By R.L. Bynum
ATLANTA — A sure sign of a team leader is when he’s critical of his play after leading the team in points, rebounding and assists.
But that was RJ Davis after No. 9 Carolina’s 87–84 loss Saturday night to No. 14 Kentucky in the CBS Sports Classic.
The senior continued a history-making impressive run with 27 points, seven rebounds, and four assists. But what disappointed Davis most was his part in the Tar Heels’ season-high 17 turnovers.
“I’ve got to be better,” said Davis, who was the first Tar Heel to lead the team in points, rebounds and assists since Armando Bacot did it last season against Boston College. “I think I had five turnovers, and that’s a lot. That’s one of our keys going into the game was to take care of the ball and limit our turnovers and we didn’t do a really good job of that.”
The Tar Heels (7–3) try to rebound at 9 p.m. Wednesday (ESPN) at Charlotte’s Spectrum Center in the Jumpman Invitational against No. 11 Oklahoma (10–0).
Carolina leaned on Davis again down the stretch as he scored 18 points and two of his three 3-pointers in the second half. Davis kept his poise when Kentucky led by eight with 9½ minutes left, scoring seven of UNC’s next nine points to cut the lead to three.
“They kind of went on runs, but I think we were able to establish our presence on the offensive end and then were able to get some stops on the defensive end,” Davis said. “I think our mindset, especially my mindset, was just I’ve been in situations like this before where it’s a tough and close game, and it’s a lot of up and down.
“But it’s just the kind of mix where my teammates are composed and not feeding into the energy of the crowd and sometimes the game feels out of hand,” Davis said. “Just knowing what we’ve got on our side is good, kind of just chip away each possession.”
Davis is the first Tar Heel to score at least 26 points in five consecutive games since Charlie Scott did it for 12 straight games in 1970. Davis is the fourth player in Carolina history to have five such games consecutively, joining Scott, Bobby Lewis (last game of the 1964–65 season, first six games in 1965–66), and Lennie Rosenbluth (last seven games in 1955–56, first three games in 1956–57).
“RJ, from an offensive standpoint, is in a really good rhythm,” Coach Hubert Davis said. “He’s finding shots. He’s creating shots. He’s creating shots for other teammates, and he’s taking good shots.”
RJ Davis’ 160 points in the last six games are the most since Tyler Hansbrough had 171 points in a six-game stretch (25, 29, 32, 23, 23, 39) in February 2008.
Davis passed Tyler Zeller (1,501) and Scott Williams (1,508) for 31st in UNC all-time scoring at 1,520 points.
He’ll no doubt add to those totals in Charlotte on Wednesday.
RJ Davis’ amazing run
| Opponent | MP | FG | 3P FG | FT | R | A | TO | S | Pts | Avg |
| vs. Villanova | 41 | 8-22 | 2-8 | 5-6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 23 | 15.8 |
| vs. Arkansas | 35 | 9-18 | 2-5 | 10-10 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 30 | 18.2 |
| Tennessee | 38 | 8-17 | 5-11 | 6-6 | 4 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 27 | 19.4 |
| Florida St. | 38 | 8-17 | 3-9 | 8-8 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 2 | 27 | 20.4 |
| vs. UConn | 38 | 8-17 | 4-8 | 6-6 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 26 | 21 |
| vs. Kentucky | 37 | 8-18 | 3-9 | 8-9 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 27 | 21.6 |
UNC season statistics
| Date | Month/day | Time | Opponent/event (current ranks) | TV/ record |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| October | ||||
| 24 | Friday | L, 78–76 | vs. No. 16 BYU in SLC | Exhib. |
| 29 | Wednesday | W, 95–53 | vs. Winston-Salem St. | Exhib. |
| November | ||||
| 3 | Monday | W, 94–54 | vs. Central Arkansas | 1–0 |
| 7 | Friday | W, 87–74 | vs. No. 11 Kansas | 2–0 |
| 11 | Tuesday | W, 89–74 | vs. Radford | 3–0 |
| 14 | Friday | W, 97–53 | vs. N.C. Central | 4–0 |
| 18 | Tuesday | W, 73–61 | vs. Navy | 5–0 |
| Fort Myers Tip-Off | ||||
| 25 | Tuesday | W, 85–70 | vs. St. Bonaventure | 6–0 |
| 27 | Thursday | L, 74–58 | vs. No. 10 Michigan State | 6–1 |
| December | ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge | |||
| 2 | Tuesday | W, 67–64 | at Kentucky | 7–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 7 | Sunday | W, 81–61 | vs. Georgetown | 8–1 |
| 13 | Saturday | W, 80–62 | vs. USC Upstate | 9–1 |
| 16 | Tuesday | W, 77–58 | vs. ETSU | 10–1 |
| CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta | ||||
| 20 | Saturday | W, 71–70 | vs. Ohio State | 11–1 |
| ————————— | ||||
| 22 | Monday | W, 99–51 | vs. East Carolina | 12–1 |
| 30 | Tuesday | W, 79–66 | vs. Florida State | 13–1, 1–0 ACC |
| January | ||||
| 3 | Saturday | L, 97–83 | at SMU | 13–2, 1–1 |
| 10 | Saturday | W, 87–84 | vs. Wake Forest | 14–2, 2–1 |
| 14 | Wednesday | L, 95–90 | at Stanford | 14–3, 2–2 |
| 17 | Saturday | L, 84–78 | at California | 14–4, 2–3 |
| 21 | Wednesday | W, 91–69 | vs. Notre Dame | 15–4, 3–3 |
| 24 | Saturday | W, 85–80 | at No. 18 Virginia | 16–4, 4–3 |
| 31 | Saturday | W, 91–75 | at Georgia Tech | 17–4, 5–3 |
| February | ||||
| 2 | Monday | W, 87–77 | vs. Syracuse | 18–4, 6–3 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | vs. No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 10 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at Miami | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 14 | Saturday | 2 p.m. | vs. Pittsburgh | ESPN |
| 17 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | at N.C. State | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 21 | Saturday | 1 p.m. | at Syracuse | ABC |
| 23 | Monday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 24 Louisville | ESPN |
| 28 | Saturday | 6:30 or 8:30 | vs. Virginia Tech | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| March | ||||
| 3 | Tuesday | 7 p.m. | vs. No. 20 Clemson | ESPN or ESPN2 |
| 7 | Saturday | 6:30 | at No. 4 Duke | ESPN |
| 10–14 | Tues.-Sat. | ACC tournament | Spectrum Center, Charlotte |
Photo via @UNC_Basketball
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