UNC Basketball survives second half scare at Florida State to stay alive

RJ Davis

The other man to save the Tar Heels when things were getting tense was RJ Davis. Besides assisting on the aforementioned assault Leaky Black committed on the rim, RJ bookended that play with two clutch jumpers to keep the Seminoles at bay.

Incredibly, no other Tar Heel besides Leaky and RJ made a field goal in the final 12 minutes of the game. For the night, RJ was 7-13 to lead the Heels with 19 points, while also contributing four assists and four rebounds and playing all but two minutes.

More crucial than his scoring, UNC just feels like it’s in good hands when RJ has the ball. He’s the best decision-maker on offense, and the one most reliably able to get himself a good look in one-on-one situations. Every one of Carolina’s starting five is critically important, but at the end of the day, it feels like RJ is the X-factor.

RJ’s energy was the starting point of the Tar Heels’ recent three-game winning streak. Early in the second half at Notre Dame, he twice stole the ball to get Carolina easy baskets, and he hasn’t looked back since. He was also most responsible for pushing the pace against Virginia as the offense came alive.

An injury on his shooting hand coincided with an uncharacteristically rough stretch for RJ, but that seems to be behind him now, as the announcers tonight pointed out that his finger is no longer taped up. He did seem to feel some pain while going for a loose ball at one point, but the high level of his play in the closing minutes seems to indicate that he’s OK going forward.

He’ll need to be on Saturday, as a rematch with Jeremy Roach and Duke looms. In the first game, Roach outscored Davis 20-11, but with Carolina’s guard looking like his old self, that could tip the scales back in UNC’s favor.