Wilson played through foot injury in putting up seventh double-double

By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — Caleb Wilson played through a foot injury as No. 14 North Carolina slogged through an 80–62 victory Saturday over USC Upstate at the Smith Center.

Wilson finished with 20 points and 11 rebounds for his seventh double-double, but admitted that his preparation for the game wasn’t ideal.

“I was dealing with a foot injury,” said Wilson, who was limited in practice because of the injury, replying with a “no comment,” when asked for more specifics. “But, as a team, we’ve just got to approach it stronger, better. Just have more energy and more enthusiasm, no matter who we play.”

Wilson said there was never a doubt about whether he would play in Saturday’s game.

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“No, I’ll play through whatever I feel, as long as it’s not like going to really mess me up,” Wilson said. “But I’m good now, so just got to play through the injury.”

He estimated that it affected him over two or three practice days.

The Tar Heels (9–1) were sluggish for much of the afternoon, and Wilson acknowledged that preparation was part of the problem.

Wilson said practices didn’t go well leading up to the game and admitted that his first experience with final exams was draining.

“Exams are definitely exhausting,” he said. “You had to study for them all week. So, it’s kind of hard to switch gears from academics to athletics. That could be something that was going on with us. But we’ve just got to always push through it. You never know. You can’t control that. It’s not a circumstance you can control.”

Wilson struggled at the free-throw line, making only seven of 13 attempts, but brushed that off.

“That’s just gonna happen sometimes,” he said. “Not going to sweat it. I’ll just shoot some free throws tonight. Get back to it. I come here pretty much every night. Honestly, I just need to do something that’s outside of practice to better myself.

“So, I try to work on my 3-point shooting and shoot my mid-range jump shots — stuff like that, because that’s stuff I actually have to work on,” Wilson said. “I just do it by myself. I play some music and go do it.” 

Wilson continues to be Carolina’s best player while working on the areas of his game that need improvement.

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Date	Month/day	Time	Opponent/event (current ranks)	TV/ record
	October
24	Friday	L, 78–76	vs. No. 13 BYU in SLC	Exhib.
29	Wednesday	W, 95–53	vs. Winston-Salem St.	Exhib.
	November
3	Monday	W, 94–54	vs. Central Arkansas	1–0
7	Friday	W, 87–74	vs. No. 14 Kansas	2–0
11	Tuesday	W, 89–74	vs. Radford	3–0
14	Friday	W, 97–53	vs. N.C. Central	4–0
18	Tuesday	W, 73–61	vs. Navy	5–0
			Fort Myers Tip-Off
25	Tuesday	W, 85–70	vs. St. Bonaventure	6–0
27	Thursday	L, 74–58	vs. No. 7 Michigan State	6–1
	December		ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
2	Tuesday	W, 67–64	at Kentucky	7–1
			—————————
7	Sunday	W, 81–61	vs. Georgetown	8–1
13	Saturday	W, 80–62	vs. USC Upstate	9–1
16	Tuesday	W, 77–58	vs. ETSU	10–1
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
20	Saturday	W, 71–70	vs. Ohio State	11–1
			—————————
22	Monday	W, 99–51	vs. East Carolina	12–1
30	Tuesday	W, 79–66	vs. Florida State	13–1, 1–0 ACC
	January
3	Saturday	L, 97–83	at SMU	13–2, 1–1
10	Saturday	W, 87–84	vs. Wake Forest	14–2, 2–1
14	Wednesday	L, 95–90	at Stanford	14–3, 2–2
17	Saturday	L, 84–78	at California	14–4, 2–3
21	Wednesday	W, 91–69	vs. Notre Dame	15–4, 3–3
24	Saturday	W, 85–80	at No. 17 Virginia	16–4, 4–3
31	Saturday	2 p.m.	at Georgia Tech	ACCN
	February
2	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. Syracuse	ESPN
7	Saturday	6:30	vs. No. 4 Duke	ESPN
10	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at Miami	ESPN or ESPN2
14	Saturday	2 p.m.	vs. Pittsburgh	ESPN
17	Tuesday	7 p.m.	at N.C. State	ESPN or ESPN2
21	Saturday	1 p.m.	at Syracuse	ABC
23	Monday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 20 Louisville	ESPN
28	Saturday	6:30 or 8:30	vs. Virginia Tech	ESPN or ESPN2
	March
3	Tuesday	7 p.m.	vs. No. 22 Clemson	ESPN or ESPN2
7	Saturday	6:30	at No. 4 Duke	ESPN
10–14	Tues.-Sat.	ACC tournament	Spectrum Center, Charlotte

Photo by Joshua Lawton