Perhaps the most consistent player on North Carolina’s team this season was junior point guard RJ Davis.

He ended up second on the team in scoring with 16.1 points per contest, while also grabbing 5.1 rebounds, and leading the club with 3.2 assists per game. Hampered twice by a finger injury on his shooting hand, in which Davis struggled mightily putting the ball in the basket in both stretches, he still managed to shoot 43.8 percent from the floor, and a team-best 36.2 percent from 3-point range.

Davis was 63-for-174 from beyond the arc, and also led the ACC shooting 88.1 percent from the free throw line, going 111-for-126 (88.1 percent). At 85.0 percent for his career, Davis is Carolina’s all-team leader in free throw shooting.

**************************************************************************************

Remember, for just $8.33 a month, YOU CAN BE A TAR HEELS INSIDER, TOO!!!

***************************************************************************************

An All-ACC Honorable Mention pick, he became the 81st UNC player to score 1,000 points for his career during a win at home over Wake Forest in January, and is now ranked 48th all-time at Carolina with 1,304 points.

But the numbers and accolades don’t much matter to Davis, as he wants to produce because he understands it’s a vehicle to the Tar Heels winning games. The losing, not his personal success, was all he could think about after a loss to Virginia in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament in Greensboro. Davis likely knew it was the end of the season for the Tar Heels, who finished 20-13 overall, 11-9 in the ACC, and didn’t make the NCAA Tournament.

“It's not a great feeling,” he said. “Not the expectations that we had coming into the year. It was definitely frustrating and disappointing.”

Asked to balance this season with a year ago, when the Tar Heels played in the national championship game, one they led by 15 points at halftime but ultimately lost to Kansas.

“It's a lot of emotions just to see from last year, the type of run we made…,” Davis said. “Looking from the outside in this year, it's tough. It's a tough position to be in.”

Carolina was 5-2 when Davis scored 20 or more points this season, and had he not suffered the two injuries, Davis likely would have passed the 20-point mark a few more times. Consider that when in two periods after removing tape from the finger on his shooting hand, Davis was 24-for-51 and 16-for-30 from 3-point range.

The second time Davis removed the tape, which was ahead of time with respect to the trainer’s preference, came before the Tar Heels’ vitally important home game versus Virginia in late February. He went 5-for-10 from the floor, including 2-for-4 from the perimeter scoring 16 points in a huge win for UNC.

“The last few practices I tried to play without the tape to see how it feels,” Davis said following the win. "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 spirit that day was indicative of how Davis approached each day of the season. Poor body language and Davis weren’t a thing. After losses, he said why the Heels lost. After wins, he said why the Heels won.

Davis started becoming UNC’s spokesman late in the season, which is another example of how much he grew during his junior season.

He played in all 33 games scoring in double figures 29 times. Davis scored 15 or more points 21 times, and 20 or more points seven times, with UNC going 5-2 in those contests.

Davis also announced March 24 he will return for his senior season at North Carolina.