Caleb Wilson entered his first real game in the Dean Dome with massive amounts of hype. The freshman looked good in exhibition play, and he more than carried that over into the start of the regular season as he and the Tar Heels kicked off the year with a 94-54 win over Central Arkansas.
The night started with Wilson dunking all over the Bears as his teammates found him for alley oops over and over. Wilson finished the night with 22 points on 8-10 shooting, largely on dunks, with four rebounds and two
assists. He even made his first three as a Tar Heel for good measure.
While the impressiveness of Wilson will definitely dominate the headlines, this was a very solid performance all around for the Tar Heels. Kyan Evans was very impressive in his first game running the offense, finishing with 15 points, six rebounds, five assists, and just two turnovers. He was the best three-point shooter on the team, sinking four of his seven shots from long distance. Henri Veesaar combined with Wilson down low was a force to be reckoned with. Veesaar finished the game with 14 points and 10 rebounds for the team’s only double-double. Seth Trimble had 12 points and Luka Bogavac, who was cleared just minutes before tip-off, finished with 10 points to round out the Heels in double figures.
Carolina lit up the first half on their way to a 51-23 halftime lead. They shot 46% from the field and were on the good side of a 14-0 free throw attempt differential. Hubert Davis was clearly playing with lineup combinations with a healthy lead in the second half, which kept things from being even more lopsided as Central Arkansas was outscoring Carolina for a bit in the second 20 minutes. The Heels hit the gas down the stretch and finished the game on an 8-0 run.
There were so many good and fun things about this game that the few small things that didn’t go super well felt far from top of mind. Turning it over 12 times definitely isn’t ideal and will need to be cleaned up ASAP if the Tar Heels want to beat Kansas on Friday. Bogavac didn’t have his three-ball falling, but that can likely be chalked up to the fact that he wasn’t even sure he was going to play tonight. No one who played in relief of Veesaar looked up to the task whatsoever. Still, none of that kept the game from just being a ton of fun. Many of the games last season felt like dental work, so this was a nice change of pace.
Quality of opponent is important to take into consideration when getting excited about this, that, or the other, but there were plenty of opponents last year that Carolina found a way to play down to time after time. The fact that they came out firing on all cylinders tonight was a welcome sight. The addition of all the size to the roster is immediately evident and should do wonders in alleviating some of last year’s pain points. Caleb Wilson looks like the absolute truth and watching him this year should be an absolute treat. That is the biggest takeaway from this game.
Carolina will try to keep it rolling when they welcome the Jayhawks to Chapel Hill on Friday.
