Caleb Wilson's 'No One Can Stop Me' Approach on Display

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — Thirty minutes after the final buzzer sounded, Caleb Wilson still couldn’t shake the frustration he felt. Eyes locked forward, his tone slightly somber from his typically cheerful mood, the freshman forward expressed dissatisfaction with how he started the game and the way No. 18 North Carolina played overall.

“I was just frustrated with my performance in the first half, and I was frustrated the game was close,” Wilson said. “(We’re) supposed to be a top team in the country, there’s no way that game should be close.” 

Ultimately, Wilson utilized his irritation to fuel a second-half scoring burst, where he racked up 17 of his 23 total points and helped UNC defeat Navy 73-61 on Tuesday night at the Smith Center. Wilson’s performance not only supplied scoring for the Tar Heels but also generated a charge of energy for a North Carolina side that was upset about its lack of effort throughout the game. 

“His game ignites us,” coach Hubert Davis said. “It ignites the crowd. It gets us going. It’s not a verbal rah, rah, but his game just does that. And in the second half, the plays that he made just instinctively, just brought everything up.” 

In the first half, Wilson found himself in foul trouble and, by his standards, played a dysfunctional 10 minutes. He scored six points from a pair of early dunks and two late free throws, but struggled to match his usual production due to a handful of bobbled catches, uninspired post-ups and a turnover. 

But in the second half, Wilson made up for his slow start immediately. Unfazed by how many defenders stood in his way, he attacked the rim possession after possession, drawing three fouls and slamming home four dunks amidst a 19-5 scoring run for UNC. Driven by his feelings of frustration from the first half, Wilson flipped a mental switch that no one could seemingly turn off. 

“I just decided I was going to be aggressive,” Wilson said. “Everybody out there, no one can stop me. So I just went and took over the game.” 

On one possession, the freshman phenom took the ball 1-on-4 against a cluster of Midshipmen in transition. He drove past the first, euro-stepped around the second, and rose to poster the final Navy player while a fourth wanted no part in the action. 

It was a play that not only displayed his aggression in the second half, but fired up both the Smith Center crowd and Wilson’s teammates. 

“He’s crazy,” Jarin Stevenson said about his thoughts on the play. “Amazing, it was very athletic. There’s not many guys like him; he’s very good.” 

Wilson had another efficient night from the floor, scoring his 23 points from 9-of-13 shooting, where he attempted only two shots outside of the paint. It came from a three-pointer that Wilson glanced off the front iron, and a turnaround midrange that rolled in after a few bounces around the rim. 

When asked if he wanted to take more shots outside the paint or at the rim, Wilson said he allows the flow of the game to dictate his shot selection. 

“I’m not really focused on the type of shots I take, I’m focused on being efficient,” he said. “I can shoot the three-ball, I can shoot the mid-range whenever I want to, and I’ll have to do it against tougher competition.” 

Given the type of start Wilson’s had to the season, nightly dunk packages have become the norm. The 6-foot-10 forward leads the nation in dunks this season, with 23, seven more than the next two suitors on the list.

And whether it’s an alley-oop from the opposite wing, a two-handed reverse, tomahawk dunk or putback slam off a missed shot — all features of Wilson’s six dunk outing on Tuesday night — the freshman’s athletic nature is starting to spoil even his own teammates. 

“I feel like I’m around him so much that I expect it,” Henri Veesaar said. “With him, it kind of happens every game.”