Lucas: Kansas Rapid Reactions

fans, students
University of North Carolina Men’s Basketball v Kansas
Dean E. Smith Center
Chapel Hill, NC
Friday, November 7, 2025

Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati

November 7, 2025 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas

Quick takeaways from the visit from the Jayhawks.

By Adam Lucas

1. Utilizing perhaps one of the best and most important halves of the season, Carolina exploded in the second half and rolled to an 87-74 win over Kansas.

2. That second half was simply incredible. The Tar Heels shot the ball at a blistering pace. They scored on 10 of their first 11 possessions, 19 of the first 23 trips, 21 of the first 26 and 23 of the first 31. That's very efficient basketball. They finished at 66.7 percent from the field in the second half and 51.5 percent for the game, running the record under Hubert Davis to 37-1 when UNC hits at least 50 percent. The Heels' points in the paint edge in the second half was 36-10. They simply did whatever they wanted.

3. Chalk up another brilliant performance for Caleb Wilson. The freshman carried the offense in the first half and then did a little bit of everything in the second half. He finished with 24 points, seven rebounds and four assists. And after picking up two first-half fouls, he largely played foul-free the rest of the game at a time Carolina could not afford to lose him. Henri Veesaar (20 points and four rebounds) was a formidable frontcourt partner for Wilson.

4. Carolina can't be that good offensively all the time, obviously. But they did shoot the ball more like the team Hubert Davis thinks they will be in the second half. Kyan Evans made a pair of three-pointers, Jarin Stevenson hit one, Jonathan Powell swished one (and had another rim out) and Luka Bogavac made one. The Heels finished the game 8-27 from three but were 5-12 in the second half.

5. Turnovers were a huge problem for the Heels in the first half. Carolina committed 10 of them, which led to 17 Kansas points. And while the Jayhawks were being opportunistic, the UNC offense was not. Carolina grabbed 10 offensive rebounds in the first 20 minutes (off 20 missed shots, a great percentage) but turned them into just two points. The UNC starters not named Veesaar or Wilson were 1-for-12 in the first half.

6. Given all of the above numbers, it's rather amazing that the Tar Heels only trailed by eight points at halftime. It could have been much worse. One factor that kept the Heels close was their ability to secure loose balls. Even when they were bogged down in the first half, they were still getting on the floor and seemed to get every loose ball. It was partially Wilson who was providing that energy--he got two big loose balls in the first half--but it was a team-wide effort.

7. And that gave everyone time to settle down. The Heels made just one turnover in the second half, and that shut off Kansas' easy scoring chances. Kansas had 17 points off turnovers at half and finished with only 19. The win shut down an amazing Kansas streak that had seen them win seven straight against the ACC and 16 of their last 17 against the league dating back to 2012.

8. Darryn Peterson is a very good player for Kansas and scored 22 points on 8-for-14 shooting. So this might sound a little odd: Seth Trimble did a quality job on him defensively. His eight makes, for the most part, were hard-earned--he really only got one wide open look and that came off a miscue that wasn't Trimble's fault. And Trimble's ability to handle him one-on-one for the entire game enabled the Tar Heels to do some other things defensively and avoid any switching confusion.

9. A sign of where college basketball is headed: Friday's game featured seven different international players. Three Tar Heels hail from abroad (Luka Bogavac from Montenegro, Ivan Matlekovic from Croatia and Henri Veesaar from Estonia) and Kansas has four internationals (Paul Mbiya and Flory Bidunga from the Republic of Congo, Gee Ngala from Canada and Samis Calderon from Brazil). As the financial opportunities in college basketball become more lucrative, you'll continue to see an international flavor to the college game.

10. Friday night's game was just the third-ever Carolina-Kansas game in the state of North Carolina. The two teams played in Raleigh at Reynolds Coliseum in 1959 and in Charlotte in 1981 (in Michael Jordan's college debut). So how did this home-and-home series come about? Hubert Davis walked into the office one day and said, "We should play Kansas." Both schools quickly made it happen. It was a very fun two-game series, especially with the on-campus environment for both games instead of a neutral setting, and while it's unrealistic to make it a regular part of the schedule, it would be fun to try it again at some point in the future.

11. And why is this series so fun? Because the two programs have so much history together. That connection was on display during the first timeout of the first half, as the family of Dean Smith presented his Jayhawks letter jacket to the University of Kansas. Smith played for KU and was part of the 1952 championship team before building a legacy in Chapel Hill. Those shared ties, of course, also include Roy Williams (coached at both schools and won three national titles at UNC while becoming the only person in college basketball history to win at least 400 games at two different schools) and Larry Brown (played at UNC, coached KU to the 1988 NCAA title). Both Williams and Brown were in the building on Friday night.

12. If you were at the game, you might have noticed a very subtle improvement in the Smith Center speaker system. New subwoofers were added before Friday night's game, with the goal of enhancing the experience of fans in the arena--especially those 10 rows higher or up, who will get a much clearer sound quality from the new equipment. There's a constant challenge in balancing what players want (lots of bass) and what many fans want (not as much bass). The new additions are designed to balance those needs while also enhancing the building's gameday atmosphere.

13. As you might have noticed whether you were at the game or watching on TV, there's a new corporate logo on the floor of the Smith Center, joining the logos that have been present on the Kenan Stadium turf all season. Because Carolina is such a well-known national brand, those placements have significant value. And in a world where value can be converted to revenue generation, it's an opportunity on which the Tar Heels needed to capitalize.

14. Carolina is back at home twice more next week. The Tar Heels host Radford on Tuesday, then host North Carolina Central on Friday. The five straight home games to open the season are the first time the Heels have opened with five straight at home since the 1918-19 season.