University of North Carolina Athletics
Photo by: Jeffrey A. Camarati
Lucas: Three For All
January 22, 2026 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Carolina's perimeter offense--including Caleb Wilson--came alive on Wednesday.
By Adam Lucas
Something to remember about Caleb Wilson: he usually does what he says he's going to do.
Before the season, the freshman stopped by the Carolina Insider podcast studio. In the course of that conversation—before anyone in Chapel Hill had seen him play in a game—he said the following:
"Most people don't know I'm an elite passer. I can create opportunities for everybody on the team…My midrange and post game is above my years."
He was right, of course. Wilson currently ranks second on the team in assists and has a sizable team lead in assists in ACC games (he has 24 and the next closest Tar Heel has 16). His midrange and post game is indeed above his years. Just ask Notre Dame defender Brady Koehler, who was twice left grasping at air after a Wilson baseline spin during Wednesday's 91-69 victory. One move resulted in a smooth reverse layup, the other ended in a dunk (a category in which Wilson leads the nation).
So it's perhaps worth paying attention to Wilson's comments after the win. He scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the victory, flashing a couple of turnaround jumpers to go with a breakaway slam that was fairly pedestrian by Wilson's standards but still left the Smith Center crowd of over 19,600 standing slack-jawed.
What he most wanted to talk about, though, was his first half three-pointer. That marked Wilson's first trifecta since the East Tennessee State game over a month ago. He'd only taken three in the seven games since then, missing all three. He took that same number in Wednesday's game, sinking one of them.
"I've really been working on my three-point shot," Wilson said on the Tar Heel Sports Network. "I feel like it's going to open up the court for me and my teammates. I'm going to shoot it more and I'm going to make it more."
Wilson is so effective near the basket that it's a little painful to imagine him 20 feet from the rim. At the same time, though, Wilson has a knack for making his predictions come true, and if (or when) he becomes a consistent outside shooter he'll be even more difficult to defend.
"You know how you work," Wilson said on the podcast. "If I wasn't working hard at being better every day and working on exactly what I'm telling you I'm good at, I wouldn't be talking like this."
Which makes you believe he's working hard on that three-point jumper. His contributions on Wednesday helped the Tar Heels tie a team record, as eight different Carolina players hit a three-pointer, equaling a mark set against ECU earlier this season and at Wake Forest in 2019.
Hubert Davis has consistently said he believes this year's squad has the chance to be a good three-point shooting team. They've been OK so far but not much more than average.
Fifteen of the team's first 20 field goal attempts against the Irish were three-pointers, and they made six. Not a bad percentage, but probably a little trigger-happy. They also closed making just one of their final 11—an unfortunate combination of a bad percentage and trigger-happy.
Both Wilson and Hubert Davis used the same terminology to describe the kind of outside shooting team Carolina could be.
"I always believe I want the ball to touch the paint through post or penetration," Davis said on the THSN. "That's what generates the good 3s. We entered the post, drew two defenders, and a number of times we had a good shot and made an extra pass to a great shot."
"We just have to shoot the good ones," Wilson said. "As long as we shoot the good 3s, I feel like they're going to go in."
So what does he think are the good ones?
"Off penetration or wide open shots," he said. "Catching the ball and making sure you have space. Any shot with space is a good shot."
For an example of what both men are talking about, look at the middle segment of the game, when the Heels made six of eight from distance. It wasn't a case of one player getting hot. Four different shooters were responsible for those six makes.
And they were exactly how Davis and Wilson described them—the good ones.
Derek Dixon made the first after the ball went to Wilson in the post. He passed it to Luka Bogavac, who could have fired but instead swung it to Dixon. The next three, by Henri Veesaar, was mostly individual effort but was also an example of him having the kind of space Wilson talked about. A minute later, it was Veesaar making the extra pass to Dixon after the ball first went inside to Wilson.
In the end, Dixon and Kyan Evans made three apiece, Jarin Stevenson sank two, and Jaydon Young, Veesaar, Jonathan Powell and Wilson each made one.
According to KenPom.com, it contributed to Carolina's best single game offensive efficiency of the season against a top-100 opponent, and the second best of this season (narrowly trailing the output against North Carolina Central).
"We shared the basketball and were intentional in regards to getting the ball inside," Davis said. "If they double teamed, we had a size advantage and passed the ball out and got a three."
It was some of the best offense of the season. And there might be—at least according to Wilson—even more to come.
Something to remember about Caleb Wilson: he usually does what he says he's going to do.
Before the season, the freshman stopped by the Carolina Insider podcast studio. In the course of that conversation—before anyone in Chapel Hill had seen him play in a game—he said the following:
"Most people don't know I'm an elite passer. I can create opportunities for everybody on the team…My midrange and post game is above my years."
He was right, of course. Wilson currently ranks second on the team in assists and has a sizable team lead in assists in ACC games (he has 24 and the next closest Tar Heel has 16). His midrange and post game is indeed above his years. Just ask Notre Dame defender Brady Koehler, who was twice left grasping at air after a Wilson baseline spin during Wednesday's 91-69 victory. One move resulted in a smooth reverse layup, the other ended in a dunk (a category in which Wilson leads the nation).
So it's perhaps worth paying attention to Wilson's comments after the win. He scored 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the victory, flashing a couple of turnaround jumpers to go with a breakaway slam that was fairly pedestrian by Wilson's standards but still left the Smith Center crowd of over 19,600 standing slack-jawed.
What he most wanted to talk about, though, was his first half three-pointer. That marked Wilson's first trifecta since the East Tennessee State game over a month ago. He'd only taken three in the seven games since then, missing all three. He took that same number in Wednesday's game, sinking one of them.
"I've really been working on my three-point shot," Wilson said on the Tar Heel Sports Network. "I feel like it's going to open up the court for me and my teammates. I'm going to shoot it more and I'm going to make it more."
Wilson is so effective near the basket that it's a little painful to imagine him 20 feet from the rim. At the same time, though, Wilson has a knack for making his predictions come true, and if (or when) he becomes a consistent outside shooter he'll be even more difficult to defend.
"You know how you work," Wilson said on the podcast. "If I wasn't working hard at being better every day and working on exactly what I'm telling you I'm good at, I wouldn't be talking like this."
Which makes you believe he's working hard on that three-point jumper. His contributions on Wednesday helped the Tar Heels tie a team record, as eight different Carolina players hit a three-pointer, equaling a mark set against ECU earlier this season and at Wake Forest in 2019.
Hubert Davis has consistently said he believes this year's squad has the chance to be a good three-point shooting team. They've been OK so far but not much more than average.
Fifteen of the team's first 20 field goal attempts against the Irish were three-pointers, and they made six. Not a bad percentage, but probably a little trigger-happy. They also closed making just one of their final 11—an unfortunate combination of a bad percentage and trigger-happy.
Both Wilson and Hubert Davis used the same terminology to describe the kind of outside shooting team Carolina could be.
"I always believe I want the ball to touch the paint through post or penetration," Davis said on the THSN. "That's what generates the good 3s. We entered the post, drew two defenders, and a number of times we had a good shot and made an extra pass to a great shot."
"We just have to shoot the good ones," Wilson said. "As long as we shoot the good 3s, I feel like they're going to go in."
So what does he think are the good ones?
"Off penetration or wide open shots," he said. "Catching the ball and making sure you have space. Any shot with space is a good shot."
For an example of what both men are talking about, look at the middle segment of the game, when the Heels made six of eight from distance. It wasn't a case of one player getting hot. Four different shooters were responsible for those six makes.
And they were exactly how Davis and Wilson described them—the good ones.
Derek Dixon made the first after the ball went to Wilson in the post. He passed it to Luka Bogavac, who could have fired but instead swung it to Dixon. The next three, by Henri Veesaar, was mostly individual effort but was also an example of him having the kind of space Wilson talked about. A minute later, it was Veesaar making the extra pass to Dixon after the ball first went inside to Wilson.
In the end, Dixon and Kyan Evans made three apiece, Jarin Stevenson sank two, and Jaydon Young, Veesaar, Jonathan Powell and Wilson each made one.
According to KenPom.com, it contributed to Carolina's best single game offensive efficiency of the season against a top-100 opponent, and the second best of this season (narrowly trailing the output against North Carolina Central).
"We shared the basketball and were intentional in regards to getting the ball inside," Davis said. "If they double teamed, we had a size advantage and passed the ball out and got a three."
It was some of the best offense of the season. And there might be—at least according to Wilson—even more to come.
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