UNC basketball graduate guard RJ Davis sat out the Tar Heels’ 84-76 road exhibition win over Memphis on Oct. 15 after sustaining a lower back contusion in the squad’s Blue-White scrimmage three days earlier. But fourth-year head coach Hubert Davis and his staff probably would have played him if it was an ACC game, as they held him out just for precautionary reasons.
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And in the opening minute of UNC’s exhibition bout against visiting Johnson C. Smith in the Dean E. Smith Center on Saturday afternoon, the 23-year-old RJ Davis wasted no time in giving the small crowd on hand reason to believe that he hasn’t cooled off a bit from his 2023-24 ACC Player of the Year campaign.
Following a 3-point miss by Johnson C. Smith on the game’s opening possession, Davis capitalized on a handoff from junior guard and perimeter screen by junior big man Jalen Washington via a splash from downtown:
RJ’s back 👌 @ariidavis_
💻 https://t.co/5BSnj8ub8F pic.twitter.com/weZZkDnubm
— Carolina Basketball (@UNC_Basketball) October 27, 2024
At the time of this article’s publishing, the Tar Heels led the Golden Bulls, 59-34, at halftime.
RJ Davis, who set a UNC basketball season record with his 113 makes from deep as a star-studded senior last season, tallied 11 points, two assists, one steal, and zero turnovers in the first half versus Johnson C. Smith, shooting 3-for-6 from the field, 1-for-3 beyond the arc, and 4-for-4 at the charity stripe.
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