{"id":643897,"date":"2026-03-06T20:35:21","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/643897\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T20:35:21","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T20:35:21","slug":"hubert-davis-not-ruling-out-caleb-wilson-return-saturday-against-duke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/643897\/","title":{"rendered":"Hubert Davis Not Ruling Out Caleb Wilson Return Saturday Against Duke"},"content":{"rendered":"

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. \u2014 Twenty-five days after being sidelined by injury to the North Carolina bench, UNC freshman phenom Caleb Wilson<\/a> could return to the Tar Heel lineup Saturday at Duke.<\/p>\n

Davis told national reporter Jon Rothstein on Thursday that \u201cthere\u2019s a chance\u201d Wilson could play on Saturday, while also adding that \u201cnothing is definitive.\u201d<\/p>\n

The UNC head coach, however, was more guarded when speaking with local reporters at his press conference later on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is progressing,\u201d Davis said from the podium, while sharing that the Tar Heels haven\u2019t practiced since the win over Clemson, also adding that Wilson continues to work out but has yet to be cleared for five-on-five play.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has been doing individual workouts, and since we played on Tuesday, we didn\u2019t have practice yesterday,\u201d Davis said. \u201cWe\u2019ll practice today. He\u2019ll do more today. But other than that, I don\u2019t have any other additional information.\u201d <\/p>\n

After being seen sporting a softer brace in place of the splint he had been wearing during Saturday\u2019s game against Virginia Tech, Wilson had no extra protection on his left hand during Tuesday\u2019s regular-season home finale against Clemson. During pregame warmups, Wilson caught passes and shot jumpers as he normally would, showing no visible limitations.<\/p>\n

The update comes ahead of No. 17 North Carolina\u2019s season finale against the top-ranked Blue Devils on Saturday in Cameron Indoor Stadium.<\/p>\n

In the first matchup between the two archrivals, Wilson finished with a team-high 23 points and four rebounds, leading UNC to victory in his first career meeting with the Blue Devils. The Tar Heels\u2019 leading scorer kept North Carolina in the game early, scoring 17 of the Tar Heels\u2019 29 first-half points.<\/p>\n

Wilson has been sidelined since UNC\u2019s Feb. 10 loss at Miami after suffering a fracture in his non-shooting hand, an injury sustained when he fouled Hurricane guard Noam Dvorat on a three-point attempt with 5:34 remaining in the first half. What was initially diagnosed as a sprained wrist following the loss was later revealed to be a fracture after further imaging once the team returned to Chapel Hill.<\/p>\n

A source confirmed to Inside Carolina that the fracture is located on the top of Wilson\u2019s hand \u2014 not on the side or near the wrist.<\/p>\n

The update aligns with Inside Carolina\u2019s initial reporting<\/a> from the day of the diagnosis. Sources told Inside Carolina from the outset that Wilson\u2019s personal goal was to return for the rematch with Duke, though the UNC staff thought a more realistic target was to return for the start of the ACC Tournament the following week.<\/p>\n

During his time sidelined, Wilson has become his teammates\u2019 most vocal supporter, rarely sitting while emphatically urging on the Tar Heels and displaying the same emotion typically seen from him on the court \u2014 just from the bench.<\/p>\n

Wilson leads UNC in scoring (19.8 points per game) and rebounding (9.4 per game) and has already broken a slew of Tar Heel freshman records in what is likely to be his lone season in Chapel Hill, as the Atlanta native is projected to be a top-five pick in this summer\u2019s NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, he has aspirations of playing in the NBA, but he also has a burning desire to play with his friends,\u201d Davis added. \u201cIt\u2019s something that he has looked forward to, it\u2019s something that he loves, and he wants to continue to do until he can\u2019t do it anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CHAPEL HILL, N.C. \u2014 Twenty-five days after being sidelined by injury to the North Carolina bench, UNC freshman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":643898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3724],"tags":[7,5391],"class_list":{"0":"post-643897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-basketball","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-caleb-wilson-25-holy-innocents-episcopal-school"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116184149314555260","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=643897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/643897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=643897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=643897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=643897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}