• The game will be televised on FOX with Adam Amin and Jim Jackson on the call.
• This is the third time in the last four seasons Carolina will play on Thanksgiving (2022-23 at Portland and 2023-24 vs. Villanova in The Bahamas).
• Carolina is 6-0 for the first time since winning the first seven games in 2016-17.
• Henri Veesaar set career highs with 24 points and 13 rebounds and Caleb Wilson had 18 points and a dozen boards to become the first Tar Heel freshman with four-consecutive double-doubles as Carolina pulled away for an 85-70 win over previously undefeated St. Bonaventure on Tuesday in Fort Myers.
• The Tar Heels led by 11 midway through the first half before the Bonnies went on a 20-7 run to take a 30-28 lead. UNC led by two at the break, then outscored SBU, 12-5, in the first three minutes of the second half. The margin never got closer than six the rest of the way as Carolina eventually built its lead to as many as 20 points.
• Turnovers were again a key as the Tar Heels committed 11 in the first half that led to 10 points by the Bonnies. In the second half, UNC turned it over just two times leading to no points.
• Carolina outscored the Bonnies, 21-5, at the free throw line. It was the sixth time in as many games this season the Tar Heels outscored their opponents from the line and the third time in the last four games UNC made 20 or more free throws.
• UNC also outrebounded the Bonnies by nine, the sixth time in six games the Tar Heels have won the boards.
• The St. Bonaventure game was the first in a four-game stretch when Carolina’s opponents are a combined 20-3 (St. Bonaventure now 5-1, Michigan State 6-0, Kentucky 4-2 and Georgetown 5-0).
• The St. Bonaventure game was Carolina’s first game away from home in the regular season. This season marked the first time UNC opened with five straight home games since 1918-19.
• Carolina has won 2,401 games. UNC joined Kentucky and Kansas as the only three programs in college basketball history with 2,400 victories with its win over Navy on November 18.CAROLINA-MICHIGAN STATE
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• The Tar Heels are 13-5 all-time against Michigan State, although the Spartans won the previous meeting, 94-91 in overtime last November in Maui.
• Fort Myers is the 13th different city to play host to a UNC-Michigan State game, joining (in order) Kansas City, Mo.; Raleigh, N.C.; East Lansing; Chapel Hill; Lahaina, Maui; Greensboro, N.C.; St. Louis, Mo.; Winston-Salem, N.C.; Detroit; San Diego (aboard the USS Carl Vinson); Portland, Ore.; and Charlotte, N.C.
• Carolina is 9-3 against the Spartans at neutral sites.
LAST YEAR IN MAUI (UNC-MSU)
• Carolina trailed by as many as 14 in the first half and nine at halftime but Seth Trimble hit a three-pointer with 4.3 seconds left to tie the game at 80 and send it to overtime.
• In OT, the Tar Heels made two of eight from the floor, while the Spartans were three for four from the floor and made six of eight free throws.
• Carolina missed its first nine field goal attempts but still shot 50% from the floor.
• It was the first time the Tar Heels shot 50% or better from the floor in a loss since 2/15/2020 against Virginia. Carolina had won the previous 33 times it shot 50%.
• UNC shot 51.9% in the first half and 55.2% in the second.
• The Spartans shot 54.1% from the floor, made eight more free throws, were plus eight in second-chance points and scored 50 points in the paint.
• The Spartans outrebounded UNC, 37-29, and converted eight offensive boards into 11 points. The Tar Heels managed five offensive rebounds for three points.
• Freshman Drake Powell made four three-pointers and led UNC with a season-high 18 points.
WILSON MAKES HISTORY AGAIN
• Caleb Wilson is averaging 20.2 points, 10.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.5 blocks while shooting 61.2% from the floor.
• He has double-doubles in each of the last four games, the first time a Tar Heel freshman has ever accomplished that. Armando Bacot (twice), Antawn Jamison and Mike O’Koren were the only Tar Heel freshmen with three in a row.
• Against Navy, he became the first Tar Heel ever to score 23 points, grab 12 rebounds, make three blocks and four steals in any game.
• He netted 22 points vs. UCA and 24 vs. Kansas to become the first Tar Heel freshman ever to score more than 20 points in his first two games.
• Lennie Rosenbluth and Donald Washington scored more than 20 in their first two games as sophomores in 1954-55 and 1972-73, respectively.
• Wilson compiled a game-high 24 points with seven rebounds, four assists and four steals in the win over Kansas. He became just the second Tar Heel freshman (with Coby White against Virginia Tech in 2018-19) and the fourth Tar Heel regardless of class (with Walter Davis and Mike O’Koren) to have at least 24 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals in a game.
• His 22 points in the opener vs. Central Arkansas were the fourth-most by a Tar Heel freshman in his debut since first-year players became eligible in 1972-73.
• The top-five freshman scoring debuts in the last 50 years include Cole Anthony’s 34 points vs. Notre Dame on 11/6/19, Rashad McCants’ 28 vs. Penn State on 11/18/2002, Joseph Forte’s 24 vs. USC on 11/22/1999, Wilson’s 22 and Tyler Hansbrough’s 21 vs. Gardner-Webb on 11/19/2005.
BY THE NUMBERS
• The Tar Heels are fifth in the country in field goal percentage defense, holding their six opponents to a combined 34.3% from the floor.
• Four of the six opponents have shot under 40%, while Kansas shot a season-high 48.1% in Carolina’s 87-74 win.
• UNC is 49-4 in five seasons under head coach Davis when holding opponents under 40% from the floor.
• The Tar Heel defense leads the country in two-point field goal percentage defense (35.7%) and is fourth in effective field goal percentage (40.2%).
• Carolina is also 10th in the country in rebounding (45.8 per game), 21st in rebound margin (plus 12.2) and 23rd in scoring margin (plus 23.2).
• The Tar Heels attempted a season-low 18 threes against St. Bonaventure, the first time this season they attempted fewer than 23. Carolina is still averaging 26.0 attempts, which would easily break the previous school record for attempts per game, which was 23.94 in 2018-19, when the Tar Heel lineup included Cameron Johnson, Coby White, Kenny Williams and Luke Maye.
• Seven players made three-pointers against Central Arkansas and NC Central. In four other seasons there were two games when seven Tar Heels made threes. It’s never happened three times in one season.
• The UNC record for one game is eight players making a 3FG, at Wake Forest in 2018-19 and against NC A&T in 2001-02.
• Carolina has shot 50% or higher from the floor in four of the first six games. The Tar Heels are 39-1 under Davis when they make at least 50% from the floor.
• Carolina has out-rebounded its six opponents by 15, 12, 12, 21, seven and nine. The Tar Heels are 95-24 under Davis when they win the boards.
• Carolina is outscoring the opponents, 88-35, in fastbreak points, an average of 14.7 to 5.8 per game.
• The Tar Heels have scored 21 bench points in the last two wins (10 vs. Navy and 11 vs. St. Bonaventure). Those 21 points were 13.2% of UNC’s total points. In the first four games, Carolina’s bench contributed 26.4% of the points.
• Freshman point guard Derek Dixon scored 15 of UNC’s 21 bench points in the wins over Navy and St. Bonaventure.
AP RANKING
• Carolina is ranked No. 16 in the nation in the Associated Press poll, up from 18th the previous two weeks.
• UNC was ranked 25th in the preseason poll and then moved up seven spots in the November 10 poll. That was the largest jump from the preseason poll by the Tar Heels since the AP began ranking 25 teams in the 1989-90 season.
• In 1984-85, when the AP ranked 20 teams, the Tar Heels went from unranked to 19th after the first week of the regular season.
• Carolina is 1-0 against ranked teams this season (Kansas).
EARLY ACCOLADES
• Freshman forward Caleb Wilson was one of five players named National Player of the Week by the USBWA for the week of November 3-9.
• Wilson also was both the Co-ACC Player and Rookie of the Week following his performances in the wins over Central Arkansas and Kansas.
• Wilson shared the player and rookie awards with Virginia Tech’s Neoklis Avdalas.
• Wilson is the first Tar Heel freshman to also win ACC Player-of-the-Week honors since Cole Anthony in 2019-20.
• Wilson is the eighth Tar Heel to win ACC Player-of-the-Week honors as a freshman, joining Jerry Stackhouse (1994), Antawn Jamison (1996), Rashad McCants (2003), Tyler Hansbrough (2006), Brandan Wright (2007), Coby White (2019) and Anthony.
PROBABLE STARTERS VS. MICHIGAN STATE
0 – Kyan Evans, Junior, Guard
44 – Luka Bogavac, Junior, Guard
8 – Caleb Wilson, Freshman, Forward
13 – Henri Veesaar, R-Junior, Center
15 – Jarin Stevenson, Junior, Forward
• None of the probable starters were Tar Heels last season.
• Seth Trimble, who is out with an injured left arm, started 18 of UNC’s 37 games last season. Even with Trimble’s return, this is the first season in which UNC did not return a player who started at least half the games in the previous season since 2005-06, when the Tar Heels replaced all five starters from a national championship team.
• Carolina’s probable starters have made a combined 96 college starts. That includes 42 by Evans, 33 by Stevenson, 11 by Veesaar, six by Wilson and four by Bogavac.
VEESAAR’S POST PRESENCE
• Red-shirt junior center Henri Veesaar, a transfer from Arizona, leads the team in field goal shooting (64.3%) and blocks (10) and is second in scoring (16.3) and rebounding (8.7).
• The Estonia native has three double-doubles, the first three of his college career. He also has single-game career highs in points (24 vs. St. Bonaventure), rebounds (13 vs. St. Bonaventure) and blocks (five vs. NC Central).
• He has scored 20 or more points twice – 24 vs. the Bonnies and 20 points vs. Kansas. He had one 20-point game in his first two seasons at Arizona.
PRESEASON ALL-ACC, POLL
• The Tar Heels were picked to finish third in the 18-team Atlantic Coast Conference by the media at the ACC’s preseason media day in Charlotte.
• Caleb Wilson was voted to the league’s preseason All-ACC second team and the All-Freshman team.
• UNC was picked No. 25 in the country in the Associated Press preseason poll.
• This is the 69th different season in the 78-year history of the AP poll the Tar Heels have been ranked in the AP poll.
• The preseason AP poll is the 963rd time Carolina has been ranked, the second-most in college basketball history.
PRESEASON RECOGNITION
• The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame released its preseason watch lists for its five positional and they included three Tar Heels.
• Seth Trimble is on the Jerry West Shooting Guard Award list, Caleb Wilson is on the Karl Malone Power Forward Award list and Henri Veesaar is on the Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Center Award list.
• Tar Heels have won four of the Hall of Fame’s positional awards – three Bob Cousy Point Guard Awards (Raymond Felton in 2005, Ty Lawson in 2009 and Kendall Marshall in 2012) and one Jerry West Award (RJ Davis in 2024).
• Wilson is also on the preseason watch lists for the Naismith and Oscar Robertson (USBWA) Trophies.
NEW-LOOK ROSTER
• Carolina’s 16-man roster includes five returning players and 11 newcomers. Those figures include senior guard Seth Trimble who is injured but averaged 11.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in 28.6 minutes per game last season.
• The 11 newcomers include three incoming freshmen, six collegiate transfers, one player who competed internationally and a former member of UNC’s junior varsity team.
• The six collegiate transfers combined last season for 1,464 points, 578 rebounds, 256 assists and made 226 of 641 three-pointers (35.3%).
FRESHMAN STARTERS
• Caleb Wilson became the 40th Tar Heel to start his first game as a freshman since first-year players became eligible in 1972-73. Prior to Wilson, the most recent were guards RJ Davis and Caleb Love in 2020-21 against the College of Charleston.
• The last UNC frontcourt player to start his first game as a freshman had been Armando Bacot in 2019-20.
HUBERT DAVIS: YEAR FIVE
• The 2025-26 season is Hubert Davis‘ fifth as head coach at the University of North Carolina and his 14th on the coaching staff at his alma mater. He is the only Tar Heel head coach to win 20 or more games in each of his first four seasons.
• Davis, 55 (turns 56 on May 17, 2026), has won National and ACC Coach-of-the-Year honors, led the Tar Heels to a national title game appearance, 107 wins, a 56-24 record and 24 road wins in ACC regular-season play, a regular-season ACC title and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Only one other team has won more ACC games in the last four years.
• Two of his players – RJ Davis and Armando Bacot – rank second and third, respectively, in all-time UNC scoring, set numerous records and earned national and All-ACC awards.
• Carolina won its 100th game under Davis in the 2025 ACC Tournament, making him the third-fastest coach in UNC history and the sixth-fastest in ACC history to win 100 games. Only Duke’s Vic Bubas, UNC’s Roy Williams and Frank McGuire, Wake Forest’s Skip Prosser and Maryland’s Lefty Driesell reached 100 wins in fewer games than Davis (who won his 100th in 143 games).
• Over the previous four seasons, UNC had the 10th-most wins among teams in the ACC, Big East, Big Ten, Big 12 and SEC.
• Under Davis, Carolina is 8-3 in NCAA Tournament play, including wins against three national championship-winning coaches (Baylor’s Scott Drew, Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and Michigan State’s Tom Izzo) and three other coaches who have taken teams to the Final Four (Marquette’s Shaka Smart, UCLA’s Mick Cronin and San Diego State’s Brian Dutcher).
• Davis has led the Tar Heels to 14 wins over nationally-ranked opponents, including eight over top-10 teams (No. 4 Duke, No. 4 Baylor and No. 9 Duke in 2022; No. 6 Virginia in 2023; and No. 10 Tennessee, No. 7 Oklahoma, No. 7 Duke and No. 9 Duke in 2024).
2025-26 SCHEDULE NOTES
• In ACC play, the Tar Heels play host to Florida State (Dec. 30), Wake Forest (Jan. 10), Notre Dame (Jan. 21), Syracuse (Feb. 2), Duke (Feb. 7), Pitt (Feb. 14), Louisville (Feb. 23), Virginia Tech (Feb. 28) and Clemson (March 3).
• Carolina plays at SMU (Jan. 3), Stanford (Jan.14), Cal (Jan. 17), Virginia (Jan. 24), Georgia Tech (Jan. 31), Miami (Feb. 10), NC State (Feb. 17), Syracuse (Feb. 21) and Duke (March 7).
• UNC is not scheduled to play Boston College.
• This will mark the first season since 1919 the Tar Heels are not playing NC State in Chapel Hill.
• The Tar Heels played Kansas to Chapel Hill for the first time ever. Last year, the Jayhawks defeated UNC in Lawrence. The November 7 game was just the third on-campus matchup in 14 games between the Tar Heels and KU.
• Carolina makes its first appearance in the Skechers Fort Myers (Fla.) Tip-Off at Suncoast Credit Union Arena. UNC faces St. Bonaventure (for the second time ever) on November 25 and Michigan State two days later on Thanksgiving Day. This is the third consecutive year the Tar Heels will be playing the Spartans. Carolina won in Charlotte in the 2024 NCAA second round and Michigan State won in overtime last November in Maui.
• The Tar Heels are making their first trips as ACC opponents to SMU, Stanford and Cal. UNC is 1-0 all-time against the Mustangs in Dallas (12/30/1986), 2-0 vs. the Cardinal in Maples Pavilion (12/3/1983 and 11/20/2017) and 1-0 vs. the Bears in Haas Pavilion (12/22/1972, when its was Harmon Gym).
• Carolina returns to Rupp Arena in Lexington to play Kentucky for the eighth time and the first time since 12/13/2014. UNC is 1-1 in the ACC/SEC Challenge with a home win over Tennessee and loss to Alabama.
• UNC plays Ohio State in Atlanta on December 20 in the CBS Sports Classic. The Tar Heels are 7-4 in the annual event, including 3-0 vs. the Buckeyes.
NEARING 500 WINS IN THE SMITH CENTER
• This is the 41st season the Tar Heels are playing their home games in the Dean E. Smith Center.
• Carolina is six wins shy of 500 with an overall record (not counting preseason or exhibition games) of 494-90.
• The Tar Heels are 237-19 in the Smith Center against non-conference opponents.
• The Tar Heels have played 46% of their home games all-time in the Smith Center (584 of 1,268).
• Central Arkansas, Kansas, Navy and USC Upstate each will be playing in the Smith Center for the first time.
• Navy was the 153rd different opponent to play a regular-season or NIT game in the Smith Center against the Tar Heels.
• Carolina has won 494 games in the Smith Center, 210 in Woollen Gym (1939-65), 170 in Carmichael Auditorium (1965-86, 2010), 130 in the Indoor Athletic Court (1924-38) and 63 in Bynum Gym (1911-23).
TAR HEELS IN THE NBA
• Eleven former Tar Heels were on NBA Opening Day rosters, including Cole Anthony (Milwaukee), Harrison Barnes (San Antonio), Tony Bradley (Indiana), Harrison Ingram (San Antonio), Cameron Johnson (Denver), Walker Kessler (Utah), Caleb Love (Portland), Pete Nance (Milwaukee), rookie Drake Powell (Brooklyn), Day’Ron Sharpe (Brooklyn) and Coby White (Chicago).
• Powell averaged 7.4 points as a freshman last season and was selected by Atlanta with the 22nd pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. His rights were traded the night of the Draft to the Brooklyn Nets. Powell was the 55th Tar Heel selected all-time in the first round.
