Men's Basketball To Close Homestand Tuesday Vs. Navy

Tuesday, November 18

Chapel Hill

7 p.m.

North Carolina

Navy

Tickets

Evan Smith
University of North Carolina Men's Basketball
vs NCCU
Dean Smith Center
Chapel Hill, NC
Friday, November 14, 2025

Photo by: NATE SKVORETZ

November 17, 2025 | Men's Basketball

Live Stats Watch UNC Notes Navy Notes Listen Media Central Tickets Digital Guide

• Carolina plays host to the United States Naval Academy on Tuesday, November 18, in the final game of a five-game homestand to begin the season. Tipoff is set for just after 7 p.m. on the ACC Network.
• The Tar Heels are 4-0, while the Midshipmen are 2-2.
• Both teams are playing for the first time since Friday, November 14. UNC defeated NC Central, 97-53, and the Mids dropped Washington College, 97-64.
• The Tar Heels led the Eagles by 15 points at halftime despite turning the ball over 10 times. In the second half, Carolina did not commit a turnover and made 8 of 17 from three to double up NCCU, 58-29, to account for the 44-point margin of victory.
• Caleb Wilson (21 points, 13 rebounds) and Henri Veesaar (12 and 11) both had double-doubles, the Tar Heels knocked in a season-best 11 three-pointers and blocked 14 shots, the most by UNC since the 2013-14 season.
• This is the third time in the last five seasons Carolina has started a season with four consecutive wins. UNC last won its first five in 2022-23. UNC has started 5-0 in 42 previous seasons.
• The Navy game is the fifth of five consecutive home games to begin the regular season for the Tar Heels. This season marks the first time UNC has opened with five straight home games since 1918-19 (that stretch included two games vs. the Durham YMCA and one each vs. Guilford, Wake Forest and Elon).
• The five-game homestand is the longest in any part of a season since UNC played six consecutive home games in December 2013.
• Carolina has 2,399 wins. With its next win, UNC will become the third program with 2,400 wins, joining Kentucky (2,425) and Kansas (2,417).
• The Tar Heels are seven wins away from 500 all-time in the Smith Center. UNC enters the Navy game with a record of 493-90 in the Smith Center.

CAROLINA-NAVY
• The Tar Heels are 6-14 all-time against the Navy, although the teams have played just once since 1959.
• UNC's winning percentage against Navy (.300) is its lowest ever against an opponent that has played 20 or more times against the Tar Heels.
• The teams have played only one previous game in Chapel Hill, a 39-25 Tar Heel victory in the Indoor Athletic Court on 2/8/1936. Guard Paul Kaveny led UNC with 10 points.
• Fifteen of the 20 games were played at Dahlgren Hall in Annapolis. The Tar Heels also played the Mids twice in Raleigh in the Dixie Classic, once in Madison Square Garden and the 1998 NCAA First Round in the Hartford (Conn.) Civic Center.
• National Player of the Year Antawn Jamison led UNC with 17 points and 14 rebounds in the No. 1-ranked Tar Heels' 88-52 win over Navy in the 1998 NCAA Tournament.
• Carolina's first member of the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame is Ben Carnevale, who was inducted in 1970. Carnevale went 52-11 as head coach of the Tar Heels for two seasons (1944-46) and led UNC to the NCAA title game in 1946. He was head coach at Navy from 1946-66 and later served as director of athletics at NYU and William & Mary.

NUMERICALLY SPEAKING
• As on Monday, the Tar Heels were eighth in the country in field goal percentage defense, holding the four opponents to a combined 33.3% from the floor.
• Three of the four opponents have shot under 40%, while Kansas shot a season-high 48.1% in Carolina's 87-74 win.
• UNC is 48-4 in five seasons under head coach Davis when holding opponents under 40% from the floor.
• Carolina is also 15th in the country in rebounding (47.5 per game), 17th in rebound margin (plus 15.0), 20th in scoring margin (plus 28.0) and 24th in free throw attempts (30.8).
• The Tar Heels have attempted 27 or more three-pointers in each of the four games and are averaging 28.8 per game. That would shatter the previous school record for attempts per game, which was 23.94 in 2018-19, when the Tar Heel lineup included Cameron Johnson, Coby White, Kenny Williams and Luke Maye.
• Seven players made three-pointers against NC Central, when the Tar Heels made a season-high 11. It was the second time (also Central Arkansas) seven Tar Heels made a three-pointer in a game this season. In four other seasons there were two games when seven Tar Heels made threes. It's never happened three times in one season.
• The UNC record for one game is eight players making a 3FG, at Wake Forest in 2018-19 and against NC A&T in 2001-02.
• Carolina has shot 50% or higher from the floor in three of the first four games. The Tar Heels are 38-1 under Davis when they make at least 50% from the floor.
• Carolina has out-rebounded its four opponents by 15, 12, 12 and 21. The Tar Heels are 93-24 under Davis when they win the boards.
• Kyan Evans leads UNC in plus/minus through four games at plus 103. Caleb Wilson also has hit triple digits at plus 100.
• Luka Bogavac has led UNC in plus/minus in each of the last two games.
• Carolina is outscoring the opponents, 64-17, in fastbreak points, an average of 16.0 to 4.3 per game.
• The Tar Heels are averaging 40.0 paint points and allowing just 20.5 per game.

POLLING
• Carolina is ranked No. 18 in the nation in the Associated Press poll for the second week in a row.
• UNC was ranked 25th in the preseason poll and then moved up seven spots in the November 10 poll. That was the largest jump from the preseason poll by the Tar Heels since the AP began ranking 25 teams in the 1989-90 season.
• In 1984-85, when the AP ranked 20 teams, the Tar Heels went from unranked to 19th after the first week of the regular season.

EARLY ACCOLADES
• Freshman forward Caleb Wilson was one of five players named National Player of the Week by the USBWA for the week of November 3-9.
• Wilson also was both the Co-ACC Player and Rookie of the Week following his performances in the wins over Central Arkansas and Kansas.
• Wilson shared the player and rookie awards with Virginia Tech's Neoklis Avdalas.
• Wilson is the first Tar Heel freshman to also win ACC Player-of-the-Week honors since Cole Anthony in 2019-20.
• Wilson is the eighth Tar Heel to win ACC Player-of-the-Week honors as a freshman, joining Jerry Stackhouse (1994), Antawn Jamison (1996), Rashad McCants (2003), Tyler Hansbrough (2006), Brandan Wright (2007), Coby White (2019) and Anthony.

PROBABLE STARTERS VS. NAVY
0 – Kyan Evans, Junior, Guard
44 – Luka Bogavac, Junior, Guard
8 – Caleb Wilson, Freshman, Forward
13 – Henri Veesaar, R-Junior, Center
15 – Jarin Stevenson, Junior, Forward

• None of the probable starters were Tar Heels last season.
• Seth Trimble, who is out with an injured left arm, started 18 of UNC's 37 games last season. Even with Trimble's return, this is the first season in which UNC did not return a player who started at least half the games in the previous season since 2005-06, when the Tar Heels replaced all five starters from a national championship team.
• Carolina's probable starters have made a combined 86 college starts. That includes 40 by Kyan Evans, 31 by Jarin Stevenson, nine by Henri Veesaar, four by freshman Caleb Wilson and two by Luka Bogavac.

FRESHMAN STARTERS
• Caleb Wilson became the 40th Tar Heel to start his first game as a freshman since first-year players became eligible in 1972-73. Prior to Wilson, the most recent were guards RJ Davis and Caleb Love in 2020-21 against the College of Charleston.
• The last UNC frontcourt player to start his first game as a freshman had been Armando Bacot in 2019-20.

WILSON'S FAST START
• Caleb Wilson has made 28 of his 42 field goal attempts (66.7%) and averaged 20.0 points and 9.5 rebounds in the first four games.
• Wilson is the first Tar Heel freshman with consecutive double-doubles (vs. Radford and NC Central) since Day'Ron Sharpe in 2020-21.
• Wilson has scored 80 points and grabbed 38 rebounds.
• The only Tar Heels to score more points in their first four games were sophomore Lennie Rosenbluth (121), sophomore Larry Miller (104), freshman Cole Anthony (91), freshman Rashad McCants (88) and freshman Joseph Forte (81).
• The only Tar Heels with more rebounds in their first four games were Rosenbluth (69), sophomore Billy Cunningham (60), sophomore Rusty Clark (56), Miller (47), sophomore Bobby Lewis (43), junior Robert McAdoo (40), freshman Sean May (39) and sophomore Ray Respess (39).
• The only Tar Heels with a higher field goal percentage in their first four games were freshman Sam Perkins (.719), sophomore Bobby Jones (.718) and his teammate, junior Henri Veesaar (.697). Wilson is tied for fourth with Miller, freshman Mike O'Koren, freshman J.R Reid and freshman Kris Lang at 66.7%.
• He netted 22 points vs. UCA and 24 vs. Kansas to become the first Tar Heel freshman ever to score more than 20 points in his first two games.
• Lennie Rosenbluth and Donald Washington scored more than 20 in their first two games as sophomores in 1954-55 and 1972-73, respectively.
• Wilson compiled a game-high 24 points with seven rebounds, four assists and four steals in the win over Kansas. He became just the second Tar Heel freshman (with Coby White against Virginia Tech in 2018-19) and the fourth Tar Heel regardless of class (with Walter Davis and Mike O'Koren) to have at least 24 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals in a game.
• His 22 points in the opener vs. Central Arkansas were the fourth-most by a Tar Heel freshman in his debut since first-year players became eligible in 1972-73.
• The top-five freshman scoring debuts in the last 50 years include Cole Anthony's 34 points vs. Notre Dame on 11/6/19, Rashad McCants' 28 vs. Penn State on 11/18/2002, Joseph Forte's 24 vs. USC on 11/22/1999, Wilson's 22 and Tyler Hansbrough's 21 vs. Gardner-Webb on 11/19/2005.

VEESAAR ALSO STARTING STRONG
• Red-shirt junior center Henri Veesaar, a transfer from Arizona, leads the team in field goal shooting (69.7%) and is second in scoring (16.0 per game) and rebounding (8.0).
• Against NC Central, Veesaar posted his second collegiate double-double (second in the last three games) and established career highs with 11 rebounds and five blocks.
• He scored 20 points (10 in each half) vs. Kansas, the second time in his career he scored 20 or more in a game.
• Veesaar is 23 for 33 from the floor. Carolina's first-ever player from Estonia is shooting 60.8% from the floor in his college career.

PRESEASON ALL-ACC, POLL
• The Tar Heels were picked to finish third in the 18-team Atlantic Coast Conference by the media at the ACC's preseason media day in Charlotte.
• Caleb Wilson was voted to the league's preseason All-ACC second team and the All-Freshman team.
• UNC was picked No. 25 in the country in the Associated Press preseason poll.
• This is the 69th different season in the 78-year history of the AP poll the Tar Heels have been ranked in the AP poll.
• The preseason AP poll is the 963rd time Carolina has been ranked, the second-most in college basketball history.

PRESEASON RECOGNITION
• The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame released its preseason watch lists for its five positional and they included three Tar Heels.
• Seth Trimble is on the Jerry West Shooting Guard Award list, Caleb Wilson is on the Karl Malone Power Forward Award list and Henri Veesaar is on the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award list.
• Tar Heels have won four of the Hall of Fame's positional awards – three Bob Cousy Point Guard Awards (Raymond Felton in 2005, Ty Lawson in 2009 and Kendall Marshall in 2012) and one Jerry West Award (RJ Davis in 2024).
• Wilson is also on the preseason watch lists for the Naismith and Oscar Robertson (USBWA) Trophies.

NEW-LOOK ROSTER
• Carolina's 16-man roster includes five returning players and 11 newcomers. Those figures include senior guard Seth Trimble who is injured but averaged 11.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in 28.6 minutes per game last season.
• The 11 newcomers include three incoming freshmen, six collegiate transfers, one player who competed internationally and a former member of UNC's junior varsity team.
• The six collegiate transfers combined last season for 1,464 points, 578 rebounds, 256 assists and made 226 of 641 three-pointers (35.3%).

HUBERT DAVIS: YEAR FIVE
• The 2025-26 season is Hubert Davis' fifth as head coach at the University of North Carolina and his 14th on the coaching staff at his alma mater. He is the only Tar Heel head coach to win 20 or more games in each of his first four seasons.
• Davis, 55 (turns 56 on May 17, 2026), has won National and ACC Coach-of-the-Year honors, led the Tar Heels to a national title game appearance, 105 wins, a 56-24 record and 24 road wins in ACC regular-season play, a regular-season ACC title and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Only one other team has won more ACC games in the last four years.
• Two of his players – RJ Davis and Armando Bacot – rank second and third, respectively, in all-time UNC scoring, set numerous records and earned national and All-ACC awards.
• Carolina won its 100th game under Davis in the 2025 ACC Tournament, making him the third-fastest coach in UNC history and the sixth-fastest in ACC history to win 100 games. Only Duke's Vic Bubas, UNC's Roy Williams and Frank McGuire, Wake Forest's Skip Prosser and Maryland's Lefty Driesell reached 100 wins in fewer games than Davis (who won his 100th in 143 games).
• Over the previous four seasons, UNC had the 10th-most wins among teams in the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC.
• Under Davis, Carolina is 8-3 in NCAA Tournament play, including wins against three national championship-winning coaches (Baylor's Scott Drew, Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Michigan State's Tom Izzo) and three other coaches who have taken teams to the Final Four (Marquette's Shaka Smart, UCLA's Mick Cronin and San Diego State's Brian Dutcher).
• Davis has led the Tar Heels to 14 wins over nationally-ranked opponents, including eight over top-10 teams (No. 4 Duke, No. 4 Baylor and No. 9 Duke in 2022; No. 6 Virginia in 2023; and No. 10 Tennessee, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 7 Duke and No. 9 Duke in 2024).

2025-26 SCHEDULE NOTES
• In ACC play, the Tar Heels play host to FSU (Dec. 30), Wake Forest (Jan. 10), Notre Dame (Jan. 21), Syracuse (Feb. 2), Duke (Feb. 7), Pitt (Feb. 14), Louisville (Feb. 23), Virginia Tech (Feb. 28) and Clemson (March 3).
• Carolina plays at SMU (Jan. 3), Stanford (Jan.14), Cal (Jan. 17), Virginia (Jan. 24), Georgia Tech (Jan. 31), Miami (Feb. 10), NC State (Feb. 17), Syracuse (Feb. 21) and Duke (March 7).
• UNC is not scheduled to play Boston College.
• This will mark the first season since 1919 the Tar Heels are not playing NC State in Chapel Hill.
• The Tar Heels played Kansas to Chapel Hill for the first time ever. Last year, the Jayhawks defeated UNC in Lawrence. The November 7 game was just the third on-campus matchup in 14 games between the Tar Heels and KU.
• Carolina makes its first appearance in the Skechers Fort Myers (Fla.) Tip-Off at Suncoast Credit Union Arena. UNC faces St. Bonaventure (for the second time ever) on November 25 and Michigan State two days later on Thanksgiving Day. This is the third consecutive year the Tar Heels will be playing the Spartans. Carolina won in Charlotte in the 2024 NCAA second round and Michigan State won in overtime last November in Maui.
• The Tar Heels are making their first trips as ACC opponents to SMU, Stanford and Cal. UNC is 1-0 all-time against the Mustangs in Dallas (12/30/1986), 2-0 vs. the Cardinal in Maples Pavilion (12/3/1983 and 11/20/2017) and 1-0 vs. the Bears in Haas Pavilion (12/22/1972, when its was Harmon Gym).
• Carolina returns to Rupp Arena in Lexington to play Kentucky for the eighth time and the first time since 12/13/2014. UNC is 1-1 in the ACC/SEC Challenge with a home win over Tennessee and loss to Alabama.
• UNC plays Ohio State in Atlanta on December 20 in the CBS Sports Classic. The Tar Heels are 7-4 in the annual event, including 3-0 vs. the Buckeyes.

NEARING 500 WINS IN THE SMITH CENTER
• This is the 41st season the Tar Heels are playing their home games in the Dean E. Smith Center.
• Carolina is seven wins shy of 500 with an overall record (not counting preseason or exhibition games) of 493-90.
• The Tar Heels are 236-19 in the Smith Center against non-conference opponents.
• The Tar Heels have played 46% of their home games all-time in the Smith Center (583 of 1,267).
• Central Arkansas, Kansas, Navy and USC Upstate each will be playing in the Smith Center for the first time.
• Navy will be the 153rd different opponent to play a regular-season or NIT game in the Smith Center against the Tar Heels.
• Carolina has won 493 games in the Smith Center, 210 in Woollen Gym (1939-65), 170 in Carmichael Auditorium (1965-86, 2010), 130 in the Indoor Athletic Court (1924-38) and 63 in Bynum Gym (1911-23).

TAR HEELS IN THE NBA
• Eleven former Tar Heels were on NBA Opening Day rosters, including Cole Anthony (Milwaukee), Harrison Barnes (San Antonio), Tony Bradley (Indiana), Harrison Ingram (San Antonio), Cameron Johnson (Denver), Walker Kessler (Utah), Caleb Love (Portland), Pete Nance (Milwaukee), rookie Drake Powell (Brooklyn), Day'Ron Sharpe (Brooklyn) and Coby White (Chicago).
• Powell averaged 7.4 points as a freshman last season and was selected by Atlanta with the 22nd pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. His rights were traded the night of the Draft to the Brooklyn Nets. Powell was the 55th Tar Heel selected all-time in the first round.