Father, Son, Reward

WASHINGTON, DC – RJ Davis vividly remembers one of his more embarrassing moments as a child, but not at all with bitterness.

It was a shaping moment, and a connecting one.

Father and son. Basketball. An early path to stardom.

“He’s a part of it a lot,” North Carolina’s senior guard said about his father and him being named the ACC Player of the Year earlier this week. “He was always hard on me throughout my years growing up playing AAU and high school.

“I appreciate him doing that because it molded me into the player I am today. And I’ve felt that if I could deal with his criticism, I feel like I can deal with anyone’s criticism.”

The criticism came draped with love. Robert Davis wanted little RJ, then wearing goggles through third grade, to be all he could. But Robert understood the first steps on that path were getting RJ to believe it, too.

The frozen moment in time nestled into the recesses of RJ’s mind took place when he was eight or nine years old. He was in second grade, and had just played poorly in a game. So Robert , who scored 2,118 points playing at Mercy College back in the day, voiced his displeasure.

“He cursed me out in the parking lot in front of everyone,” RJ said. “I was pretty embarrassed that day.”

In being named the ACC’s top player this season, it marks a new moment in time for the 6-foot sharpshooter from White Plains, NY, one in which his dad’s critiques, the many do-it-agains, and the cuss words converged with an inner drive, a toughness, and the fine-tuned results of hard work by the pupil.

The way RJ tells it, there’s a deeper meaning to this acknowledgement of his performance over the last several months. Perhaps he has been aiming to appease his harshest and most vocal critic?

“I wouldn’t say please him, but more so him pushing me to a potential,” RJ said. “Because I think at times he believes in me more than I believe in myself. He just sees how great I can be, so he’s just trying to push me beyond my potential so I can be the best player I can be.”

The best Davis has been at UNC is one of the greatest seasons by a Carolina guard ever.

He’s averaging 21.1 points per game, tops in the ACC, and netted a season-high 42 points just over two weeks ago against Miami. He has scored 20 or more points 19 times this season, and was the only player in the ACC to win Player of the Week more than once, and he did it four times.

From a historical standpoint, Davis is the 15th Tar Heel to win ACC Player of the Year, and the first in seven years. Justin Jackson earned the honor in 2017, which is the last year UNC won the national championship. Davis is the fifth Carolina guard to win it, joining Phil Ford, Michael Jordan, Joseph Forte, and Ty Lawson.

Whether or not Davis got emotional talking with his father about the award when they went out to dinner a few hours after he got the news, he didn’t say. But he nearly did when UNC Coach Hubert Davis announced to the team the honor he was bestowed.

The Carolina coach’s uncle, Walter Davis, is a UNC legend and his jersey hangs in the Smith Center rafters. By winner the ACC’s top honor, RJ Davis’ will, too. The coach connected one Davis to the other when informing the team.

“Yeah, he did a terrific job of setting it up a little bit,” said RJ, who then spoke to the team in the locker room after learning about the award. “I think I got emotional just hearing my thoughts out loud. I don’t think I ever really think about what this means to me (and) to the program.

“Just hearing myself talk about it to the team made me emotional, but also super happy and give myself grace for what I’ve been doing all year.”

Wednesday at UNC’s hotel in the nation’s capital, the Marriott Metro Center, he was asked if it had sunk in yet his jersey will be up there with so many decorated players from the fabled program.

His eyes lit up, he smiled, and then he replied.

“That’s even more big time,” he said. “A lot of the great ones that went here, and there’s no number four up there, so to make history like that, I can’t be more proud of myself. Especially the amount of players that went here and had the history and the success they had.

“So, for number four and a Davis to go up there means a lot to me.”

The jersey will read, “Davis” on top and “4” underneath. It will represent RJ’s accomplishments, but will represent Robert, too.