Tar Heels Start Season With Win Over Penn 86-71
Posted Nov 16, 2008
Freshman Tyler Zeller scored 18 points Saturday to help top-ranked North Carolina beat Pennsylvania 86-71 despite playing without reigning national player of the year Tyler Hansbrough. Deon Thompson added 17 points for the Tar Heels, who led by double figures much of the day yet had trouble putting together a game-sealing run without their injured star senior roaming the paint. North Carolina was also without fellow senior Marcus Ginyard.
(Tar Heel Blue)
Related: Basketball, Basketball Recruiting
Where does UNC Basketball go from here while playing without Caleb Wilson?Caleb Wilson led UNC with highlight dunks, relentless rebounding and a scoring streak that rewrote the program’s freshman record book. But he’s out indefinitely with...
Fri Feb 13, 2026Video: Locked On Tar Heels - UNC Basketball Looks To Bounce Back Without Caleb Wilson
Host Isaac Schade and Coach Bill Robinson discuss UNC Basketball's inconsistency, Seth Trimble's game-winning buzzer beater and subsequent slump, Caleb Wilson's injury concerns, UNC's defensive...
Fri Feb 13, 2026
Chansky’s Notebook: Breaking News
Caleb Wilson now joins an infamous list of high-profile Tar Heel injuries, including Kenny Smith in 1984 and Kendall Marshall in 2012. Ironically, both of...
Fri Feb 13, 2026
UNC Basketball's Path Forward After Caleb Wilson’s Season-Altering Injury
What appeared to be a bump in the road for UNC Basketball quickly turned into a sinkhole Thursday, when the university announced Caleb Wilson will...
Fri Feb 13, 2026