LAWRENCE, KS – What can be gleaned from RJ Davis’ slow start shooting the basketball thus far?

Is it too soon to make anything of his 29.4% shooting overall and 22.2% accuracy from 3-point range?

Probably so. But he is the reigning ACC Player of the Year and voted by the media last month to repeat with that honor, and he is Carolina’s best player. In addition, one can surmise had Davis been more up to his norm in Friday’s 92-89 loss at Kansas inside Allen Fieldhouse, the Tar Heels would have knocked off the nation’s top-ranked team.

So, let’s take a look at what Davis has done so far, keeping this year’s focus on the two regular season games while noting how he started off last season.

Through UNC’s first two games, a win at home over Elon and the loss at Kansas, Davis is 10-for-34 from the field (29.4%) and 4-for-18 from 3-point range (22.2%). He was 3-for-15 in the loss to the Jayhawks and did not convert from the field over the final 16:51 of the contest.

In the opener, Davis was 7-for-19 from the field and 3-for-11 against the Phoenix. What’s interesting, and not related but worth noting, he was 0-for-9 in the Sweet 16 loss to Alabama last March, so in Davis’ last three games, he’s 4-for-27 from the perimeter, including 1-for-16 against two power conference opponents.

As for the 0-fer against the Crimson Tide, Davis used it as fuel this past offseason. It was the only game last season in which he didn’t hit at least one shot from the perimeter. He got up every day working to ensure it didn’t happen again.

“Obviously last year that being our last game, it was hard in terms of I prepare myself mentally and physically for that game and obviously I didn’t shoot the ball really well," he said. "And coming up short like that with the phenomenal team we had last year, it was hard to process. Use it as motivation coming into this year.”

Davis led the ACC in scoring last season at 21.2 points per game while shooting 42.8% from the field. He was 113-for-284 (39.8%) from beyond the arc. Davis netted 20-plus points in 23 of UNC’s 37 games and hit the 30-plus mark four times.

He entered this season fifth on UNC’s all-time scoring list and second in career made threes with 274, and as the only Tar Heel with 2,000 points, 500 rebounds, 400 assists, 250 three-pointers, and 100 steals.

But so far, he hasn’t shot as well as many expected, and while it’s highly unlikely having a chance at breaking Tyler Hansbrough’s all-time scoring record at UNC is affecting Davis, it’s certain something he thought about well before the season started.

“Obviously I know what’s at stake in terms of (having) the scoring record, but I don’t want to put my main focus on like I have to be UNC’s all-time leading scorer,” Davis said in October. “That’s really not my main focus, not my key emphasis on this year.

“Yes, obviously it would be great if I get it, really just taking it one step at a time and being able to be the player I know I can be.”

Perhaps a bigger issues is him needing to adjust to how Elliot Cadeau is a different player more capable of scoring in a variety of ways, and with Seth Trimble giving Carolina a three-guard offense to open games and log the most minutes.

The Heels are a very different team right now than at any time last season, so it stands to reason the most entrenched player is going through an adjustment period. And when he finds more in-game comfort, it’s probable a higher percentage of shots will fall.