CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — During a recent North Carolina basketball practice, head coach Hubert Davis stopped play to chew his players out.
Not for anything they’d done on the court. Actually, for the opposite reason: for not doing anything on the court.
For, instead, standing around and watching while star freshman Caleb Wilson elevated — then detonated — for one of the highlight-reel, make-your-momma-cuss dunks that have defined his early-season success.
Davis told his team to act as if it had been there before. Guys, everybody does this. We’ve seen that play before. But immediately, one by one, every Tar Heel turned to look at Davis, all with the same accusatory glance. At that point, Davis fessed up:
“Guys, this is the first time that I’ve lied to you,” Davis told his team. “I’ve never seen that before.”
Welcome to the Caleb Wilson Experience, where seemingly every day — every time the 6-foot-10 freshman sensation steps on the court — something stupendous happens. Against Georgetown on Sunday, an 81-61 UNC win that gave the Tar Heels their best start (8-1) since 2017-18, it was death by midrange, Wilson continually torching the Hoyas on turnaround jumpers. Against Kansas earlier this season, it was turning ordinary offensive rebounds into rim-rattling dunks — enough so to steal the spotlight from Kansas freshman Darryn Peterson, the projected No. 1 pick in next summer’s NBA Draft. Against Michigan State, in North Carolina’s only loss all season, it was a coast-to-coast transition slam that easily could’ve been superimposed into an NBA setting.
Caleb Wilson, business as usual. 🐏🔥
The UNC newcomer dominated Georgetown with a 20-point, 14-rebound double-double in the Heels’ 81–61 win.@UNC_Basketball | @GoHeels | #GoHeels pic.twitter.com/pODGbkUuyN
— ACC Digital Network (@theACCDN) December 8, 2025
So, yes. Stupendous. And even that feels somewhat inadequate to describe Wilson’s impact.
“I haven’t seen many players like him in college basketball in probably 15 years. I mean, he is a hell of a talent. I see him being an NBA All-Star in the very near future,” Georgetown coach Ed Cooley said. “Reminds me of Tracy McGrady.”
And Cooley’s saying that after the first game this season in which Wilson didn’t have one of his trademark dunks. Regardless, Wilson finished Sunday’s contest with a game-high 20 points, 14 rebounds, one block and one assist. That just goes to show how far along he already is — and how, not even 10 games into his college career, Wilson’s already surged to 1A on every scouting report the rest of this season.
Entering Sunday, Wilson led UNC in points (19.3), rebounds (10.1) and steals (1.8) per game, while narrowly placing second in blocks behind 7-footer Henri Veesaar. That made him one of just two high-major players averaging at least 19 and 10. The other? Texas Tech star JT Toppin, a reigning All-American and one of the favorites to win the Wooden Award this season.
Only, Wilson has quickly thrust his name into that conversation, too. The freshman is up to third in KenPom’s player of the year rankings — trailing Duke’s Cameron Boozer and Iowa State’s Joshua Jefferson — and according to The Athletic NBA Draft expert Sam Vecenie, Wilson’s early-season excellence has him tracking as a top-five pick after the presumed big three of Peterson, Boozer and BYU’s AJ Dybantsa. “When you ask folks around the league,” Vecenie wrote in his latest mock draft, “Wilson is pretty clearly the fourth player who comes up.”
So, what is it about Wilson that gets his own teammates and head coach, not to mention NBA decision-makers, so excited?
Well, a little bit of everything.
For starters, as his Division I-leading 28 dunks suggest, Wilson is an athletic freak, capable of punishing rims from feet away with his explosive leaping and length. Per CBB Analytics, entering Sunday, 30.3 percent of Wilson’s total shots this season have been dunks, of which he’s missed only two. (That Wilson has not had a single alley-oop among those 28 speaks to his ridiculous ability to get his own.) That athleticism also comes in handy on the glass, where Wilson’s suction-cup hands and high-pointing ability combine to make one of the nation’s most potent rebounders. Per KenPom, Wilson has a top-20 defensive rebounding rate among all high-major players, while also gobbling up 11.1 percent of the available offensive rebounds.
Caleb Wilson’s athleticism is part of what makes him a force around the basket. (Bob Donnan / Imagn Images)
But it’s Wilson’s skill level that has surprised people across the basketball landscape. Davis regularly lets Wilson grab a rebound and go in transition, initiating offense either for himself or others. He’s also showcased a refined passing touch, with four games in his first month of college basketball with at least three assists, including when he had a career-high six against Kentucky in Lexington. And then, as was clearly on display Sunday, there’s his go-to. His move: the turnaround, midrange jumper.
The one he modeled off his favorite player, Kobe Bryant.
“But it’s different because I’m so much taller,” Wilson said, grinning. “Or (like) Kevin Durant. Kevin Durant has a good one.”
Five of Wilson’s seven baskets against the Hoyas came in the midrange, three of which were turnaround jumpers.
“His midrange is elite. … There’s metrics (saying the best shots are) 3s and layups. I like four-level scorers: guys that can shoot from 3, midrange, get to the bucket and also from the free-throw line,” Davis said. “You know what I really like? FGMs: field goals made. And from 12 to 15 feet, that thing goes in. That’s what I want.”
That midrange jumper has been key to Wilson already establishing himself in Tar Heel history, with plenty more seemingly on the way. Wilson is the first UNC player ever to score over 20 points in his first two games, a total he’s now hit in five of nine games. (He’s scored in double figures every game, with a “low” of 13 against Radford.)
And while it’s still early, Wilson’s on track to etch his name alongside some all-time program greats. Tyler Hansbrough is the only freshman in program history to lead UNC in scoring and rebounding … yet nearly a third of the way through the regular season, Wilson’s on pace to be the second. He seems like a lock to become the sixth freshman to lead the Tar Heels in scoring, joining Hansbrough, Harrison Barnes and Cole Anthony, among others. Perhaps more impressively, if he winds up leading UNC in rebounds this season — a likely bet, even alongside Veesaar, who had 15 against Georgetown and averages 9.2 per game — he’ll be only the fourth freshman to hit that milestone; Hansbrough, Antawn Jamison and J.R. Reid are the other three.
Maybe the wildest stat of all, though? No Tar Heel freshman, Hansbrough included, has ever averaged a double-double for the season — but Wilson, at least right now, is on pace to be the first.
“Some of the shots that he hit today, that wasn’t (from any) individual workout; that’s just because he’s a dude, and he can play,” Davis said. “I’ve never seen that before either. So I like to continue to see things I’ve never seen before, in a good way.”
Now, after laying all that out, it has to be said that Wilson is not a perfect prospect. No one is. He isn’t a threat from 3-point range — just 2-for-11 from deep on the season — and, more recently, has had some turnovers amid teams doubling him for the first time.
But to work through that, Wilson said he recently spoke to a few NBA players — “can’t tell you (who),” Wilson joked postgame — about how to approach double teams and traps.
“I just try not to force stuff, honestly. That’s just what it’s gonna be now,” the freshman added. “Play the game, find who’s open, tell my teammates to get in a position where I can see them and just let it happen.”
The result? Wilson kicking out of multiple doubles Sunday, turning would-be dead possessions or giveaways into 4-on-3 advantages for his UNC teammates.
How Wilson continues to handle those situations — and not forcing up shots, as he did at times against Michigan State and Kentucky — will be the next step in his rapid progression. Without being in his oversized shoes, it must be tough with his physical gifts not to press defenses even when there’s two men guarding him. (Unsurprisingly, Wilson draws 7.3 fouls per game, according to KenPom, the 12th-most of any high-major player. Drawing seven against the Hoyas brought his average down.)
But regardless, as Wilson proved again Sunday, it’s clear that North Carolina doesn’t just have one of the best freshmen in the country.
It has one of the best players, period.
One who, scarily enough, hasn’t come close to his sky-high ceiling.
“I’ll be the focus for every team now that we’re playing,” Wilson said, “so just gotta show more of what I can do.”