Behind Caleb Wilson, North Carolina basketball rolled past Georgia Tech

It took over 12 minutes Saturday for Caleb Wilson to score his first points in his Atlanta homecoming trip at Georgia Tech’s McCamish Pavilion, but he still made sure to put on a show.

In No. 16 North Carolina’s 91-75 win over Georgia Tech, Wilson opened up his performance with a 3-pointer and, by the end of the first half, started going full-on NBA Slam Dunk Contest mode. There was the one-handed finish on the lob from Kyan Evans with two minutes until halftime, followed roughly a minute later by another thunderous slam — this time with two hands — in transition.

Wilson was scoreless for North Carolina’s first 28 points. After that? He had 14 of the Tar Heels’ last 24 heading into halftime.

And he wasn’t done. He added eight more points in the second half to finish with a team-high 22. Wilson broke two freshman records in the process: most consecutive double-figure scoring games to begin a career (21) and 20-point games (15).

“For anybody being able to come back home is a big deal... he grew up, with traffic, 25 minutes from here,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said Saturday. “And I think one of the things that did help is, we already had played in Atlanta [against] Ohio State, so it was the second time here... I felt like he came in more settled this time.”

The Tar Heels’ frontcourt twin terrors were back in peak form on Saturday afternoon. Veesaar led the team in rebounds with 12, while Wilson led in scoring. That marks the 19th time in 21 games that Veesaar or Wilson has led the team in those categories.

An 18-6 North Carolina run midway through the first half put the Tar Heels (17-4, 5-3 ACC) up by double digits. From that point on, UNC remained firmly in control. Despite several pushes from Georgia Tech (11-11, 2-7 ACC), the Yellow Jackets only got within 12 points of the Tar Heels in the second half.

Here are some takeaways from the game:

Veesaar rebounds from dismal performance at UVA

Veesaar entered Saturday a week removed from his least productive outing of the season: seven points, one rebound and four fouls in 29 minutes of playing time.

Davis said the coaching staff focused on rebounding with Veesaar over the past week of practice and was satisfied with the junior’s performance on the boards against Georgia Tech.

“I mean, 12 rebounds today — that’s just something we need him to consistently be able to do,” Davis said Saturday.

From the outset of the Georgia Tech clash, which saw Veesaar nearly wrestle a Yellow Jacket to the floor on a jump ball, it was clear the seven-footer had shaken off his UVA performance. By the time he hit a quick 3-pointer from the top of the key, Veesaar was up to 11 points, six rebounds and two blocks in just nine minutes of action.

Veesaar continued to add more blocks to his statline with a volleyball-like spike of Georgia Tech’s Kam Craft with three and a half minutes remaining in the first half. His four blocks were one away from his career-high of five, which he recorded against N.C. Central earlier this season.

After falling into foul trouble against the talented Cavaliers frontcourt last week, Veesaar put on a drop coverage clinic Saturday — providing a response and the exact type of impact Davis sought out in the transfer portal this past offseason.

“What I saw when we got Henri in the transfer portal was somebody that could check a number of different boxes on both ends… just an overall versatile player that has tremendous size,” Davis said at a Friday press conference, later adding, “Going to places at Virginia, at Georgia Tech, he’s been in those places before and knows how to prepare, practice and respond to that.”

More balance on the boards

Georgia Tech averages the second-best defensive rebounding effort in ACC play at 36.4 per game. The Yellow Jackets, despite an unimpressive start to ACC play, provided a solid litmus test for the Tar Heels after a less-than-ideal rebounding performance against the Cavaliers.

North Carolina pretty much matched Georgia Tech on the boards, 39-38. Nothing eye-popping, certainly, but it marked an improvement from the Tar Heels’ last outing.

At Virginia last week, Wilson and Veesaar combined for a total of five rebounds — season-lows as individuals and a pair. On the flip side, North Carolina’s backcourt combined for a season-high 19 rebounds, led by Jonathan Powell’s team-best seven rebounds and five from Trimble.

Ahead of this contest, Davis placed an emphasis on his team’s rebounding — particularly on the defensive end.

“Last two games, teams have gotten 34 offensive rebounds against us,” Davis said Friday. “We’ve been able to [handle] that in getting wins, because they haven’t been able to convert on it. We’ve taken care of the basketball and we’ve shot the ball really well, and that’s not sustainable. So limiting teams to one shot every possession and being able to finish that possession with a box-out rebound is going to be huge on Saturday.”

North Carolina held Georgia Tech to 12 second-chance points on nine offensive rebounds.

Small defensive lapses offer room for improvement

Less than a minute after Wilson raced out for his third dunk of the afternoon midway through the second half, Davis called a 30-second timeout. The freshman’s slam had put the Tar Heels up by 20, but immediately after, North Carolina gave up two wide-open triples.

Georgia Tech cashed both. They cut the deficit to just 16, thanks to a Wilson pull-up jumper between the two treys. But the ease with which the Yellow Jackets scored likely didn’t sit well with Davis.

Georgia Tech, at that point, had hit six of nine attempts from deep (66.7%). Craft had three of those triples at a 50% clip.

The Yellow Jackets only hit one 3-pointer for the rest of the game following that timeout.

“Defensively, we had some mistakes in both halves,” Davis said Saturday. “But, overall, I thought we did a really good job of limiting them on getting into rotations off of ball screens.

“We knew that they would set a ton of ball screens. I don’t think we got in very many rotations, and so defensively, I felt like we did a good job.”

That said, Georgia Tech nearly matched North Carolina’s offense in a sleepy second half, scoring 38 to the Tar Heels’ 39.

Against more potent offenses to come in ACC play, UNC can’t afford to take its foot off the gas late.

This story was originally published January 31, 2026 at 4:16 PM.