A constant theme for North Carolina this season has been its habit of stumbling out of the gate. When that happens, Caleb Wilson is usually the one who plugs the team back into the outlet.
In the Tar Heels’ 79-66 win over the Seminoles, he did it again. North Carolina scored just five points in the first seven minutes, stuck in mud and searching for a spark. Wilson supplied it, ripping down an offensive rebound over two Florida State defenders and drawing a foul on the put-back.
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The play jolted the building. The bench exploded, his frontcourt mate Henri Veesaar roared, and the Dean Smith Center crowd snapped to life.
“Caleb is very electric and what he does is he gets the crowd going with plays like that,” guard Seth Trimble said. “When the crowd wakes up, it gives us no choice but to wake up. When he makes a play like that, it gives us no choice but to follow with that same energy.”
The script repeated after halftime. The Tar Heels again opened sluggishly, but Wilson flipped the mood. With UNC clinging to a one-point lead and 16 minutes left, he caught the ball on the block, spun baseline and hammered home an uncontested dunk to ignite a 7-0 run. Four minutes later, Derek Dixon found a cutting Wilson for another violent slam over a helpless Seminole, triggering a second 7-0 burst that effectively blew the game open.
He finished with 22 points, 16 rebounds, six assists and two blocks, becoming the first Tar Heel to lead the team in all four categories since Armando Bacot did so against Boston College on Jan. 17, 2023. He is also the first freshman in UNC history to score 20 or more points in six consecutive games.
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“His personality and his game personality just light up the room,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said. “Whether it’s a steal, a rebound, a dunk, it just ignites us. He has that type of effect on this team and the crowd, and we feed off of that. Just the plays that he makes, there are plays that only he can make.”
UNC cannot rely on Caleb Wilson for a boost every game
Dec 30, 2025; Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA; North Carolina Tar Heels forward Caleb Wilson (8) scores in the second half at Dean E. Smith Center. Mandatory Credit: Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
Still, North Carolina cannot afford to lean on one human jumper cable every night. Trimble and Veesaar have been terrific all season, but the Tar Heels need steadier contributions from the rest of the rotation.
The shooting numbers laid bare how choppy the offense was. Carolina went 29-for-68 from the field (42.6%) and just 39% before halftime. The 3-point line offered no bailout, with the Tar Heels hitting 7 of 29 (24.1%). Even point-blank looks were an adventure — they missed 9 of 15 layups.
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Beyond Trimble, Wilson and Veesaar, the rest of the roster could not buy a bucket. Luka Bogavac, Derek Dixon, Jonathan Powell and Jarin Stevenson combined to shoot 3-for-18, with Bogavac and Dixon going 0-for-8.
Kyan Evans was the one dependable threat from deep, scoring all 15 of his points on 5-for-12 shooting from 3. Take away Evans’ makes, and the rest of the team was just 2-for-17 from beyond the arc — a glacial 11.7% that shows how far this offense still has to grow.
Slow starts remain a flashing warning light for UNC as ACC play ramps up. On Saturday, the Tar Heels face an SMU team averaging 91.1 points per game. A week later, Wake Forest — an in-state rival eager to spoil things at the Smith Center — comes to town.
After that, the road only gets steeper: Duke, Louisville, NC State, Virginia and a Miami team that should not be overlooked all loom on the schedule.
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The upside for North Carolina is that it has a player like Wilson, who can flip a game with a single burst of energy. The danger is needing him to do it every night. Those habits may not cost the Tar Heels in early January, but if the pattern does not change, it could come back to haunt them when March arrives.
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This article originally appeared on Tar Heels Wire: UNC Basketball: Caleb Wilson’s performance overshadows lingering woes
