No. 6 seed North Carolina begins its NCAA Tournament run Thursday against No. 11 seed VCU while adjusting to life without star freshman Caleb Wilson. The Tar Heels have gone 5-3 since Wilson’s season-ending thumb injury.
North Carolina will have somewhat of a homecourt advantage in the opening weekend of the 2026 NCAA Tournament if the Tar Heels can manage without star freshman Caleb Wilson. No. 6 seed UNC (24-8) plays No. 11 seed VCU (27-7) at 6:50 p.m. ET Thursday at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, South Carolina. The South Region game airs on TNT.
Wilson, an All-ACC first-team selection, is out for the season after breaking his right thumb. Wilson injured the thumb while working back from a left hand fracture. Wilson’s last game was on Feb. 20. UNC is 5-3 in eight games without Wilson. “Our team will move forward,” UNC coach Hubert Davis said of Wilson’s injury on March 7 after the regular-season finale against Duke.
Davis added, “Obviously, there’s tremendous sadness for him. I’ve talked about how special … obviously he’s a special player, but just how remarkable of a kid and a teammate he is and the passion that he has for his teammates, for North Carolina for being on the floor, for playing in games like this. It was a dream for him to play in the ACC [Tournament] and the NCAA Tournament, and my heart is broken that he won’t be able to do that.”
The UNC-VCU winner will play the winner of the Illinois-Penn game on Saturday in Greenville, South Carolina.
The other teams in the South Region include No. 1 seed Florida, No. 2 seed Houston, No. 4 seed Nebraska, No. 5 seed Vanderbilt, No. 7 seed Saint Mary’s, No. 8 seed Clemson, No. 9 seed Iowa, No. 10 seed Texas A&M, No. 12 seed McNeese, No. 13 seed Troy, No. 15 seed, Idaho, No. 16 seed Lehigh and No. 16 seed Prairie View A&M.
UNC enters the NCAA Tournament on a two-game losing streak. Thursday marks the Tar Heels’ 55th appearance in the NCAA Tournament, the second most all-time. It is the fourth NCAA Tournament appearance in five seasons under head coach Hubert Davis, who has led the Tar Heels to an 8-3 record in the NCAA Tournament.
The Tar Heels fell to Duke in the regular-season finale and lost 80-79 to Clemson in the ACC quarterfinals.
Meanwhile, the Rams have won 16 of their last 17 games. It includes a three-game sweep of Duquesne, Saint Joseph’s and Dayton to win the A-10 title this past weekend in Pittsburgh.
NCAA selection committee chair Keith Gill said the committee discussed Wilson’s injury and how it treated UNC.
“We spent a lot of time obviously talking about Caleb Wilson, and that obviously impacted the way we talked about North Carolina,” Gill said.
UNC and VCU have never played before.
North Carolina has the second-best NCAA Tournament winning percentage among schools that have played at least 20 games. The Tar Heels hold a 134-51 record in the NCAA Tournament.
