UNC basketball holds off Wake Forest rally. Observations from the Tar Heels win

With just over three minutes remaining and two points separating No. 17 North Carolina from Wake Forest, UNC senior guard Seth Trimble poked away an errant pass and took off down the court. He took two quick glances over his left shoulder to gauge where the nearest defender was before taking off for an emphatic slam in transition.

The truth is, Trimble — and the Tar Heels as a whole — should’ve been much further ahead at this point. North Carolina held on to win, 87-84, on Saturday night against Wake Forest, but that’s after UNC led by as many as 15 midway through the second half.

“This has been consistent throughout the year, where we’ve had big leads and then we’ve sacrificed — whether it’s attention to detail, effort, the little things... those are the things that allow teams to get back,” Davis said, “and that’s something that we got to work on.”

A missed opportunity in transition from Trimble and a stepback 3-pointer from Wake Forest’s Nate Calmese completed an 11-to-1 Demon Deacons run that cut UNC’s lead to 73-68 with just over six minutes remaining. Veesaar responded with two free throws before Calmese went on a personal 6-0 run to cut the Demon Deacons’ deficit to one point.

That’s when the Tar Heels (13-2, 2-1 ACC) found Wilson down low — marking his first shot attempt in over four minutes — and the freshman drew a foul. After Trimble’s dunk, and a nifty reverse slam from Henri Veesaar, UNC continued to stay in front thanks to its free throws. Three different Tar Heels made seven free throws in the final minute of the game to finally subdue Wake Forest (10-7, 1-3 ACC).

North Carolina’s win Saturday night at the Dean E. Smith Center marks the 500th win in the historic venue since it opened in January 1986, 40 years ago this month.

North Carolina has now won 84.75% of its games in the Smith Center. Only one other team in the ACC has 500 or more wins and a higher winning percentage in its current venue: Duke at 86-year-old Cameron Indoor.

Veesaar and Wilson once again led the Tar Heels with a combined 47 points. Each recorded just one miss from the floor and also combined for 21 rebounds and seven assists.

But, notably, Wilson once again went quiet late, only attempting one field goal in the final 11 minutes.

When asked what opposing defenses have been doing to limit the star freshman’s touches late, Davis simply responded, “they’re putting more guys on him.”

Here are two immediate takeaways from the game:

Tar Heels apply early defensive pressure

It was pretty clear what needed shoring up after North Carolina’s loss to SMU: defense.

Davis talked about it after the defeat on Jan. 3. He talked about it the following Monday during an ACC coach’s call and his weekly radio show. Again on Friday afternoon, at a press conference, Davis emphasized his point with a statistic fans — and likely his players, too — heard all week: 70%. That’s what the Mustangs shot in the second half in Dallas, a trip that coincided with one of UNC’s worst defensive performances in decades.

But Davis also threw out this percentage on Friday afternoon: 100%. That’s how confident he was that his players were on the same page with him.

Per Bart Torvik, the Tar Heels were among the worst nationally in forcing turnovers — ranking 352nd in defensive turnover percentage — entering their matchup with the Demon Deacons. But North Carolina forced five Wake Forest turnovers in the opening five minutes on Saturday, helping UNC race to a 14-4 lead to start. That ended with a Wilson steal and dunk off a turnover from Wake Forest’s Omaha Biliew, prompting an early 30-second timeout from Demon Deacons coach Steve Forbes.

Wilson turned to the crowd and smiled before jumping up for a post-whistle chest bump with Elijah Davis.

“If you think about how they scored in the first half,” Forbes said, “it really wasn’t in their half court... it was off our turnovers, their offensive rebounds, in transition. We got those under control.”

UNC switched up a lot of its defensive looks with man and zone presses, as well as some varied traps, to plenty of success early. That said, the Tar Heels’ defense cooled off as the game continued — as did their ability to capitalize off opponent turnovers.

At one point in the second half, Wake Forest turned the ball over three times in 3:13 of game time. North Carolina only scored one point in that stretch — a free throw from Kyan Evans.

And, of course, the Tar Heels eventually allowed Wake Forest to make a game out of what was a 15-point game in the second half.

Jaydon Young, Jonathan Powell shine off the bench

Young recorded a season-high 11 points on Saturday on 4-of-6 shooting, including a 3-of-5 performance from deep. All of his 3-pointers came from the corner — which has become a favorite spot of his and this UNC offense — and, for the most part, solid ball reversal movement by the Tar Heels.

The Virginia Tech transfer displayed his ability to move off-the-ball at multiple points, freeing himself up for open shots from the perimeter. Young was the leading 3-point shooter on the night, while Jonathan Powell added a pair of corner threes and Veesaar also added two triples on three attempts.

Young’s third 3-pointer, and first since halftime, came with just under 10 minutes remaining and pushed North Carolina out to a 15-point lead — its largest of the game.

As for UNC’s other guards? They weren’t as hot. Evans and Derek Dixon were a combined 2-for-10 while Luka Bogavac — who came off the bench for Jarin Stevenson in Saturday’s contest — missed all three tries from deep.

And Stevenson, coming off a season-best shooting performance against SMU, took and missed just one try from the perimeter.

The confidence in Powell and Young was further demonstrated when coach Hubert Davis opted to keep the two on the court late in the game. Young further padded his stats on his career night when, with less than a minute left, he drove into the lane and earned a foul. He knocked down one of two free throw attempts to put North Carolina up by three, albeit momentarily, in the final minute.

Young played a season-high nine minutes in the win.

“Leaving me out there was definitely like, ‘OK, I trust you,’” Young said of Davis’ decision to keep him in. “’You can make the right decision.’”

This story was originally published January 10, 2026 at 8:42 PM.