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

Shelby Swanson, The News & Observer (Raleigh) on Mar 5, 2026

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CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — 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.

Wilson injured his left hand in a loss at Miami on Feb. 10, just over three weeks ago. With Wilson (the Tar Heels’ leading scorer and rebounder) sidelined, UNC is 5-1 in six games.

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 from, 1-1 without both Wilson and Veesaar and 4-0 in the last four games without Wilson.

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

UNC has already clinched a double-bye in the ACC Tournament, which will kick off next week in Charlotte. The Tar Heels will open ACC 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 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 on: for us to play our best on Saturday.”