Saturday night was extremely fun.
However, the past is past, and North Carolina must turn the page quickly to focus on the Miami Hurricanes. A quick Saturday to Tuesday turnaround awaits Hubert Davis and the Tar Heels as they hit the road to Coral Gables as the resurgent Hurricanes, led by first-year head coach Jai Lucas, await their arrival.
Back to business!
Lucas's early tenure at the helm indicates that the Hurricanes are back in relevance. North Carolina hopes that they can build off the win against Duke and avoid a letdown performance.
One thing is for sure: all eyes will be on the Tar Heels to see how they perform following a win like the one Chapel Hill experienced just a few days prior.
2025-2026 Season
No. 11 North Carolina Tar Heels
Overall record: 19-4
Conference Record: 6-3
Home Record: 13-0
Away Record: 3-3
Neutral Site Record: 2-1
Top-25 Wins: 4
Miami Hurricanes
Overall record: 18-5
Conference Record: 7-3
Home Record: 12-2
Away Record: 5-1
Neutral Site Record: 1-2
Key Players
North Carolina
Caleb Wilson (Fr. Forward)- 20.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists
Henri Veesaar (Jr. Center)- 16.8 points, 9.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists
Seth Trimble (Sr. Guard)- 14.1 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists
Miami
Malik Reneau (Sr. Forward)-20.0 points, 6.5 rebounds, 2.1 assists
Tre Donaldson (Sr. Guard)- 15.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, 6.2 assists
Shelton Henderson (Fr. Forward)- 14.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists
Keys to Victory for North Carolina
Avoid the hangover
Big win over Duke, followed by an epic celebration in Chapel Hill.
Some people need days to recover from that!
However, North Carolina doesn't have much time to regroup, which could definitely be challenging after a monumental win like they captured on Saturday night.
Hubert Davis was adamant after the game that he was already encouraging his players to celebrate that night and turn the page come Sunday. He cited the Clemson game from a few years back (one where UNC was absolutely sluggish), indicating that he wants this group to understand how important it is to be locked in and ready to go.
We'll learn a lot about this team based on how they perform on Tuesday night against a very good Miami Hurricanes team.
Something to Watch For
Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar played a ton of minutes against Duke.
Wilson sat for all of 29 seconds while Veesaar logged 35 minutes of his own. While both players are very athletic and can handle the minutes, you know the wear and tear eventually gets to everyone.
On short rest, will Hubert Davis try not to rely on his dynamic front-court duo as much, or will the game dictate that both need to play a significant amount of minutes in order for the Tar Heels to win the game?
Projected Starters
No. 3- Derek Dixon
No. 7- Seth Trimble
No. 8- Caleb Wilson
No. 13- Henri Veesaar
No. 15- Jarin Stevenson