Heel Tough Blog: Wilson & Veesaar Earn All-ACC Honors

@UNCMBBStats

With Saturday’s loss concluding the 2025-26 regular season, and the ACC Tournament set to begin tomorrow in Charlotte, it's awards season for the league and the rest of the college basketball world, as we inch closer to Selection Sunday. The Tar Heels compiled a respectable 24-7 record in the regular season, going 12-6 in the ACC, earning the #4 seed, and the last double-bye into this year's tournament. During the process of the regular season, Carolina set a new school record for home wins in a single season (18) and posted their first unbeaten season at home since the 2016-17 national championship season. With so much success in the regular season, it positioned Carolina and its players to be well represented with some postseason hardware. 

Before two freak injuries, freshman Caleb Wilson was enjoying the best statistical season a UNC freshman had ever put together, and was UNC’s leading scorer and rebounder, before being lost for the rest of the season. That was more than good enough to land him on the All-ACC First Team, the first UNC freshman since Tyler Hansbrough back in 2005-06 to earn the honor, and just the third overall. In addition to All-ACC honors, Wilson was also named to the ACC’s All-Rookie team. 

Not only did Caleb Wilson get honors, but so did Henri Veesaar, who was Carolina’s second leading scorer and rebounder, which earned him Second-Team, All-ACC honors. The Arizona transfer joins a list of former Tar Heels, which includes Robert McAdoo, Cam Johnson, and Harrison Ingram, as Tar Heels to earn All-ACC honors after transferring into the Carolina Basketball program. 

Lastly, senior Seth Trimble, who was Carolina’s third-leading scorer, was an honorable mention for All-ACC honors. 

Listed below are the full voting results as posted on GoHeels.com: 

2025-26 ACC AWARDS

Player of the Year – Cameron Boozer, Fr., F, Duke

Defensive Player of the Year – Maliq Brown, Sr., F, Duke

Rookie of the Year – Cameron Boozer, F, Duke

Most Improved Player – Juke Harris, So., G, Wake Forest

Sixth Man of the Year – Maliq Brown, Sr., F, Duke

Coach of the Year – Jon Scheyer, Duke

2025-26 ALL-ACC TEAM

FIRST TEAM

Name, School, Points

Cameron Boozer, Duke, 425

Caleb Wilson, North Carolina, 410

Ebuka Okorie, Stanford, 356

Malik Reneau, Miami, 344

Thijs De Ridder, Virginia, 302

SECOND TEAM

Boopie Miller, SMU, 293

Juke Harris, Wake Forest, 237

Henri Veesaar, North Carolina, 215

Tre Donaldson, Miami, 204

Ryan Conwell, Louisville, 201

THIRD TEAM

Isaiah Evans, Duke, 151

Mikel Brown Jr., Louisville, 147

Quadir Copeland, NC State, 98

Robert McCray V, Florida State, 90

Dai Dai Ames, California, 51

HONORABLE MENTION

Jaron Pierre Jr., SMU, 45

Donnie Freeman, Syracuse, 36

RJ Godfrey, Clemson, 32

Amani Hansberry, Virginia Tech, 29

Seth Trimble, North Carolina, 27

Patrick Ngongba II, Duke, 26

Justin Pippen, California, 18

Darrion Williams, NC State, 16

Jalen Haralson, Notre Dame, 15

B.J. Edwards, SMU, 15

Player of the Year

Cameron Boozer, Duke, 84 votes

Ebuka Okorie, Stanford, 1

Thijs De Ridder, Virginia, 1

Defensive Player of the Year

Maliq Brown, Duke, 25

Dame Sarr, Duke, 15

Ugonna Onyenso, Virginia, 13

Cameron Boozer, Duke, 10

B.J. Edwards, SMU, 8

Ernest Udeh Jr., Miami, 4

William Kyle III, Syracuse, 3

Patrick Ngongba II, Duke, 2

Caleb Wilson, North Carolina, 2

Quadir Copeland, Syracuse 2

Johann Grünloh, Virginia, 2

Rookie of the Year

Cameron Boozer, Duke, 82 votes

Ebuka Okorie, Stanford, 3

Caleb Wilson, North Carolina, 1

Sixth Man Of the Year

Maliq Brown, Duke, 38

Jacari White, Virginia, 20

Tru Washington, Miami, 19

Adrian Wooley, Louisville, 5

Jeremy Dent-Smith, Stanford, 2

Nojus Indrusaitis, Pitt, 1

Cayden Boozer, Duke, 1

Most Improved Player

Juke Harris, Wake Forest, 55 votes

Dai Dai Ames, California, 8

Isaiah Evans, Duke, 6

Cole Certa, Notre Dame, 5

Malik Reneau, Miami, 3

B.J. Edwards, SMU, 3

Fred Payne, Boston College, 2

Paul McNeil, Jr., NC State, 1

Ugonna Onyenso, Virginia, 1

Ben Hammond, Virginia Tech, 1

Patrick Ngongba II, Duke, 1

Coach of the Year

Jon Scheyer, Duke, 51 votes

Jai Lucas, Miami, 19

Ryan Odom, Virginia, 9

Luke Loucks, Florida State, 4

Brad Brownell, Clemson, 2

Mark Madsen, California, 1

All-Defensive Team

Maliq Brown, Duke, 63 votes

Ugonna Onyenso, Virginia, 58

B.J. Edwards, SMU, 55

Dame Sarr, Duke, 48

Ernest Udeh Jr., Miami, 40

All-Rookie Team

Cameron Boozer, Duke, 84 votes

Caleb Wilson, North Carolina, 84

Ebuka Okorie, Stanford, 82

Mikel Brown Jr., Louisville, 64

Thijs De Ridder, Virginia, 62

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