Wilson & Bogavac Lead 73-61 Win Over Navy

Tuesday, November 18

Chapel Hill

7 p.m.

North Carolina

5-0,0-0ACC

Navy

2-3,0-0Patriot

Navy

North Carolina

Luka Bogavac

Photo by: DALTON T. WAINSCOTT

November 18, 2025 | Men's Basketball

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By: Matt Bowers

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.—Caleb Wilson scored 17 second-half points and posted another double-double as No. 18 North Carolina topped Navy, 73-61, on Tuesday night in the Smith Center.

Wilson helped break the game open with two monster dunks early in the second half and finished with 23 points, 12 rebounds, three blocks and four steals, posting his fourth 20-point effort in five games and his third consecutive double-double.

"His game ignites us," Tar Heel head coach Hubert Davis said of Wilson. "It ignites the crowd. It gets us going…that's the type of person, the presence that he brings, but it definitely comes from his game."

Luka Bogavac was another offensive catalyst once again for Carolina, as he scored in double figures for the fourth time in five games and tallied 16 points and six rebounds. Jarin Stevenson added 11 points and eight rebounds, and Henri Veesaar had 10 points, seven boards and two blocks.

UNC went on a 19-4 second-half run to break open what had been a closer game and build a 24-point lead with five minutes to go, only to see Navy respond with a 15-0 run in the final few minutes to pull within single digits briefly.

Carolina improved to 5-0 this season with the win, its best start since beginning 2022-23 with five consecutive victories. The Tar Heels' five-game homestand to start the season came to an end. Navy fell to 2-3.

UNC's defense locked down the Midshipmen, limiting them to 28.9 percent shooting in the second half and 30.4 percent in the game. The Tar Heels are 49-4 in the Hubert Davis era when holding opponents below 40 percent shooting.

Carolina built a 10-point lead in the first 5:15 of the game, hitting 5 of its first 7 attempts from three-point range. It led, 32-20, at the 6:54 mark before the Midshipmen finished the half on an 11-6 run to trail only 38-31 at intermission.

UNC's defense held Navy scoreless for a stretch of nearly six minutes and looked to be pulling away midway through the second half, only to go cold as the Midshipmen scored 15 points in a row to put a scare in the Smith Center crowd. The Tar Heels scored a season-low 73 points and committed a season-high 13 turnovers.

"Hats off to Navy," Veesaar said. "They played a great game. They were disciplined and played physical, and we let that bother us a little bit. We gotta keep our foot on the gas and not let go of the pedal."

Notes
• Carolina started the same lineup for the third consecutive game: Kyan Evans and Bogavac in the backcourt with a frontcourt of Stevenson, Wilson and Veesaar.
• The win was the 2,400th in program history, making UNC the third school in NCAA annals to reach the threshold along with Kentucky and Kansas.
• It was also Carolina's 494th all-time win in the Smith Center, where it has a record of 494-90 in its 41st season in the arena.
• Despite Tuesday's win, UNC still trails the all-time series with Navy, 14-7, though it was the first meeting since 1998 and just the second since 1959. Entering the game, the Midshipmen had the best winning percentage against the Tar Heels (.700) of any opponent that has played Carolina at least 20 times.

How It Happened
First Half
• Carolina hit 5 of its first 7 three-point attempts but missed its last three to finish at 5 for 10 in the opening 20 minutes.
• The Tar Heels never trailed in the first half but never led by more than 12 as the Midshipmen kept the score within reach.
• Navy outscored UNC in the paint, 14-12 and cut what had been a 12-point Carolina lead to seven at the break despite shooting 32.3 percent.
• Bogavac led all scorers with 12 points in the first half, hitting 3 of 4 shots, both of his three-point attempts and 4 of 5 free throw tries with three rebounds and two assists.

Second Half
• Back-to-back dunks by Wilson boosted the Tar Heel lead back to double digits by the first official timeout after halftime.
• Carolina built its lead to 14 at 54-40 and forced two Navy timeouts in the first eight minutes of the half.
• The Tar Heels used a 9-0 burst while holding the Midshipmen scoreless for 5:40 to up their advantage to 58-40 with 7:57 remaining.
• Navy missed 18 of its first 22 shots after intermission as UNC began to pull away despite shooting just 8 for 19 itself to begin the half.

Up Next
Carolina will venture away from Chapel Hill for the first time in the regular season when it heads to Fort Myers, Fla., for the Fort Myers Tip-Off. The Tar Heels will meet St. Bonaventure on Tuesday November 25 and Michigan State on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday November 27.