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University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Lucas: The Evidence
November 8, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Friday's win over Kansas provided exactly the evidence Hubert Davis wanted.
By Adam Lucas
It was the end of August and the Carolina Fantasy Experience had taken over the Dean Smith Center.
The camp is an opportunity for loyal Tar Heel fans to essentially spend three days being treated like a Tar Heel basketball player. They interact with the players and coaches, they play on the Smith Center court, and—very important in this era—connections are formed between the team and the fans and businesses who pay handsomely to participate in the camp.
As part of the weekend, the current Carolina roster participated in a game show with a variety of questions. One query was very simple: it was solely a picture of the Kansas Jayhawk mascot. Freshman Caleb Wilson happened to be the player with the mic, and as soon as the Jayhawk went up on the screen, Wilson said two words instantly and without prompting:
"November 7."
He knew. Even then, when he barely even knew which way to go to reach Franklin Street, he knew exactly the importance held by the second regular game of the season, a matchup with the Kansas Jayhawks.
"I took it personally," he said Friday night on the Tar Heel Sports Network after his 24-point, seven-rebound, four-assist, four-steal performance in Carolina's 87-74 win over Kansas. "I knew we hadn't beaten them in 23 years, and November 7 was going to be day zero. The matchup was definitely personal to me."
Wilson was born in 2006, yet he already possessed a mature understanding of the rivalry between two of the game's best programs. Even though it happened before he was born, he was exactly correct that it had been 23 years since Matt Doherty's Heels beat Kansas in the Preseason NIT.
A sellout, rowdy Smith Center crowd barely had time to get seated after "Jump Around" before Wilson was attempting to end that drought. He soared through the lane after a Henri Veesaar miss to snatch the offensive rebound and dunk it home for the game's first points. Even this description seems inadequate, like calling the Old Well a water fountain. Wilson very much appeared to still be rising when he grabbed the ball and slammed it. You could instantly feel the home crowd receive a little jolt as they remembered, "We have Caleb Wilson on our team!"
It's easy to forget that Friday was Wilson's second college game. The 24 points, sure. According to Jody Zuegner's research, he's the first UNC freshman ever—ever!—to score more than 20 in each of his first two games in college.
But it was what he did outside of the highlight reel that bodes so well for this season. Carolina did not play well in the first half. It committed 10 turnovers and hit just 33.3 percent from the field and 20 percent from the three-point line.
The fact that it trailed by only eight points at the break was largely testament to the fact that Wilson seemed intent on dragging the Tar Heels along with him until they awoke. In a half when there weren't many artistic plays to celebrate, it was Wilson who ripped a defensive rebound from Kansas big man Flory Bidunga before drawing a foul. Thirty seconds later, Wilson dove on the floor to collect a loose ball that wasn't a 50-50 ball. It was more like a 70-30 ball for the Jayhawks. He roared after both plays, igniting a crowd that was looking for reasons to participate.
It was Wilson who stayed in the ear of Seth Trimble during the senior's 1-for-6 first half. "You're the best guard out here," Wilson told Trimble. "Keep being aggressive." Trimble made five field goals in the second half and tied for the team-high with four rebounds in the half.
There have been other high-scoring freshmen. There are precious few rookies with the savvy and maturity to keep their team afloat during a dismal half and essentially will them to a point that they can make a run in the second half.
"I'm always going to bring it out of the gate," Wilson said. "I'm going to go my hardest no matter who we are playing or what's going on."
And, oh, that second-half run. Carolina was breathtaking in the final 20 minutes, scoring on 10 of its first 11 trips down the court. You like dunks? Henri Veesaar and Wilson provided those. You like three-pointers? Please see Kyan Evans.
It felt like Bill Self could sense the tsunami that was approaching, as he burned one timeout two minutes into the half and then called another one less than four minutes later. It didn't matter. He was helpless as a tense first half turned into mostly a celebration in the second half.
As you might expect, the joy carried over to the Carolina locker room, where a rowdy party ensued that left Hubert Davis so drenched he had to change clothes before undertaking his postgame media obligations. He didn't mind.
"I wanted this new group and new team to get a taste of what it's like to be a player here and what it's like to play in front of that crowd and come up big and win," Davis said on the THSN. "I wanted them to have evidence of how special it was to be here." Remember, this is an almost completely new group. They've heard the coaches talk about their Carolina teams, and they've heard some former players address the squad over the last few months, but eventually they had to see it for themselves. I can tell you about a full Smith Center howling during a 29-11 home team run, but it's much more effective to sit you in the middle of them and watch your ears tingle.
Now they know. What's it like to be part of the program, to play here, to win here?
Davis can tell them. Or he can just wait for a night like Friday, gesture out at the 21,750 screaming individuals, and simply say, "It's like this."
The evidence was everywhere on Friday. It was the buzz in every restaurant throughout town all day, the burst when Luka Bogavac hit his second half three-pointer, the cheers that followed the Tar Heels back down the home tunnel after the game. This one was just a little bit for RJ Davis and Brady Manek and you know what, it was a little bit for Hubert Davis, too. As he noted, he'd never beaten Kansas as a player or coach—he lost to them in the 1991 Final Four and hadn't beaten them since returning to the bench as an assistant to Roy Williams in the spring of 2012.
It was a bunch of freshmen that helped Carolina get UNC's last win over Kansas in 2002. And it was one very important freshman who keyed this one. As Davis perused the box score before leaving to meet the media, he saw the gaudy numbers and looked up with wide eyes. "Caleb," he said, "is good!"
Wilson did exactly what he'd been planning to do for several months—put Carolina squarely where it belongs in the middle of the national college basketball discussion while also bringing some electricity to the Smith Center.
There's only one way to accomplish those goals: winning. Davis felt all of those implications late on Friday night. His team needed this. His program needed this. And maybe the head coach needed it a little bit, too.
"I won't remember the score," Davis said as tears choked his voice. "But I'll remember what that locker room was like."
It was the end of August and the Carolina Fantasy Experience had taken over the Dean Smith Center.
The camp is an opportunity for loyal Tar Heel fans to essentially spend three days being treated like a Tar Heel basketball player. They interact with the players and coaches, they play on the Smith Center court, and—very important in this era—connections are formed between the team and the fans and businesses who pay handsomely to participate in the camp.
As part of the weekend, the current Carolina roster participated in a game show with a variety of questions. One query was very simple: it was solely a picture of the Kansas Jayhawk mascot. Freshman Caleb Wilson happened to be the player with the mic, and as soon as the Jayhawk went up on the screen, Wilson said two words instantly and without prompting:
"November 7."
He knew. Even then, when he barely even knew which way to go to reach Franklin Street, he knew exactly the importance held by the second regular game of the season, a matchup with the Kansas Jayhawks.
"I took it personally," he said Friday night on the Tar Heel Sports Network after his 24-point, seven-rebound, four-assist, four-steal performance in Carolina's 87-74 win over Kansas. "I knew we hadn't beaten them in 23 years, and November 7 was going to be day zero. The matchup was definitely personal to me."
Wilson was born in 2006, yet he already possessed a mature understanding of the rivalry between two of the game's best programs. Even though it happened before he was born, he was exactly correct that it had been 23 years since Matt Doherty's Heels beat Kansas in the Preseason NIT.
A sellout, rowdy Smith Center crowd barely had time to get seated after "Jump Around" before Wilson was attempting to end that drought. He soared through the lane after a Henri Veesaar miss to snatch the offensive rebound and dunk it home for the game's first points. Even this description seems inadequate, like calling the Old Well a water fountain. Wilson very much appeared to still be rising when he grabbed the ball and slammed it. You could instantly feel the home crowd receive a little jolt as they remembered, "We have Caleb Wilson on our team!"
It's easy to forget that Friday was Wilson's second college game. The 24 points, sure. According to Jody Zuegner's research, he's the first UNC freshman ever—ever!—to score more than 20 in each of his first two games in college.
But it was what he did outside of the highlight reel that bodes so well for this season. Carolina did not play well in the first half. It committed 10 turnovers and hit just 33.3 percent from the field and 20 percent from the three-point line.
The fact that it trailed by only eight points at the break was largely testament to the fact that Wilson seemed intent on dragging the Tar Heels along with him until they awoke. In a half when there weren't many artistic plays to celebrate, it was Wilson who ripped a defensive rebound from Kansas big man Flory Bidunga before drawing a foul. Thirty seconds later, Wilson dove on the floor to collect a loose ball that wasn't a 50-50 ball. It was more like a 70-30 ball for the Jayhawks. He roared after both plays, igniting a crowd that was looking for reasons to participate.
It was Wilson who stayed in the ear of Seth Trimble during the senior's 1-for-6 first half. "You're the best guard out here," Wilson told Trimble. "Keep being aggressive." Trimble made five field goals in the second half and tied for the team-high with four rebounds in the half.
There have been other high-scoring freshmen. There are precious few rookies with the savvy and maturity to keep their team afloat during a dismal half and essentially will them to a point that they can make a run in the second half.
"I'm always going to bring it out of the gate," Wilson said. "I'm going to go my hardest no matter who we are playing or what's going on."
And, oh, that second-half run. Carolina was breathtaking in the final 20 minutes, scoring on 10 of its first 11 trips down the court. You like dunks? Henri Veesaar and Wilson provided those. You like three-pointers? Please see Kyan Evans.
It felt like Bill Self could sense the tsunami that was approaching, as he burned one timeout two minutes into the half and then called another one less than four minutes later. It didn't matter. He was helpless as a tense first half turned into mostly a celebration in the second half.
As you might expect, the joy carried over to the Carolina locker room, where a rowdy party ensued that left Hubert Davis so drenched he had to change clothes before undertaking his postgame media obligations. He didn't mind.
"I wanted this new group and new team to get a taste of what it's like to be a player here and what it's like to play in front of that crowd and come up big and win," Davis said on the THSN. "I wanted them to have evidence of how special it was to be here." Remember, this is an almost completely new group. They've heard the coaches talk about their Carolina teams, and they've heard some former players address the squad over the last few months, but eventually they had to see it for themselves. I can tell you about a full Smith Center howling during a 29-11 home team run, but it's much more effective to sit you in the middle of them and watch your ears tingle.
Now they know. What's it like to be part of the program, to play here, to win here?
Davis can tell them. Or he can just wait for a night like Friday, gesture out at the 21,750 screaming individuals, and simply say, "It's like this."
The evidence was everywhere on Friday. It was the buzz in every restaurant throughout town all day, the burst when Luka Bogavac hit his second half three-pointer, the cheers that followed the Tar Heels back down the home tunnel after the game. This one was just a little bit for RJ Davis and Brady Manek and you know what, it was a little bit for Hubert Davis, too. As he noted, he'd never beaten Kansas as a player or coach—he lost to them in the 1991 Final Four and hadn't beaten them since returning to the bench as an assistant to Roy Williams in the spring of 2012.
It was a bunch of freshmen that helped Carolina get UNC's last win over Kansas in 2002. And it was one very important freshman who keyed this one. As Davis perused the box score before leaving to meet the media, he saw the gaudy numbers and looked up with wide eyes. "Caleb," he said, "is good!"
Wilson did exactly what he'd been planning to do for several months—put Carolina squarely where it belongs in the middle of the national college basketball discussion while also bringing some electricity to the Smith Center.
There's only one way to accomplish those goals: winning. Davis felt all of those implications late on Friday night. His team needed this. His program needed this. And maybe the head coach needed it a little bit, too.
"I won't remember the score," Davis said as tears choked his voice. "But I'll remember what that locker room was like."
Players Mentioned
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