Miami welcomes No. 11 North Carolina on Tuesday at 7 p.m. with the opportunity to snatch a marquee win against one of the nation’s hottest teams. The Tar Heels, winners of their last five games, are coming off an emotional 71-68 win over No. 4 Duke, which ended on a last-second three by veteran guard Seth Trimble.

The main story of that rivalry game, however, was the performance put on by freshman phenom Caleb Wilson, who will be a focal point for UM’s defense. Wilson scored a team-high 23 points against Duke, connecting on eight of his 12 shots. With season averages of 20.2 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, he’s considered a contender for the Naismith College Player of the Year award.

Wilson’s trademark trait is his athleticism. He leads the sport in total dunks this season with 66, using his wiry frame and leaping ability to finish above the rim.

Against Duke, Wilson didn’t throw down any dunks but instead scored most of his points away from the basket. He has a post-fadeaway in his bag of skills that’s difficult to defend.

“He’s really good. I see what all the hype is about,” Miami head coach Jai Lucas said. “The thing that shows just from watching him – I’ve watched him, also when he was on the circuit and in the summer and stuff – his ability to give everybody else confidence on the court as a freshman is the most impressive thing. Like they have a guy they feel that they can go to, and he usually delivers, and you can just see the life he gives everybody else.”

Wilson is joined by Arizona transfer Henri Veesaar in UNC’s frontcourt. Veesar, at a well-built 7 feet and 225 pounds, is a nightmare matchup for opposing big men, many of whom struggle to contain his size. For the season, Veesar averages 16.6 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. He’s also a threat from behind the arc, shooting 46% on 2.7 three-point attempts per game.

Miami forward Malik Reneau says that physicality will dictate this matchup between starting center Ernest Udeh Jr. and him against Wilson and Veesar.

“For me and Ernest, I think we got to be the more physical group out of the bunch, and being dominant on the court, rebounding the ball at a high aspect, guarding their frontcourt players too,” Reneau said. “There’s a lot that goes into it, but just being sharp for all 40 minutes and not taking our head off the swivel and being there for the whole 40 minutes to get this win.”

The Hurricanes, with their two bigs as well as their emphasis on pushing the pace, play similarly to North Carolina. Lucas thinks that their game will “come down to whose identity shows more.”

“It’s kind of scary because we run a lot of the same stuff. It’s very similar in what we do, and that’s why I feel like it is a good matchup for us … I think it’s going to come down to whose identity shows more because we’re very similar in how we play,” Lucas said. “We both are high-scoring teams, both like to play in transition, both play double bigs, love to rebound, offensive rebound. So that’s going to be a big part of the game. So it’s going to see who wins those trenches, who wins those wars more will kind of be the separator in the game to me.”

Also of note, Miami will most likely be playing in front of its largest home crowd of the season on Tuesday. The student section tickets have already sold out, according to Miami Athletics.

“I feel like our guys deserve it, the way they compete, the way they play. It’s just a testament to them to get some engagement and to put us in situations like this where we get the fans out, and we need them out this game, but every game, especially down the stretch,” Lucas said. “So I’m excited to just feel the building and see the environment.”

A final thought from Lucas about his team’s improvement throughout the season?

“I think we’ve just grown, and we’ve gained confidence throughout. To start the season, we had a lot of people who played in a lot of games. We’re a new team, and so these moments that we’ve been in are a little bit different. But now, we’ve been in tight games. We’ve won tight games. We know what it means to execute down the stretch. We’ve played top-10 teams. We played Florida, we played BYU, we played Clemson on the road. So we have all this data and all these experiences that should help you in February when you’re closing down the stretch going into March. So this is our next test to be able to show it and see where we are. And like I told them, it’s time for us to put our stamp on the season, and this is our first opportunity to do so.”