CHAPEL HILL – One of the benefits of having a coach who was All-ACC and played in the NBA for 12 years is he shares many of the same experiences his players are going through.
He been there, done that. And it includes the ebb-and-flow from good times to struggles.
So, North Carolina Coach Hubert Davis called on what he learned early in his senior season back in November and December of 1991, and used it to help veteran guard RJ Davis, who has gotten off to a bit of a slow start shooting the basketball this season.
The ACC Player of the Year last season, Davis shot 39.8% from 3-point range and was a first-team All-America.
The marksmanship that made him deadly from the perimeter a year ago hasn’t yet carried over into this campaign. Davis entered the Tar Heels’ 107-55 win over American on Friday night at the Smith Center only 4-for-18 from outside, and just 10-for-34 overall from the floor.
He appeared a tad out of sync in that the shots he was getting weren’t the same as a year ago. So, his head coach had a talk with the program’s fifth all-time leading scorer earlier this week to let him know not only can he relate to what RJ is going through, but to tell him it will be okay, too.
“I told him I felt like I could relate to him in regards to, I remember my senior year,” Hubert Davis said. “The guys that I rolled with, or my better friends on the team were King Rice, Rick Fox, Pete Chilcutt and my roommate Justin Kuralt was the head manager. They were one year older than me, and they left, and I remember being the only senior.
“And even though I was playing with great players like Derrick Phelps and Brian Reese and Eric Montross, my senior year it took me a little while. It was just the rhythm was just a little off. I (was thinking) where were my boys? I would get the ball, but I would get it at a different spot, and it was just a little different rhythm. And it really took me a little bit of time my senior year to find that rhythm. And once I did, I was ready to go. And I feel the same way with RJ.”
Armando Bacot moved on after last season, and even some walk-ons Davis knew for a few years are no longer around.
In addition, with point guard Elliot Cadeau and improved shooter and driving more, and Seth Trimble a third guard in the starting lineup and also vastly improved shooting from outside and finishing his drives, Davis isn’t getting the same looks as last year because the Tar Heels are a very different team. He isn’t needed to go off as much for Carolina to compete against outstanding teams.
Take last week at top-ranked Kansas as an example. Davis didn’t score a field goal over the final 16:51 of the contest, yet UNC took a four-point lead inside four minutes left after trailing late in the first half by 20 points. It’s just different right now, and Davis will have to adapt.
But like his coach did and eventually made first-team All-ACC and averaged 21.4 points per game and was a first-round NBA draft pick. He adapted, and the story about the comfort of the shared experience and how it played out resonated with RJ.
“When I told him that story, I could just see his face lighten up,” Hubert said. “He goes, ‘Yeah, that's kind of how I feel.’ I said, ‘Everything is fine, just dive yourself into being a great defensive player, distributing the basketball, you're taking great shots, and they're going to go in.’”
The fourth-year head coach then added, ‘“It's not gonna take long, you just continue to be the player that you have been over the last four years, and everything will take care of itself.’”
Davis was 1-for-7 from the perimeter against the Eagles, but he finished with 13 points having success going to the rim, handed out 3 assists, and a steal in 27 minutes of action.
“I tell the guys all the time there’s going to be times where your shot goes in, and there's times that they don’t,” Hubert said. “Percentages even out. RJ is a great basketball player, but he can also really shoot, and those percentages are going to even out.”
