CHAPEL HILL – RJ Davis scored a career-high 42 points Monday night at ninth-ranked North Carolina held on to beat Miami,75-71, at the Smith Center.

Davis’ points are also a record inside UNC’s home arena, and the most by a Tar Heel since Shammond Williams’ 42 points in a double-overtime win at Georgia Tech in 1998.

For the Tar Heels, the win was their third in a row and improved them to 22-6 overall and 14-3 in the ACC. No other Tar Heel scored in double figures.

The Hurricanes lost their seventh consecutive contest and fell to 15-14 overall and 6-12 in the ACC.

Here are some noteworthy tidbits inside UNC’s win over Miami:

*Davis became only the second UNC player to score 40 or more points in the Smith Center, joining Tyler Hansbrough, who had 40 against Georgia Tech in 2006. That was his freshman season.

*Davis joined Bobby Lewis (twice), Billy Cunningham (twice), Lennie Rosenbluth (five times), George Glamack, Charlie Scott (three times), Shammond Williams, Kenny Smith, Harrison Barnes and Tyler Hansbrough as the only Tar Heels to score 40 or more in a game.

*After not scoring in the first half at Virginia, Davis scored 21 points in each half tonight. He has gone for 20 or more in a half four times this season. The other two games were 23 in the second half against Wake Forest and 21 in the second half against Arkansas.

*Tar Heels not named Cormac or RJ have combined for a total of 19 field goals over the last two games. Ryan (9) and Davis (15) have 24 of the team’s 43 made shots in the wins over Virginia and Miami.

*UNC led 37-32 at halftime, and to open the second half, Davis hit a floater and then Armando Bacot converted a layup off a feed from Ryan a timeout by Miami Coach Jim Larranaga and UNC leading 41-32 with 19:16. Yet, the Canes responded with five quick points to make it 41-37. That was, in effect, how the game went for much of the night.

*One thing Carolina had success with tonight was scoring off plays inbounding the ball from its own baseline. In the first half, Elliot Cadeau scored a layup immediately after receiving an inbound pass from Ryan. And in the second half, Davis scored on almost the same inbound play from the baseline, though this pass was from Harrison Ingram and gave the Heels a 50-38 lead with 13:58 left.

*Davis was 7-for-9 from the free throw line, and has now missed at least one free throw in eight of the last ten games. Twice, he’s missed two.

*UNC was 12-for-21 from the free throw line, with Bacot having his worst performance from the stripe, shooting 1-for-6. Two of his misses came with eight seconds remaining and the Heels clinging to a 73-70 lead. UNC missed five consecutive free throws beginning with 24 seconds left until Jae’Lyn Withers made a pair with two seconds left.

*Ryan and Harrison Ingram combined to shoot 9-for-18 at Virginia on Saturday, but tonight combined 6-for-26.

*Miami was 14-for-30 from 3-point range, which is the most made threes against the Heels this season, and the highest percentage (46.7) of the season for an opponent.

*Miami was without a pair of starters:

-Wooga Poplar (6-foot-5): 13.7 ppg, 4.9 rpg, 2.1 apg, 44.1 FG%, 41.1 three% (60-for-46), 86.0 FT% (49-for-57).

-Nijel Pack (6-foot-0): 13.7 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 3.6 apg, 40.5 FG%, 36.4 three% (47-for-129), 77.6 FT% (38-for-49).

*Bacot (12 rebounds), and Ingram (10) were in double figures on the glass in the same game for the fourth consecutive contest and the seventh time this season. It has happened in five of Carolina’s last seven games.

*Seth Trimble converted a layup with 9:27 remaining in the contest to put UNC ahead 56-48, but the only Tar Heel to convert from the field for the remainder of the game was Davis, who hit four threes.

*Davis attempted seven of UNC’s last nine shots from the field, and the last shot by Bacot came with 16:31 remaining.

*UNC’s bench played 21 minutes in the first half (Withers & Trimble 9 each, 3 for Washington), and 41 overall for the game: Trimble 22, Withers 12, Washington 7.

*Some stats:

-Turnovers: Miami 14, UNC 12

-Points off TOs: Miami 21, UNC 13

-Points in the paint: UNC 36-18

-Fast break points: UNC 8-7

-Rebounds: UNC 38-35

-Offensive rebounds: UNC 10-6

-2nd Chance point: UNC 16-3

-Blocks: UNC 3-1

-Steals: UNC 10-8

-UNC 13-for-22 layups / 1-for-1 dunks

-UNC 33 scores on 69 possessions (47.8%)

-UNC averaged 1.087 points per possession

-Miami 6-for-14 layups / 2-for-2 dunks

-Miami scored on 29 of 72 possessions (40.3%)

-Miami averaged .986 points per possession