No. 16 North Carolina will try to win its second straight game without freshman phenom Caleb Wilson when it travels to Raleigh to face rival North Carolina State on Tuesday night.
Wilson — who leads the Tar Heels (20-5, 8-4 Atlantic Coast Conference) in scoring and rebounding with 19.8 points and 9.4 rebounds per game — is out indefinitely after suffering a fracture in his left hand against Miami last week. The Tar Heels are hopeful Wilson will return before March Madness begins, but they’ll have to play without him for the foreseeable future.
On Saturday, UNC was able to get a 79-65 win at home over Pitt without Wilson and his co-anchor in the post, Henri Veesaar. The latter missed the game against the Panthers — his first absence of the season — with what the team called a lower extremity issue and an illness. Tar Heels coach Hubert Davis said Monday that Veesaar “continues to feel better and get better” and was expected to practice.
In the absence of Wilson and Veesaar, Jarin Stevenson and Seth Trimble led UNC against Pitt by scoring 19 points apiece. Davis has been particularly impressed with the way that Stevenson has stepped up. The junior forward is averaging 11.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and one assist per game over his last six outings.
“I think he’s been in a better rhythm, more comfortable, more confident on the offensive end,” Davis said of Stevenson. “I just love when he’s aggressive in practice, in games. He takes good shots, he makes the right plays and he’s just a really good player. When he’s aggressive, he definitely takes our team to a different level.”
While the Tar Heels were able to comfortably defeat Pitt without the help of Wilson and Veesaar, the Panthers are not going to make the NCAA Tournament and rank 110th in KenPom. Their next opponent is much tougher.
NC State (18-8, 9-4) is 31st in KenPom and is projected to be a No. 7 seed in March Madness in ESPN’s latest bracketology update.
The Wolfpack are licking their wounds, though. Will Wade’s team lost back-to-back games for just the second time this season, falling at Louisville and then at home to Miami last week. In its one-point loss to the Hurricanes, the Wolfpack gave up 20 offensive rebounds and were outscored in the paint 56-32.
Matt Able’s game-winning 3-point attempt missed the mark at the buzzer.
“Our fans deserve better than what we’ve been giving them,” Wade said Monday. “North Carolina is a great team. Coach Davis has done a tremendous job with the team this year. They’re huge. I mean, that’s the biggest challenge. We’re not the biggest bunch. And they’re massive on the front line, which has been a major issue for us this season.”
North Carolina is fourth in the ACC and 48th nationally in rebounds per game with 38.8.
With 7.1 boards per game, NC State’s leading rebounder this season is Ven-Allen Lubin, who spent last season playing for the Tar Heels before transferring to join Wade’s squad last offseason. The 6-foot-9 senior forward averages 13.7 points per game this season and also leads the ACC in field goal percentage with a 68.4% clip.
