The last time Carolina defeated Kansas, the person typing this article was fresh out of school and newly married. Some guy named Matt Doherty was the coach, and the last UNC national title was in 1993. The coach that Doherty defeated was Roy Williams.
Since that date the Tar Heels have lost five straight to the Jayhawks and each one had their own level of pain to them. From the 2008 Final Four to the 2022 National Title, Bill Self had basically owned UNC. This includes last year in a game that many
thought was a preview of two good teams. Instead, both squads would lose in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
On Friday night, the Tar Heels finally defeated Kansas, and did so in a way that could set a great tone for the rest of this season. Let’s look at three things from this victory:
Caleb Wilson is HIM
Going into the season Caleb Wilson was kind of the forgotten freshman when compared to some of the other big names this season. A big part of that was he was billed as more of a defensive star than someone who had a good all-around game, but he quickly endeared himself to campus life by talking a big game. He’s set down a marker on beating all the Big Four schools, and helped engineer Friday’s game being a whiteout, delaying a planned corporate giveaway from Verizon.
So if this is your talk, then you need to back it up and he did. 24 points, seven rebounds, four assists, only one turnover, and four steals. A couple of those steals came with floor burns, and his motor was the only thing that really kept Carolina in the game in the first half. His dunks were electric, and the team noticeably dropped when he had to sit at the end of the first half with foul trouble.
What’s remarkable about the second half isn’t just that Caleb continued to dominate—he hit several turnaround jumpers that must have NBA scouts salivating—but he was bound and determined to get his team into the game. A big reason Henri Veesaar woke up in the half was Wilson distributing the ball to him, and Jarin Stevenson’s three that really helped spark the Tar Heel definitive run came off an assist from Wilson. He’s got a motor, he plays to the crowd, and he showed up on the biggest stage early in front of announcers who will consistently bring him up because of that performance. Wilson announced his presence to the rest of college basketball, and that’s good news for UNC
Unselfish play seems to define this team
On the whole Carolina had 16 assists on the night, and six different Tar Heels had at least one on the books. In the first half Carolina looked tentative but it wasn’t so much because they were taking bad shots, it was because each player on the court was looking to pass the ball to someone else. This was especially problematic for Veesaar who passed up multiple chances down low when he scores by going up strong. There is such a thing as being too unselfish, but if your basis is that you want to pass ahead and find the best shot, things do tend to work themselves out.
In the second half Carolina adjusted their sets slightly and made it more of a point to focus on getting the ball into the paint. Seth Trimble and Kyan Evans drove to the basket, challenging the bigs of Kansas. Veessaar consistently got free off of screens for easy dunks, and the aforementioned Wilson would pass out of double teams to find an open teammate and produce a basket. It feels like a breath of fresh air to have that mindset on this squad, it just would have been nice if it didn’t take a half of basketball for it to click.
The Quad 1 storyline can stay quiet
Last year’s Kansas loss was the beginning of a trend where Carolina couldn’t win Quad 1 games. They’d get close, they’d challenge themselves, but they couldn’t actually get a win that would count. This year, Carolina showed up and got that big win early and that takes a good amount of pressure off for the rest of a schedule that features Michigan State, Kentucky, Ohio State, and of course ACC play.
This year’s schedule in particular has been built more to be NCAA Tournament friendly. They either play big names that will be Q1 games or they play the likes of Central Arkansas, Radford, or USC Upstate. They’ll now play three straight in the Smith Center against teams they should win before going down to Fort Myers and facing the next big test on Thanksgiving. Having this win in the bag now allows them to focus on improving instead of just seeking a big win, and that being off this team’s mind could portend a great non-conference season.
