The No. 18 North Carolina Tar Heels, fresh off a seven-spot jump in the Associated Press poll, will host the Radford Highlanders on Tuesday, November 11, at 7 p.m. The game, televised on the ACC Network, features a matchup of two undefeated 2-0 teams.
While the Tar Heels secured early wins against Central Arkansas (94-54) and Kansas (87-74), they will face Radford without a key leader. Senior captain Seth Trimble is out indefinitely after breaking a bone in his left forearm on Sunday. Trimble’s absence is significant, as he accounted for 94.5% of the team’s returning points from last season and was averaging 14.5 points through the first two games.
In Trimble’s absence, freshman forward Caleb Wilson has delivered a historic start to his collegiate career. Following standout performances against Central Arkansas and Kansas, Wilson was named Co-ACC Player and Rookie of the Week, an honor he shared with Virginia Tech’s Neoklis Avdalas. Wilson is the first Tar Heel freshman to win the conference’s Player of the Week award since Cole Anthony in 2019-20.
Averaging 23.0 points while shooting an exceptional 17-for-21 from the field, Wilson is the first UNC freshman ever to score more than 20 points in his first two career games. His 24-point, seven-rebound, four-assist, and four-steal performance against Kansas placed him in rare company, joining Coby White as the only Tar Heel freshmen to achieve those stats in a single game.
Other players have also stepped up. Junior point guard Kyan Evans leads the team with six three-pointers, eight assists, and six steals, while averaging 13.5 points. Red-shirt junior center Henri Veesaar, a transfer from Arizona, is the team’s leading rebounder (7.0 per game) and second-leading scorer (17.0 per game), posting 20 points against Kansas.
As a team, North Carolina has started the season with impressive offensive efficiency, shooting over 50% from the floor in both contests. This marks the first time since the 2021-22 season that UNC has opened with consecutive games at 50% or better shooting. Under head coach Hubert Davis, the team is 37-1 when reaching that benchmark.
The matchup against Radford is the third of five consecutive home games to start the season for the Tar Heels, a scheduling sequence not seen since 1918-19. UNC holds a 3-0 all-time record against the Highlanders, including a 2-0 record at the Dean E. Smith Center, where the program is just nine wins shy of its 500th victory.
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