By R.L. Bynum

CHAPEL HILL — With a welcome respite from the gauntlet No. 9 North Carolina ran through most of December, the Tar Heels flexed their muscles against the worst team on their schedule.

RJ Davis continued his impressive run of games as UNC finished 2023 with a 105–60 thumping, feasting inside against smaller Charleston Southern and shooting a season-high 56.2% from the floor Friday at the Smith Center.

Davis had another excellent all-around game with 20 points, 10 assists, a career-high five steals and no turnovers, the first player in program history with that combination. It was his first career double-double with assists as the second number.

“His leadership has been off the charts this year,” said Hubert Davis, whose team scored the most points and had the highest victory margin since he became head coach of the senior guard. “His defense has been terrific. There are very few players that, from an offensive standpoint, who have the ability to be able to score off the ball and still be able to distribute and get other people involved. His shot selection is great. Just in a really good rhythm now.”

RJ Davis has scored at least 20 points in nine of the last 12 games, and hasn’t turned the ball over since he had five turnovers against Kentucky.

“I wanted to cut that down,” Davis, who had four previous double-doubles with rebounds as the second number, said of the turnovers. “So, I was being more cautious with my decision-making. A lot of them are just silly mistakes. But just being attentive with the ball and being decisive with my decisions.”

Armando Bacot (12 points, nine rebounds), Jalen Washington (career-high 17 points, two 3-pointers and seven rebounds) and Harrison Ingram (10 points, six rebounds) exploited UNC’s size advantage that produced 52 inside points.

“I felt like I was rewarded for a lot of hard work,” Washington said. “You can really smile finally for a couple of days and then you gotta get right back to the drawing board. It’s good to reward yourself every once and a while with a good game, but you know, we got bigger plans and bigger goals.” 

Coach Davis said that Washington “gave us life.”

“We’ve talked about how we’ve got to get better in terms of rebounding,” Coach Davis said. “He attacked the offensive glass, got second-chance opportunities, kept the ball alive, and was really good defensively.”

Coach Davis likes the contrast inside between Bacot and Washington.

“There are two bigs, but they’re different, and it gives us a bigger and different look and helps us in terms of rebounding,” said Davis after his team won the boards 46–25.

Elliot Cadeau continues to get comfortable in the offense, finishing with 13 points, four rebounds, three assists and a steal. Seth Trimble had 12 points and six rebounds.

“I think it’s helped to have multiple guys that can create, not just Elliot,” Coach Davis said. “I’m talking about Seth and Harrison and Cormac [Ryan]. I think we have a team that enjoys making that extra pass. I think that unselfishness really helps out RJ, and it helps out everybody on this team.”

Ten Tar Heels played more than nine minutes and 10 players scored.

“I like our depth,” Coach Davis said. “I like our versatility on the defensive end. Just versatility on the offensive end, being able to score consistently in the paint, but also being able to shoot all from outside. I felt like tonight, from an offensive standpoint, it was good to great. We had 20 assists.”

RJ Davis scored 10 of UNC’s first 12 points, with his layup starting a 13–0 run over more than four minutes as the Heels jumped to a 24–9 edge.

Ingram hit a 3-pointer as Carolina ended the first half with a 12–4 run to lead 51–28 at halftime.

The Tar Heels’ lead ballooned to 34 as Seth Trimble’s transition layup put an exclamation point on an 18–5 run with 13:24 left, and the only question at that point was who would score the 100th point as the “we want biscuits” chant rang out.

James Okonkwo, in his first December action, gave the fans what they wanted on a layup with 1:46 left. He scored seven points after going scoreless in limited action over his previous five games.

A’lahn Sumler led Charleston Southern (4–9) with 21 points.

NOTES — There was a pregame moment of silence and a tribute to Eric Montross (see above video), the former standout center and color analyst on the Tar Heel Sports Network, who passed away on Dec. 17. There was an extended standing ovation afterward. Jones Angell, the Voice of the Tar Heels, called the game by himself with an empty seat next to him in tribute to Montross. The players again wore shooting shirts with “Montross” and “00’ on the back. … It’s ACC games for the rest of the regular season for UNC, which starts the new year with three challenging road games, facing Pittsburgh (9–3, 0–1 ACC; NET ranking of 39) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday (ESPN), No. 18 Clemson (10–1, 1–0; 12) at noon on Jan. 6 (ESPN) and N.C. State (9–3, 1–0; 70) at 8 p.m. on Jan. 10 (ESPN2). … That was the first meeting between UNC and Charleston Southern, but the Tar Heels’ second win over a Big South team this season after beating Radford 86–70 in their season opener on Nov. 6. … RJ Davis passed Dante Calabria for 10th-most 3-pointers in program history and J.R. Reid for 30th-most points in school history with 1,563. … The last player to collect 20 points and 10 assists was Kendall Marshall in 2012 at Duke (20 and 10). … Davis is the 12th Tar Heel to have 20 points and 10 assists in a game. … The game was announced as a sellout, with the general public being sold a good number of seats that students usually occupy, but it wasn’t a capacity crowd. … The previous high point total under Coach Davis was 102 against College of Charleston on Nov. 11, 2022. The previous largest margin came in a 99–54 victory over Louisville on Feb. 20, 2011. … It was the first time UNC scored 50 in both halves since scoring 50 and 51 against Notre Dame on March 10, 2021, in the ACC tournament. … Carolina has won 17 non-conference games in a row at the Smith Center and is 228-18 all-time against non-conference foes in the Smith Center.

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No. 9 UNC 105, Charleston Southern 60

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UNC lineup combinations

Score	Time	1	2	3	4	5	Segment score
Starters	20:00	Cadeau	Davis	Ryan	Ingram	Bacot	14–9
14–9	14:30	Davis	Ryan	Ingram	Withers	Washington	3–0
17–9	12:57		Trimble	Ryan			7–0
24–9	10:45	Cadeau		Wojcik			2–3
26–12	8:46				High	Bacot	2–2
28–14	6:28	Davis	Ryan	Ingram			6–2
34–16	5:43				Washington		13–10
47–26	1:28		Trimble	Ryan	Ingram	Okonkwo	4–2
51–28	24.1	Cadeau					0–0
51–28	Half		Davis			Bacot	13–7
64–35	14:44	Davis	Ryan	Ingram	Withers	Washington	3–0
67–35	14:03			Trimble			2–2
69–36	12:54		Trimble	Wojcik			6–4
75–40	10:23					Bacot	3–3
78–43	9:25	Cadeau					2–6
80–49	8:24					Washington	8–5
88–54	6:29			Ingram	High	Okonkwo	3–0
91–54	4:51			Lebo			2–0
93–54	4:03	Lebo		High	Withers		8–2
101–56	1:44		Landry		Farris		4–4
105–60	Final						–

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UNC season statistics

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ACC standings

Team	League	Overall
No. 4 North Carolina	17–3	25–6
No. 11 Duke	15–5	24–7
Virginia	13–7	22–9
Pittsburgh	12–8	21–10
Clemson	11–9	21–10
Syracuse	11–9	20–11
Wake Forest	11–9	19–12
Virginia Tech	10–10	18–13
Florida State	10–10	16–15
N.C. State	9–11	17–13
Boston College	8–12	17–14
Georgia Tech	7–12	14–17
Notre Dame	7–13	12–19
Miami	6–14	15–16
Louisville	3–17	8–22

Saturday’s games
No. 4 North Carolina 84, No. 11 Duke 79
Virginia Tech 82, Notre Dame 76
Florida State 83, Miami 75
Boston College 67, Louisville 61
Wake Forest 81, Clemson 76
Pittsburgh 81, N.C. State 73
Virginia 72, Georgia Tech 57
ACC tournament
March 12–16, Capitol One Arena, Washington

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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

Photo by Smith Hardy