North Carolina walked into Fort Myers expecting a battle — but no one expected to see the “Jordan Rules” reborn. From the moment Caleb Wilson touched the ball, Michigan State swarmed him with a level of physicality that felt straight out of an NBA rivalry, and for the first time this season, the Tar Heels looked genuinely uncomfortable. Shots stopped falling, spacing collapsed, and the Spartans pounced, turning a promising UNC start into a night of frustration. But beneath the missed threes and the bruising interior play was a deeper story — one that revealed exactly how opponents now view Wilson, and how Carolina must evolve to answer this new level of respect.
With the Spartans collapsing to shut off driving lanes and the Tar Heels’ ball movement not as good, unbeaten Michigan State took control. The Spartans were ultimately more physical and used a late 9–0 run on their way to a 74–58 victory Thursday in the Fort Myers Tip-Off at the Suncoast Credit Union Arena.
“Defending without fouling, loose balls, offensive rebounds — they got 12,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said, trying to explain what went wrong after his team was outrebounded for the first time this season. “And then, on the offensive end, just being able to execute. We had some open shots from the perimeter, and we didn’t shoot the ball very well.”
That was an understatement.
Carolina (6–1) missed its last 11 3-point attempts and shot a season-low 17.4% from outside the arc in the first game this season without at least two players hitting multiple 3s. Michigan State (6–0) applied pressure around the arc and made it tough to get open 3-point attempts.
Meanwhile, the Spartans shot 51.7% from the floor, the best against UNC this season, and 50% (5 of 10) from 3-point range.
“Coming in, defensively, we were a top 10 and we allowed them to shoot 51% from the field,” Davis said. “That just can’t happen.”
Caleb Wilson led UNC with 18 points. But after scoring 10 of the Tar Heels’ first 14 points, he went scoreless for nearly 20½ minutes before being the only Tar Heel to score in the last 8:48.
“I just have to learn how to play with focus,” said Wilson, who has scored in double figures seven consecutive games. “College is different because more athleticism, better players, and just got to learn how to play with players focusing on me being at the top of the scout report.”
Wilson said that the Spartans started face-guarding him and trying to be physical with him off the ball.
The attention Wilson gets seems to grow with every game, and Michigan State coach Tom Izzo made it clear that slowing down the freshman would require a collective effort and a specific plan.
“I guess I’ll give us a little bit of credit, but ain’t gonna hold that guy back much,” Izzo said. “He’s really good.”
Izzo gave Wilson the ultimate respect by saying that the Spartans defended Wilson the way NBA teams defended Michael Jordan.
“It was the ‘Jordan Rules’ of [former Detroit Pistons coach] Chuck Daley — just because you can’t cover him one-on-one; I don’t think you can,” Izzo said.
Izzo applied every idea he could to defend Wilson.
“We put what we call the six-eye effect on him every time that Wilson got it,” Izzo said. “We’re supposed to have six eyes. Sometimes it didn’t matter. Like that spin-move dunk — it was special.”
Henri Veesaar (13 points, 6 rebounds) and Luka Bogavac (11 points, season-high-tying 5 assists) were the only other double-figure scorers.
Bogavac said the physicality was eye-opening.
“I think this is the first time that we played against a team that is really physical,” he said. “They play 40 minutes [of a] physical game. We should be happy that we give 100% of effort tonight, but we also should see that with 100% of effort it is not enough against this kind of team.”
Michigan State amplified UNC’s lack of early-season bench production with a 20–5 edge in reserve points, but did its best work inside with 46 points there, compared to only 34 for the Tar Heels. That was the most against UNC since the Spartans had 50 in their overtime victory over the Tar Heels a year ago at the Maui Invitational.
Jonathan Powell gave UNC some productive minutes, tying Wilson with a team-high of seven rebounds, a season-high, in a season-high 23 minutes and scoring three points.
“You can get to that level of physicality and execution, but you have to be able to sustain it and be consistent for long periods of time,” Davis said. “It just wasn’t where it needed to be to win a game like this.”
Guard Jeremy Fears Jr. led four Spartans in double figures with 19, with Carson Cooper adding 14 points while center Jaxon Kohler (10 points, 11 rebounds) put up a double-double.
Davis praised Fears for his ability to control the game.
“He’s big, strong and plays under control. When he gets into the lane in close spaces, he has the ability to still make plays,” Davis said.
The impact of playing without Seth Trimble is more significant when UNC doesn’t have him to guard a player such as Fears.
After Michigan State scored the first five points, Wilson scored six — four on spectacular dunks — to give UNC an 8–2 lead.
Despite three straight turnovers during the run, Carolina outscored the Spartans 10–2 to lead by seven at the 7:42 mark of the first half after a 3-pointer and a driving layup by Jarin Stevenson and a 3-pointer by Powell.
“I thought Hubert did a very good job of coming at us physically, and maybe wore down a little bit,” Izzo said.
The Spartans responded with 13 straight points, taking a six-point lead on a Divine Ugochukwu 3-pointer and a Cam Ward layup at the 3:19 mark. A Bogavac 3-pointer ended a nearly five-minute UNC scoring drought.
Notes
— Carolina heads to Lexington, Ky., on Tuesday at 9:30 p.m. for an ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge game against Kentucky (5–2), which has won two in a row (88–46 over Loyola of Maryland and 104–54 over Tennessee Tech) since losing 83–66 to Michigan State at Madison Square Garden in the Champions Classic on Nov. 18.
— UNC fell 10 spots in KenPom to 32, one behind No. 23 N.C. State, after the loss.
— Three-pointers weren’t the only season-low for UNC. The Tar Heels also set season-lows in points (58), field-goal percentage (38.2%), field goals (21), three-pointers (4), rebounds (30) and assists (9).
— Under Davis, UNC is 6–16 when opponents shoot at least 50%.
— In the last three games, Carolina opponents have had scoring runs of 15-, 17- and 13- consecutive points.
— The 58 points were UNC’s fewest since its 54–44 win in Charlottesville in 2024.
— Carolina’s 28 first-half points were a low for any half this season.
— UNC’s previous worst 3-point shooting game this season was 25.8% against Radford. It was the worst showing since shooting 17.6% in the 74–71 loss to Duke last season in the ACC tournament.
— Carolina still holds a 13–6 lead in the all-time series with the Spartans, including 9–4 at neutral sites.
— The 17 free-throw attempts for UNC tied the season-low set against Kansas, which is the only other time the Tar Heels have trailed by double-digits (10 points).
— It was UNC’s third Thanksgiving Day game in four seasons after playing at Portland in 2022 and in The Bahamas in 2023.
— The UNC players from other countries have the flags of their countries on a sleeve of their warm-up jackets.
No. 11 Michigan State 74, No. 16 UNC 58
ACC standings
Team League Overall KenPom*
No. 4 Duke 0–0 8–0 3
SMU 0–0 8–0 43
No. 6 Louisville 0–0 7–0 7
Clemson 0–0 7–1 29
California 0–0 6–1 65
No. 16 North Carolina 0–0 6–1 32
Stanford 0–0 6–1 95
Virginia 0–0 6–1 44
Virginia Tech 0–0 6–2 61
Wake Forest 0–0 6–2 36
Florida State 0–0 5–2 57
Georgia Tech 0–0 5–2 102
Miami 0–0 5–2 48
No. 23 N.C. State 0–0 5–2 31
Notre Dame 0–0 5–3 73
Pittsburgh 0–0 5
Through Thursday’s games
Thursday’s results
No. 11 Michigan State 74, No. 16 North Carolina 58
St. Mary’s 77, Virginia Tech 66
No. 9 BYU 72, Miami 62
No. 4 Duke 80, No. 22 Arkansas 71
Stanford 72, Minnesota 68
Friday’s results
VCU 86, Virginia Tech 68
Wake Forest 86, Northeastern 73
Virginia 94, Queens 69
Texas A&M 95, Florida State 59
Clemson 92, Alabama A&M 56
DePaul 75, Georgia Tech 61
Pittsburgh 67, Ohio State 66
SMU 86, Mississippi State 81, OT
Monday’s game
Portland at Stanford, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
Tuesday’s games
No. 17 Tennessee at Syracuse, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Virginia Tech at South Carolina, 7 p.m., SECN
Oklahoma at Wake Forest, 7 p.m., ACCN
Texas A&M at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m., ESPNU
No. 10 Florida at No. 4 Duke, 7:30, ESPN
Miami at Ole Miss, 9 p.m., SECN
Georgia at Florida State, 9 p.m., ACCN
Missouri at Notre Dame, 9 p.m., ESPNU
No. 16 North Carolina at No. 19 Kentucky, 9:30, ESPN
Utah at California, 10 p.m., ACCN Extra
Wednesday’s games
No. 6 Louisville at No. 22 Arkansas, 7:15, ESPN
Clemson at No. 8 Alabama, 7:15, ESPNU
LSU at Boston College, 7:15, ACCN
No. 23 N.C. State at No. 21 Auburn, 9:15, ESPN
SMU at No. 24 Vanderbilt, 9:15, SECN
Virginia at Texas, 9:15, ESPNU
Mississippi State at Georgia Tech, 9:15, ACCN
UNC season statistic
