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	Score	Opponent/event (current ranks)	Record
	October
27	Friday	W, 117–53	vs. St. Augustine’s	Exhibition
	November
6	Monday	W, 86–70	vs. Radford	1–0
12	Sunday	W, 90–68	vs. Lehigh	2–0
17	Friday	W, 77–52	vs. UC Riverside	3–0
			Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas
22	Wednesday	W, 91–69	Northern Iowa	4–0
23	Thursday	L, 83–81, OT	Villanova	4–1
24	Friday	W, 87–72	Arkansas	5–1
			ACC/SEC Men’s Challenge
29	Wednesday	W, 100–92	vs. No. 6 Tennessee	6–1
	December
2	Saturday	W, 78–70	vs. Florida State	7–1, 1–0 ACC
			Jimmy V Classic in New York
5	Tuesday	L, 87–67	No. `1` Connecticut	7–2
			CBS Sports Classic in Atlanta
16	Saturday	L, 87–83	No. 12 Kentucky	7–3
			Jumpman Invitational in Charlotte
20	Wednesday	W, 81–69	Oklahoma	8–3
			—————————
29	Friday	W, 105–60	vs. Charleston Southern	9–3
	January
2	Tuesday	W, 70–57	at Pittsburgh	10–3, 2–0 ACC
6	Saturday	W, 65–55	at Clemson	11–3, 3–0 ACC
10	Wednesday	W, 67–54	at N.C. State	12–3, 4–0 ACC
13	Saturday	W, 103–67	vs. Syracuse	13–3, 5–0 ACC
17	Wednesday	W, 86–70	vs. Louisville	14–3, 6–0 ACC
20	Saturday	W, 76–66	vs. Boston College	15–3, 7–0 ACC
22	Monday	W, 85–64	vs. Wake Forest	16–3, 8–0 ACC
27	Saturday	W, 75–68	at Florida State	17–3, 9–0 ACC
30	Tuesday	L, 74–73	at Georgia Tech	17–4, 9–1 ACC
	February
3	Saturday	W, 93–84	vs. No. 13 Duke	18–4, 10–1 ACC
6	Tuesday	L, 80–76	vs. Clemson	18–5, 10–2 ACC
10	Saturday	W, 75–72	at Miami	19–5, 11–2 ACC
13	Tuesday	L, 86–79	at Syracuse	19–6, 11–3 ACC
17	Saturday	W, 96–81	vs. Virginia Tech	20–6, 12–3 ACC
24	Saturday	W, 54–44	at Virginia	21–6, 13–3 ACC
26	Monday	W, 75–71	vs. Miami	22–6, 14–3 ACC
	March
2	Saturday	W, 79–70	vs. N.C. State	23–6, 15–3 ACC
5	Tuesday	W, 84–51	vs. Notre Dame	24–6, 16–3 ACC
9	Saturday	W, 84–79	at No. 13 Duke	25–6, 17–3 ACC
			ACC tournament Washington
14	Thursday	W, 92–67	Quarterfinals: Florida State	26–6
15	Friday	W, 72–65	Semifinals: Pittsburgh	27–6
16	Saturday	L, 84–76	Final: N.C. State	27–7
			NCAA tournament
21	Thursday	W, 90–62	First round in Charlotte: Wagner	28–7
23	Saturday	W, 85–69	Second round in Charlotte: Michigan State	29–7
28	Thursday	L, 89–87	Sweet 16 in Los Angeles: No. 19 Alabama	29–8