Injured UNC star Caleb Wilson is ‘progressing.’ Will he play against Duke?

For the latest update on Caleb Wilson’s status, see this story.

UNC coach Hubert Davis said freshman forward Caleb Wilson is “progressing” but has yet to compete in five-on-five play in team practices ahead of the No. 17 Tar Heels’ trip to Durham to play No. 1 Duke on Saturday.

“He’s been doing individual workouts... he’ll do more today (in practice),” Davis said at a Thursday afternoon press conference. “But other than that, I don’t have any information.”

The Tar Heels didn’t practice on Wednesday, the day after North Carolina’s 67-63 win over Clemson on Tuesday in UNC’s Senior Night matchup. Davis spoke to the media shortly before the Tar Heels’ Thursday afternoon practice, scheduled for roughly 3 p.m.

More information should be available when the ACC-mandated injury report is released for the UNC-Duke matchup on Friday night at 8 p.m., likely influenced by the practice work he is able to do Thursday and Friday.

Wilson injured his left hand in a loss at Miami on Feb. 10, just over three weeks ago. Days after returning to Chapel Hill, imaging revealed the freshman had broken a bone in that hand, which was heavily bandaged for most of the second half in Coral Gables.

Wilson hasn’t been wearing a hard cast on his hand for roughly a week (as of Thursday) and has been able to dribble, shoot and catch “like normal,” Davis said on Saturday.

UNC (24-6, 12-5) already clinched a double-bye and the No. 4 seed in the ACC tournament, which will kick off next week in Charlotte. The Tar Heels open conference tournament play at 9:30 p.m. on March 12. Were Wilson to wait and return to action then, that would give the freshman about a month of rest — marking 30 days since the date of his injury.

But Davis said the Tar Heels’ current postseason seeding is not impacting the staff’s decision-making around Wilson’s recovery timeline “at all.”

“Our focus is on Duke and our game on Saturday,” Davis said, “and that’s the only conversations that I’ve had with the team, only conversations I’ve had with the coaching staff, and that’s where our focus is: for us to play our best on Saturday.”

Tar Heels 5-1 without Wilson

UNC has managed to win five of its last six games with Wilson — the Tar Heels’ leading scorer and rebounder — sidelined due to injury.

Davis said Thursday he felt the team has grown in “a number of ways,” since Wilson’s injury.

“I think individuals have stepped up and played extremely well... I feel like as a group, one of the things that we always talk about is, ‘Whatever it takes,’” Davis said. “And I feel like they have taken hold of that. And if we need to stop, we get a stop. If we need a basket to execute, we get it done. And just their ability to adjust on the fly and perform out there on the floor has been really good with this group.”

In total, North Carolina has played 15 of its 30 games without at least one of its top three scorers (Wilson, Henri Veesaar and Seth Trimble). The Tar Heels are 11-4 with all three in the lineup, 8-1 without Trimble, 1-1 without both Wilson and Veesaar and 4-0 in the last four games without Wilson.

On Thursday, Davis specifically highlighted the recent play of Jonathan Powell, Zayden High, Derek Dixon, Jarin Stevenson and Jaydon Young.

“I mean, there’s no better play than Jarin’s offensive rebound against Clemson,” Davis said, referring to his board with less than a minute remaining, which set up Dixon’s 3-pointer with 46 seconds left.

Veesaar said Thursday the Tar Heels’ ability to play this season, at times, without its star players is a testament to the team’s chemistry.

“It definitely shows in the part where we can have players out for a game, and then everybody steps up,” Veesaar said, “and you can see how Caleb — like a star player — he’s on a bench, celebrating for everybody else. Anybody who’s not playing, or is always playing a lot of minutes, celebrates everybody and wants everybody to do good.”

This story was originally published March 5, 2026 at 3:40 PM.