How No. 1 Duke is approaching its ‘Senior Night’ basketball game with UNC
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Duke prepares Senior Night as Brown and likely Boozer play final home games.
- UNC seeks upset with Caleb Wilson’s uncertain return from February hand fracture.
- Coaches highlight Brown’s sixth-man role and Boozer’s breakout NBA-caliber impact.
Before the first court storming at the Smith Center, before a second court storming, before North Carolina fans could fully savor a last-second win over Duke, there was UNC’s Derek Dixon with the basketball looking to make a play.
With the score tied 68-68, Dixon got a high screen from Caleb Wilson, dribbled left and past Duke’s Cameron Boozer as UNC’s Seth Trimble crossed over to the right corner. Duke’s Maliq Brown, Isaiah Evans and Caleb Foster collapsed on Dixon in the lane, Foster giving backside help and playing off Trimble.
Dixon threaded a pass through the long arms of Brown — who deflects everything — and Foster to Trimble for the 3-point shot with two seconds left as Duke’s Dame Sarr was late to close out.
Boom. Ballgame. Bedlam.
That play has been shown a zillion times, it seems, by ESPN and is being shown again this week as the Blue Devils, now No. 1 in the country, are again matched up against the No. 17 Tar Heels.
It will be Senior Night at Cameron Indoor Stadium on Saturday, and Duke students, after camping out in K-Ville for tickets, will be fully stoked.
It will be Brown’s last home game as a senior and likely the final game for Cameron Boozer, the powerful freshman forward on the fast track to the NBA.
Duke coach Jon Scheyer, at Thursday’s news conference, called Brown the ACC’s best sixth man. Boozer’s production, he said, has been “off the charts.”
“But to me, it’s his control over the whole game,” Scheyer said.
Will Caleb Wilson play?
The biggest storyline could be the will-he/won’t-he playing status of UNC’s Wilson. The freshman suffered a fracture in his left hand in the Heels’ loss to Miami on Feb. 10 and has not played since, although the constant chatter has been he could and badly wants to play in the Duke game.
UNC coach Hubert Davis did not have a yes or no answer on Wilson’s staus at his Thursday news conference, saying he is “progressing” and keeping everyone guessing. The ACC’s availability report for Duke-UNC could break the internet once released online Friday night.
A Wilson return to the lineup would shake up the matchups. Wilson had 23 points against Duke, highlighted by a 17-point first half that had the Smith Center loud.
The Blue Devils opened with Cam Boozer on Wilson, then Maliq Brown. They made it harder for Wilson to get good looks in the second half, but center Henri Veesaar took the ball to the paint and had 13 second-half points after being scoreless in the first.
“We were on our heels too much,” Scheyer said. ”That’s on me. We have to be more aggressive. We have to do a better job of just making a stand. and not allow them to go in the paint.”
Scheyer said Thursday that in rewatching the game tape, “I was really disappointed in how we had our guys prepared. Looking back, and even though we had the lead and were winning, I didn’t think we defended well in that game or defended the way we’re capable of.”
The Devils need to keep Boozer or Patrick Ngongba on Veesaar inside, but Veesaar also has the ability to pop a 3-pointer — he’s a 41% shooter from distance this season — and can pull a big-man defender to the perimeter with him
Dixon and then Veesaar hit huge 3-pointers in the final minutes before Trimble’s dagger 3.
Of interest is that the Heels ran a similar play at the end of the first half, with Dixon driving the lane to collapse the defense and then trying to kick the ball out to a shooter — James Powell was open in the right corner and ready to fire.
But Dixon had the ball deflected by Sarr and Evans. The Heels ended the half with a turnover and left the court looking at a 41-29 deficit.
And if Wilson can’t play Saturday?
The Heels have gone 5-1 without him — the loss at N.C. State, with Veesaar also out — and Trimble has taken on even a bigger role as the team’s emotional leader. But UNC isn’t nearly as dynamic offensively without the 6-10 Wilson, the Heels’ leading scorer at 19.8 points a game, fourth in the ACC.
Trimble’s last shot will forever have a place in the storied history of the rivalry. It was a gut-wrenching loss for Duke, and the aftermath turned messy as the Duke players and coaches tried to leave the court as students streamed onto the floor.
But Scheyer wants his team’s focus to be on what’s ahead, not making amends for the loss in Chapel Hill. “I want us looking forward, not backward,” he said.
This story was originally published March 5, 2026 at 4:14 PM.
