As the North Carolina Tar Heels continue their quest for a National Championship run during the 2025-26 college basketball season, the program will look to finish the regular season on a high note over the next two weeks.

One of the main issues head coach Hubert Davis and his squad have encountered recently is star forward Caleb Wilson’s injury. The Tar Heels’ leading scorer has been sidelined with a hand injury over the past couple of games, but the emergance of center Henri Veesaar and Seth Trimble has helped the offensive efforts without Wilson.

However, once the prolific forward returns from injury, another lingering question remains surrounding North Carolina leading up to the month of March.

During the team’s most recent matchup against the Louisville Cardinals, Trimble was able to carry the workload on offense, scoring 30 points in the thrilling 77-74 victory. Unfortunately, walking away with a victory on Monday almost became a different story due to the poor performance from the free-throw line by the entire roster.

While the veteran guard still managed to make seven of his 11 free throw attempts against the Cardinals, as a team, North Carolina was 9-19 (47 percent) from the charity stripe. Junior forward Jarin Stevenson, who finished with nine points on Monday night, went 1-4 from the line, followed by Veesaar missing his lone attempt.

This has been a common issue for the Tar Heels as of late, as the program also struggled from the free-throw line during last week’s battle against the Syracuse Orangemen, shooting 57 percent from the line as a team. Both Trimble and Stevenson struggled in these clutch moments, combining for 6-13 at the line.

If the Tar Heels want to make a run in this year’s NCAA Tournament, it’s clear that the program must do a better job when it comes to free throws. North Carolina has managed to squeak by opponents without consistently making their free throws, but this will not be the case come March.

Wilson’s return will be a massive help, as the highly-regarded playmaker is shooting 71.3 percent from the free-throw line this season.

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