By AARON BEARD AP Basketball Writer
DURHAM, N.C. (AP) — Caleb Wilson was right where he wanted to be in a sense, standing alongside his North Carolina teammates on the court before a rivalry loss at No. 1 Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium.
But the star freshman and high-end NBA prospect can only watch now.
The 76-61 loss Saturday night to close the regular season came one day after the school announced the 6-foot-10 forward is done for the season with a broken right thumb. It came as Wilson appeared on the verge of returning from a fractured left hand just in time for the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament and March Madness.
Instead, a freak injury — complete with Wilson posting a post-surgery photo on social media — has ended what is expected to be a lone college season with his high-lottery draft projection. It’s also delivered a potentially devastating blow to the Tar Heels’ postseason aspirations.
“Obviously, there’s tremendous sadness for him,” coach Hubert Davis said. “It was a dream for him to play in the ACC and NCAA Tournament. And my heart is broken that he won’t be able to do that. But we finished the regular season, now it’s time to regroup and move toward the ACC Tournament.”
The Tar Heels have spent much of this season adapting to injuries. They lost senior Seth Trimble to a broken left arm for nine games early in the season. Wilson hadn’t played since he was hurt in a Feb. 10 loss at Miami, coming in the first game following the rivalry win against Duke on Trimble’s last-second 3-pointer. And big man Henri Veesaar recently missed two games with a foot issue.
“Unfortunately we’re kind of used to it as a team,” Trimble said.
The Tar Heels had gone 5-1 without Wilson as he inched closer to a potential return. But this time, there’s finality, no held-in-reserve hope of getting back the hyper-competitive and explosive athlete averaging 19.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists.
“He’s been devastated ever since because he really wanted to wear that UNC uniform for the NCAA Tournament, and March Madness,” Veesaar said. “So that moment getting taken away from him, I feel like as a friend just hurts me.”
Wilson was hurt while dunking during a non-contact drill Thursday. To listen to teammates, there was no indication of a major problem during that workout, either.
“I had no idea until the next day,” Trimble said.
“We just thought it was a sprained thumb during practice,” Veesaar said. “He was able to kind of go through it a little bit. He just said it hurts a little bit, but he thought it was a sprained thumb. Then the next day obviously you find out the news. And that hurt.”
On Saturday night, Wilson took a seat down the bench next to director of operations Eric Hoots, yet he was often on his feet watching the action — sometimes joining Davis as the only people standing like bookends on the North Carolina sideline. When he was sitting, he often kept his elbow on his knee with his hand elevated near his chin.
When teammates Derek Dixon and Jarin Stevenson dove on the floor for a loose ball and drew a first-half foul, Wilson was excitedly yelling and pointing with his left hand. During timeouts, he kept walking out near midcourt to greet teammates as they approached the bench with words of encouragement or high-fives.
But the Tar Heels clearly miss his ability to finish at the rim (he had a national-best 66 dunks at the time of the first injury), get off his own shot and work the glass. The latter was particularly evident Saturday at Duke, which outrebounded North Carolina 24-10 after halftime, including 11-0 on the offensive glass.
“I feel like the big part is going to be moving the ball and rebounding,” Veesaar said. “Because obviously he’s a freak athlete, he’s good at rebounding the basketball. And the other part is without him, we can’t really play (isolation) ball as much as we did with him because you kind of give him the ball, he went to work and it was very effective.
“Now we have to get the ball moving, people can’t be sticky with it.”
Otherwise, all the Tar Heels can do is hope what largely worked during Wilson’s absence before is enough to keep winning in March.
“Obviously, it sucks, I feel for him, that’s my guy,” Dixon said. “I hate to see that happen. But we’ve got to play. And we’re going to have to play going forward.”