Fingers No Longer Taped, Davis Finds Form Again
CHAPEL HILL – The struggle to shoot the ball is something that has hampered North Carolina's offensive fluidity at times this season. Like other Tar Heel teams in the past, UNC needs efficient play out of its point guard spot for Carolina basketball to be a well-oiled machine many fans have become accustomed to seeing.
Carolina got that in a 71-63 victory over No. 6 Virginia on Saturday night at the Smith Center, as Davis’ resurgent play came at exactly the right time.
Following last season, which included a debate for much of the year on who was the Tar Heels lead guard between Caleb Love and RJ Davis. As the season went on, however, it became clear to everyone watching that Davis was the key to the UNC engine. The New York native played his best basketball to that point in the tournament and played a vital role in the Tar Heels unexpected title game appearance.
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This season has been a roller coaster for Davis. A finger injury affected his shooting early in the campaign, as he shot 30.5 percent from deep through the first seven games. Once conference play got going, Davis hit a stride, playing arguably his best basketball while wearing a UNC uniform. In the first nine games of ACC play, Davis averaged 18.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists while shooting 53 percent from the field, including 46.5 percent from beyond the arch.
However, after a physical matchup against Syracuse, a game in which Davis re-injured a finger that was hurt early in the season, he also took a couple of blows above the neck that had the UNC guard hurting after the game, to the point that head coach Hubert Davis said he wouldn't have played had Carolina not been the beneficiary of an open date on the schedule later that week.
Since that matchup with the Orange, perhaps the bumps and bruises from that game took a little longer to heal than normal and caused Davis to add the tape back to his fingers and along with the tape, came back the shooting struggles.
After playing Syracuse, Carolina went on a stretch of six games, in which the Tar Heels lost five, and the team's struggles were reflective of Davis’ cold streak. During that stretch, Davis shot 32 percent from the field including a shooting percentage of 21 percent from three.
He shed the tape on his fingers before Saturday’s game versus Virginia, and it showed in his performance. Davis finished with 16 points on 5-for-10 shooting from the field, including 2-for-4 from the perimeter. He also handed out four assists as the Tar Heels (18-11, 10-8) won for the second time in four nights.
“The last few practices I tried to play without the tape to see how it feels,” Davis said. "I'm going to take the risk of my fingers getting jammed up or hit, it's just a risk you take. I don't think too much about it, but I feel like that was a great start for me to play without it and have a better feel for the basketball."
The 6-footer also grabbed 10 rebounds, the third time this season he’s been in double figures there. He also pulled down 12 in the national title game last April, but the 10 today, with Armando Bacot snaring only six and Pete Nance getting just one, was also huge for the Heels.
“I’ve been a rebounder, this is not a surprise to me,” Davis said. “I’ve been a rebounding guard since I started playing ball. I am not shocked or surprised, I can go down there and rebound with the bigs.”
Maybe Davis’ turnaround started against Notre Dame. Davis didn’t shoot the ball well from three but he did got 4-for-5 from two including a turnaround jumper in the lane to give the Tar Heels a three-point lead with under a minute remaining in the contest. He also had eight rebounds in South Bend.
As history has revealed, when Davis is playing his best, usually the rest of the Tar Heels follow.