Men's Basketball Heads To No. 18 Kentucky For ACC/SEC Challenge Tuesday

Tuesday, December 2

Lexington, Ky.

9:30 p.m.

North Carolina

Kentucky

Henri Veesaar

Photo by: Maggie Hobson

Men's Basketball Heads To No. 18 Kentucky For ACC/SEC Challenge Tuesday

December 1, 2025 | Men's Basketball

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• Two of the winningest programs in college basketball history square off for the 44th time when the Tar Heels (6-1) travel to Kentucky (5-2) on Tuesday, December 2, in the ACC-SEC Challenge.
• Tip is scheduled for 9:35 p.m. Dave O'Brien, Dick Vitale and Jay Williams have the call on ESPN.
• The Tar Heels are 1-1 in the ACC/SEC Challenge with both games played in Chapel Hill. Carolina beat Tennessee on 11/29/2023 and lost to Alabama on 12/4/2024.
• The Kentucky game is Carolina's first true regular-season road game after five consecutive home games to begin the season and two neutral-site games last week in Fort Myers, Fla.
• Carolina split a pair of games in the Skechers Fort Myers Tip-Off, beating previously undefeated St. Bonaventure, 85-70, and losing for the first time this season, 74-58, to Michigan State.
• The Tar Heels led the Spartans, 22-15, with seven minutes to play in the first half before Michigan State went on an 18-6 run after Henri Veesaar went to the bench with his second foul.
• Carolina scored 58 points, shot 38.2% from the floor and 4 for 23 from three in the loss, all season lows, and was outrebounded for the first time this season.
• The UNC-Michigan State game drew nearly 5.5 million viewers, the most watched college basketball game ever on FOX.
• The Kentucky game is the third in a four-game stretch where Carolina's opponents are a combined 23-5 (St. Bonaventure 6-1, Michigan State 7-0, Kentucky 5-2 and Georgetown 5-2).
• 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-KENTUCKY
• The Tar Heels are 25-18 all-time against the Wildcats, including 6-8 in Lexington.
• Carolina is 2-5 against Kentucky in Rupp Arena. Including NCAA Tournament play, the Tar Heels are 2-7 in Rupp Arena.
• The Wildcats have won the last two games in the series, including an 87-83 win in Atlanta in the most recent matchup on 12/`6/2023 in the CBS Sports Classic. Seth Trimble is the only current member of the Tar Heels who played in that game (six points in 16 minutes) but is injured and unavailable.
• UNC junior forward Jarin Stevenson played four games against UK while at Alabama, including a pair in Rupp Arena. He scored 16 points (6-8 FG, 3-5 3FG) in his most recent game vs. Kentucky in the 2025 SEC Tournament.
• Carolina's 25 wins equal the most by any non-SEC team against Kentucky. UNC is 25-18 agianst the Cats, while Indiana is 25-42.

WILSON'S FAST START
• Caleb Wilson is averaging 19.9 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 1.7 steals and 1.3 blocks while shooting 58.8% from the floor and 76.8% from the free throw line.
• He set a UNC freshman record with four consecutive double-doubles against Radford, NC Central, Navy and St. Bonaventure. 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.
• 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.

BY THE NUMBERS
• Even with Michigan State shooting 51.7%, the Tar Heels are 14th in the country in field goal percentage defense, holding their seven opponents to a combined 36.5% from the floor. They've held four opponents below 35%.
• UNC is 49-4 in five seasons under head coach Davis when holding opponents under 40% from the floor.
• The Tar Heel defense is second in the country in two-point field goal percentage defense (38.5%) and is 10th in effective field goal percentage (42.2%).
• Carolina is attempting 25.6 three-pointers per game, which would 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.
• Carolina has shot 50% or higher from the floor in four of the first seven games. The Tar Heels are 39-1 under Davis when they make at least 50% from the floor.
• Michigan State is the only team that has outrebounded Carolina in the first seven games. The Tar Heels are 95-24 under Davis when they outrebound their opponents.
• The Tar Heels have scored 26 bench points in the last three games (10 vs. Navy, 11 vs. St. Bonaventure and five vs. Michigan State). Those 26 points were 12.0% 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 those 26 bench points.

AP RANKING
• For the second week in a row Carolina is ranked 16th in the Associated Press poll.
• 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 1-1 against ranked teams this season (with a win Kansas and loss to now 7th-ranked Michigan State).
• Carolina (16) and Kentucky (18) are both ranked in this week's AP poll. They hold the top two spots for the most all-time weeks in the AP poll. Kentucky is first with 997 and UNC is next with 967.

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 became 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. KENTUCKY
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 101 college starts. That includes 43 by Evans, 34 by Stevenson, 12 by Veesaar, seven by Wilson and five by Bogavac.

VEESAAR'S POST PRESENCE
• Red-shirt junior center Henri Veesaar, a transfer from Arizona, leads the team in field goal shooting (64.6%) and blocks (11) and is second in scoring (15.9) and rebounding (8.3).
• 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.

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.
• 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).
• 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.