UNC Beats Navy 73-61, Reaches 2,400 Wins

The No. 18 North Carolina Tar Heels secured a 73-61 victory over the Navy Midshipmen on Tuesday night at the Dean E. Smith Center, improving to 5-0 and concluding their season-opening homestand. Freshman forward Caleb Wilson led the way with 23 points and 12 rebounds, powering a dominant second-half performance that helped the Tar Heels pull away despite a late Navy surge.

The game remained competitive early, with Navy trimming a halftime deficit to single digits on a 3-pointer by Austin Benigni just before the break. The Midshipmen opened the second half with two quick buckets, cutting the gap to four points on an Aidan Kehoe layup. Jarin Stevenson responded with a putback dunk, igniting a scoring flurry for North Carolina. The Tar Heels then unleashed a series of dunks, including three from Wilson in under two minutes that fueled a 10-3 run. Wilson and Stevenson celebrated with a chest bump after one transition slam, contributing to UNC's total of 10 dunks in the contest. Entering the game, North Carolina ranked third nationally in dunks made and second in the percentage of offense derived from them.

Wilson, who entered foul trouble with two early infractions, erupted for 15...