UNC Basketball: 3 keys to beating Tennessee in ACC-SEC Challenge

2) RJ Davis needs to be the best player on the court

It’s great that Carolina is a much deeper team than last year. Being flexible defensively and managing starters’ minutes is crucial to making a deep run in March, but let’s be real. This team will go where RJ Davis takes them.

Davis is the kind of senior guard that can lead a team to the Final Four. In fact, he’s already done that once. For all the well-deserved plaudits that Caleb Love received for his heroics in the 2022 NCAA Tournament, it was Davis that was the steadying hand on that team, repeatedly pulling them out of the fire with 30 points against Baylor and 18 in the Final Four against Duke. He was also the player most responsible for the Tar Heels’ ruination of Mike Krzyzewski’s final home game, knocking down clutch midrange jumpers time and again in scoring 21 points on 9-16 shooting.

With the addition of Ingram and freshman Elliot Cadeau, Davis has never been in a situation more suited to his strengths. No longer does he need to be the primary ballhandler for 35 minutes a game. With Cadeau on the court, Davis can play off the ball and punish slower defenders. With Ingram backing his defender down, Davis can spot up for three.

We got a glimpse of what Davis can do in the Bahamas. In a physical game against Villanova that featured 52 fouls, Davis paced the Heels with 23 points. As Arkansas’ Tramon Mark threatened to steal the show one day later with 34 points, Davis never backed down, matching his career high with 30 points of his own, shooting 50% from the floor while going a perfect 10-10 from the line.

Davis has the ability to be an All-American. If the senior can fulfill that promise, the sky’s the limit for this Tar Heels team.