CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — North Carolina forward Deon Thompson won't soon forget the top-ranked Tar Heels' flight home from the Maui Invitational.

Thompson, reigning national player of the year Tyler Hansbrough and team video coordinator Eric Hoots helped carry an unconscious passenger to the airplane's galley where paramedics treated him before the flight home on Thanksgiving Day. Thompson, a 6-foot-8 junior, called it a scary moment.

"I've never been a part of anything like that," Thompson said Sunday after the Tar Heels' 116-48 win against North Carolina-Asheville.

"I just saw him and the guy looked like he was almost dead, basically," he said. "I was kind of scared at that point in time. They needed us to help carry him, so we carried him. It was just really hard to carry him because the aisles were so small."

The man was identified as Melvin Ridley, 45, of Silsbee, Texas, according to a report on Yahoo Sports. He was taken off the plane and to a hospital, and was expected to be OK.