North Carolina’s frontcourt duo continues to draw national attention.
North Carolina’s Henri Veesaar and Caleb Wilson have been considered among the best frontcourt duos in the country.
ESPN gave credence to that view, putting Veesaar and Wilson on its list of the top 50 college basketball players at midseason. Wilson was rated as the fourth-best player in the country, behind only Duke’s Caemron Boozer, BYU’s AJ Dybantsa and Iowa State’s Joshua Jefferson. Veesaar was ranked as the 28th-best player in the country.
Veesaar and Wilson are powering the Tar Heels’ frontcourt, combining to average 36.5 points and 18.9 rebounds per game. Together, they have totaled 51 blocks and 96 assists, are shooting 60.7 percent from the field and have taken 241 free throws.
Wilson leads the team with 19.9 points and 10.1 rebounds per game, while Veesaar adds 16.6 points and 8.8 rebounds. The last North Carolina duo to both average at least 16 points and eight rebounds over a season was Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace in 1994-95.
In all, the pair has produced 21 double-doubles and has combined for 19 games with at least 20 points. According to BartTorvik.com, Wilson leads Division I with 62 dunks, and Veesaar ranks ninth nationally with 40. One of the two has paced the Tar Heels in scoring in 18 of 20 games and has led the team in rebounds 18 times. Together, they account for 44.2 percent of North Carolina’s points, 47.1 percent of its rebounds and 46.9 percent of its made field goals.
Wilson, with 11, and Veesaar, with 10, rank first and second in the ACC in double-doubles and stand ninth and 14th, respectively, in the country. They have both posted double-doubles in points and rebounds in the same game seven times this season — against North Carolina Central, St. Bonaventure, Kentucky, Georgetown, Ohio State, East Carolina and Florida State — matching the third-most such games in a single season by a North Carolina tandem.
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