By R.L. Bynum
CHAPEL HILL — Caleb Wilson has been waiting for this week for a long time, even if he didn’t always say it out loud.
The first UNC–Duke game on your schedule isn’t just another matchup. It’s a moment you grow up hearing about, watching on TV, imagining yourself inside. And for Wilson, it was part of the dream before he wore Carolina blue.
Two years ago, he was just a highly recruited player soaking it all in, wide-eyed at the chaos and joy that comes with rivalry night.
“Everybody was really excited, pouring water on Coach Davis,” he said, the memory still sharp of the Tar Heels’ 93–84 win over Duke. “Just going out there on Franklin [Street]. I couldn’t do anything; I was just a kid. But just seeing that atmosphere, seeing everyone out — it was definitely a lot of fun, and it was just exhilarating.”
That night stuck with him. The energy on Franklin Street was the sense that something bigger than basketball was happening all around him.
“Me being a basketball fan and a basketball player, seeing that atmosphere, which is really attractive for me,” he said..
Now, he isn’t just watching from the outside anymore. It’s his turn.
Still, Wilson doesn’t want to get swallowed by the hype. He’s heard the noise. He’s seen the clips. He knows what a packed Smith Center can be like for a Duke game. But he keeps circling back to the same grounding point.
“Honestly, I approach the game like I approach every other one,” he said. “They’re just an opponent. And I feel like me doing everything I can — it’s really a battle between me and myself.”
He says that no matter the history, no matter the crowd, it’s the same court.
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“I’m just going to prepare as much as I can to face a team that we’re going to play,” Wilson said. “It’s just a game. No matter the atmosphere, no matter the antics before or after the game, it’s just a basketball game.”
Of course, this one comes with extra layers.
Duke’s frontcourt is physical and skilled, and includes one familiar face in particular: Cameron Boozer, who leads the ACC in scoring (23.3 points per game) and rebounding (9.9) and his team in assists (4.0) and assist-to-turnover ratio (1.8).
Boozer isn’t just another rival. He’s someone Wilson knows well, someone he battled with as AAU teammates. Both were named Thursday to the 10-player Karl Malone Award (top power forward) midseason watch list.
“He’s a great player, and he just plays smart, a really cerebral guy,” Wilson said. “He’s not going to be rushed. He just plays basketball in a very mature way.”
Wilson ticked through the challenge like a scout, but you could hear the respect underneath it.
“He’s definitely a great offensive rebounder,” Wilson said of Boozer. “He has the ability to score a lot of different ways, a great passer.”
The chess match will be real. The physicality will be real, too.
“It’s all about just keeping physicality with him, and keeping body contact and just trying to limit his catches,” Wilson said.
Their connection goes back to playing together on the Nightrydas Elite before the rivalry split them into different shades of blue.
“We talk occasionally, and we’re definitely close,” Wilson said. “We won a national championship. It was definitely a lot of fun. Winning brings everybody together.”
This week, though, the friendship pauses. The rivalry takes over.
“No, we haven’t talked this week,” he said.
Wilson knows what Duke wants to do — slow the pace, grind possessions, play through their big men. Carolina wants the opposite.
“Honestly, I feel like we have to dictate the pace of the game,” he said. “That’s going to allow us to be playing to the best of our ability. They have a slower play style. They like to walk the ball up the court and get into their offense and do exactly what they want to do. It’s up to us to speed them up and make their simple plays and their execution difficult.”
In a rivalry game, it always comes down to toughness under the defensive boards to limit Duke to one shot.
“Really important, honestly; the game is won in the trenches, especially ones like this,” he said. “It’s definitely important to make sure we play as hard as we can, not only on the perimeter but on the inside.”
Around campus, the anticipation is everywhere. Students bring it up in passing. Strangers ask about Saturday like it’s a holiday.
“Yes, it’s way different,” Wilson said. “I go to class, and people are asking me about the game. It’s like, ‘man, let’s just play, bro.’ ”
Inside the program, Coach Hubert Davis has been steady but intense, the weight of history sitting with him.
“He’s just been serious, honestly,” Wilson said. And then he smiled, thinking about what always comes before Duke. “I expect some great Coach Davis stories. They usually get me going.”
This rivalry lives in Davis’ memory like chapters of a book he can still recite.
“He remembers all 11 of his matchups with Duke [as a player],” said Wilson, who is only guaranteed two. “That just kind of shows how significant it is. Because he always tells us that our memories are going to be emotional things, like how we felt, how stuff felt after a game, not every second of the game, but he was telling us [Wednesday], ‘I remember every second of every Duke game I played in or coached.’ That shows you how significant this game is.”
Wilson has his history with the rivalry, too, built through watching, studying and imagining.
“I love watching old-dude games, honestly,” he said. “Used to watch them in class in high school, but now I’ve probably watched a lot of them. I remember watching live when Zion Williamson blew a shoe out in that Duke game at Cameron.”
Now, he’s stepping into that atmosphere himself, and he isn’t afraid of it. In fact, part of him enjoys what comes with it.
“I’m really excited to go play at Duke, too,” he admitted. “I like to be the villain in games, and I just think it’s going to be a lot of fun.”
That’s Wilson: calm, competitive, a little amused by the madness, but fully aware of what a win would mean.
“You’ve got to get a win, man, I’m not gonna lie,” he said. “If I want to be a legend and I want to submit my name in history, this is a very good opportunity for me to do it, and it’s a very good time for our school and our team to just have some pride and dignity and get a win.”
He says he’s been chilling. Treating it like any other week. But underneath that calm is the buzz of a kid who once stood outside the moment, now finally inside it.
“I think it’s gonna be a lot of fun,” he said. “No matter the crowd, no matter the environment, no matter the atmosphere, it’s still a basketball game.”
Saturday won’t just be his first UNC–Duke game. It’ll be the start of his memories that will stick with him long after his lone season at Carolina.
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
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