dealt with "for 17 or 18 years" and that has been diagnosed at three different hospitals. He collapsed and had to be helped to the locker room, saying later this was "the first time it's happened in a game."

Assistant Steve Robinson, a former head coach at Tulsa and Florida State and a member of Williams' staff for 21 years at Kansas and North Carolina, took over and calmly led the team to a win that avoided a loss to a team winless in the conference. A loss that would have been the third straight for the Tar Heels, who dropped from No. 2 to No. 9 with losses at Louisville and Notre Dame.

A loss would have given the Heels their first three-game league losing streak since starting the 2013-14 season 0-3. The win gave the program its 57th 20-win season and 12th in 13 years under Williams.

"He was just so chill and told us we just gotta make stops," said forward Theo Pinson. "We just bought in. He was so calm. Everything just happened to quickly ... he was big today for us."

Williams, who left quickly and let Robinson handle the game questions, said, "I promised (Robinson) this was not Hoosiers, I didn't really get thrown out to see if he was tough enough. But he did a great job (with the rest of the staff). It was a tough time sitting back there getting replays, getting text messages."

Williams made his way out to the tunnel that leads to the court in the final minute and made sure he shook hands with BC coach Jim Christian, whose team (7-17, 0-11 ACC) is one game away from matching the program's longest losing streak ever. Williams congratulated Christian and apologized for "being a distraction."

"For him to come back out and congratulate our kids on their effort speaks volumes as to why he's a Hall of Fame coach," said Christian.

The Heels (20-4, 9-2) were down by nine early on the second half, by five when Williams went down and seven with seven minutes left.

"I just said, ‘he's going to be OK and let's go,'" said Robinson, whose message was simple, "get stops." "They saw him stand up and walk off the floor so they were aware (Williams was apparently OK)."

The Tar Heels scored eight straight points to take their first lead and completed a 10-1 run to go up by two with 3:17 remaining. Boston College guard Eli Carter and North Carolina guard Marcus Paige swapped 3-pointers (Paige missed the chance at a four-point play) and swingman Justin Jackson gave his team a four-point lead with 47.8 seconds left.

Carter, who finished with 26 points but was 8-for-21 from the floor, hit two free throws and forward Brice Johnson made 1 of 2 with 34.3 on the clock. BC, which scored just two baskets in the final 7:37, called time but forward Kennedy Meeks stole the ball and Paige was fouled with 15.8 left. He made 1-of-2 and that was it, but guard Matt Milon hit a 3-pointer with 5.6 seconds left.

Paige drained two free throws with 3.4 seconds remaining and Carter's last-second 3-point heave was wide.

Swingman Justin Jackson, removed from the starting lineup along with Johnson and Meeks in a shakeup, came off the bench and led North Carolina with 20 points, going 9-for-11 from the floor.

Boston College center Dennis Clifford, playing the best game of his injury marred college career, recorded his first double-double of the season (second of his career) with 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Eagles freshman forward A.J. Turner left the game in the second half with a right ankle or foot injury. He was helped to the locker room and returned to the bench on crutches.

NOTES: BC assistant Bill Wuczynski missed the game because of a death in his family. ... After finishing its three-game road swing on Tuesday, North Carolina plays the next three at home, against Pittsburgh, Duke and Miami. ... Tar Heels F Brice Johnson, who came into the game 10th in the ACC in scoring (16.6), was leading the conference in rebounds (10.4) and field goal percentage (.608) and had nine points and five boards. ... Boston College, which hosts Syracuse on Sunday, is 0-11 in the conference after the football team dropped all eight league games. ... BC had scored just 47 points in each of its last two losses before Tuesday.