Inside UNC’s historic collapse against VCU: mistakes, fatigue and a lot of shock

Midway through North Carolina’s open locker room Thursday night, Caleb Wilson quietly emerged.

He weaved through a cluster of reporters, reaching his stall with a quiet purpose. It’s there that Wilson peeled off the NCAA tournament nameplate adorning his locker, and grabbed a souvenir booklet. As the cameras and questions quickly turned on him, he held both in his hands — keepsakes from a season that had just ended far earlier than anyone inside that room expected.

The 19-year-old offered the simplest — and perhaps most fitting — explanation for what had just unfolded: “I mean, it’s March. (Stuff) happens.”

For No. 6 seed North Carolina, that reality arrived slowly, and then all at once in an 82-78 loss to No. 11 seed VCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament at Bon Secours Wellness Arena. Because, for 30 minutes, North Carolina looked nothing like a team headed for another early March exit.

The Tar Heels led by as many as 19 points with just over 15 minutes remaining Thursday night. They were dictating tempo, scoring in transition, defending and feeding off the downhill aggression of Seth Trimble and the interior presence of Henri Veesaar. They had turned an early back-and-forth into a decisive stretch, outscoring VCU 19-3 over roughly seven minutes late in the first half.

The Tar Heels were firmly in control. And then, suddenly, everything unraveled.

“I feel like we all had those moments that we know we could have done better,” Veesaar said. “We had such a big margin (being) up, where we had the room for error. But we just had too much error.”

‘They took advantage of us’

The collapse crept in — a missed free throw here, a defensive breakdown there — before snowballing into a surge that North Carolina never stopped.

And then VCU’s guards took over.

Terrence Hill Jr., Nyk Lewis and Michael Belle repeatedly broke down UNC’s defense late, attacking off the dribble, drawing contact and finishing. Over a critical five-minute stretch, the trio accounted for all of the Rams’ points in a 16-3 run, slicing a double-digit deficit to just two in the final minutes.

The Tar Heels struggled to contain VCU’s guards and, in the words of Luka Bogavac, “they took advantage of us.”

Nobody more than Hill, who recorded 20 points for the Rams in the second half and helped VCU force an overtime period.

The Tar Heels, meanwhile, tightened up.

“I think in the second half we just slowed down too much, got a little tense,” Trimble said. “We weren’t playing as loose as we were playing the whole game. That makes a difference.”

UNC mistakes beget VCU confidence

The numbers reflect that shift. The Tar Heels missed seven free throws in the second half and overtime. They missed 12 3-pointers during that stretch and recorded more turnovers (five) than made field goals (four) in the final 15 minutes of game action.

Most glaringly, UNC’s last made shot came with 2:44 left in regulation.

After the loss, North Carolina coach Hubert Davis pointed to execution — or lack thereof — in the smallest moments.

“In order for a team to come back, they have to be good enough and resilient enough to do that, and VCU was,” Davis said. “But also, I believe that there were mistakes made that helped them come back.”

As the mistakes and minutes piled up for UNC’s starters late in the game, VCU gained more and more confidence.

Hill scored 23 of his game-high 34 points after halftime, including several tough, contested jumpers in one of the best NCAA Tournament performances of the past decade. Lewis and Belle combined for 16 more in the second half, exploiting switches and late help rotations.

‘They stretched us out’

And as UNC’s offense stalled into isolation possessions and tired perimeter looks, the Rams continued to attack.

“They made 15 of the last 19 shots,” Veesaar said. “Obviously, they did a really good job. They stretched us out. They were five out.”

“We didn’t have anybody in the paint because they were able to knock down 3s, and they were able to drive us and get to the rim and be physical in the drives,” Veesaar continued. “And we weren’t as physical as them. So they were able to bump us and get shots that they should not get.”

All the while, North Carolina stuck with a shortened rotation, using just six players after halftime — a choice Davis later rationalized with a brief comment: “because that was my decision.”

VCU, by contrast, looked fresher as the game carried on.

“I did notice that,” VCU coach Phil Martelli Jr. said of UNC appearing to wear down late. “The last four minutes, we said that... a couple of (their) shots went short, and I said, ‘We’ve got them right here. If we can just make a couple more shots, we’re going to have a shot.’”

VCU did have a shot. And the Rams took it.

Sadness, and shock

In the final moments, with the Tar Heels searching for answers, the Rams delivered decisive play after decisive play — a rebound, a drive, a free throw — each one pushing North Carolina closer to an ending it couldn’t quite comprehend.

Even after the final horn, the Tar Heels’ disbelief lingered.

In the handshake line, senior guard Elijah Davis pulled his white warmup over his face to cover the tears. Trimble watched as the Rams danced around the court before eventually making his way to the locker room, where he later sat at a training table, fidgeting with his wrist tape as he answered questions.

“It sucks,” Trimble said. “It’s sad. You want to make a run in March, and this team had the ability to do it. But we fell short.”

“The other thing is knowing I’ll never get to wear this jersey or represent the university in a way you dreamed about as a kid,” Trimble continued. “It sucks. But super, super grateful. It’ll be a bittersweet feeling for sure but right now it’s all sadness.”

Sadness, yes. But also plenty of shock.

Around Trimble, his teammates moved quietly, some hugging, others staring at the floor. Veesaar, after finishing his postgame press conference, walked down the line of lockers embracing teammates one by one.

“I love the university and the university has given us so much and I feel like we failed them,” Veesaar said. “I feel like I failed them. We were up so much and we just gave it away.”

And just like that, a season that once held promise — one that featured a seemingly infinite ceiling behind Wilson, and later resilience through injuries and stretches of inconsistency — ended with another first-round exit, leaving questions that no one in that locker room was ready to answer.

Not yet. Maybe not for a while.

Instead, there was only the silence, the quiet tears, the shock and the small pieces players chose to carry with them on the way out — a nameplate, a booklet, a final reminder of how quickly it all disappeared.

“That’s just how it happens the month of March,” Wilson said. “And it sucks that I wasn’t out there, but that’s something I expect. You know, I’ve been watching March Madness my whole life, so you always got to expect the unexpected.”

This story was originally published March 20, 2026 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Inside UNC’s historic collapse against VCU: mistakes, fatigue and a lot of shock."