Hubert Davis praises RJ Davis for his defensive impact for UNC this season

To this point in the season, the North Carolina Tar Heels have proven themselves to be one of the best teams in the country with a good chance to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament. A huge part of that has been the play of guard RJ Davis.

Most fans tend to view players through what they produce on the offensive end of the court. However, as Tar Heels head coach Hubert Davis recently explained, RJ Davis has had a massive impact on the defensive side of the court for UNC this season.

“It’s not underrated from my standpoint at all,” Hubert Davis said. “I think there’s a couple things this year that RJ has just been elite at and grown. One is in his leadership and just how he has led this team, which has been fantastic, but his defense has just been off the charts. I mean, we require and ask a lot of him on both ends of the floor, and defensively, most of the time he’s guarding the opposing team’s best perimeter player.”

RJ Davis came to North Carolina as a four-star recruit in the 2020 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Rankings.

Now in his fourth year, Davis started a handful of games for North Carolina as a freshman before becoming an every game starter by his sophomore season. This season, he’s averaged 34.6 minutes per game, with 1.3 steals per game.

“He has stepped up to the challenge the entire season. His defense has, on the ball, off the ball, communication, energy, and effort. He was the only guy that could guard [Nijel] Pack this past Saturday and he’s been doing it all year It’s not underrated. It’s highly rated from my standpoint of the impact that he’s had on this team from a defensive standpoint.”

All of that defensive success hasn’t come at the expense of RJ Davis’ offensive production. This season, he’s averaged 21.5 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game, which has in many ways overshadowed his play on defense.

Hubert Davis explains how he’s ensuring that UNC doesn’t look ahead of Syracuse

North Carolina is getting ready to take on Syracuse on Tuesday night. It’s a game that Hubert Davis knows his team can’t afford to overlook at this point in the season.

“Well, I mean, you know, we have a mature group. Understanding that, in our first matchup, we were at home. We played really well and they didn’t play particularly well. Those things happen. We understand that Syracuse is a really good basketball team and, as I said before, are even better at home. They’ve got some of the better players in our conference,” Davis said.

“One of the things that I always tell the guys is to focus on what is real. What is real is our preparation and our practice for Syracuse tomorrow night. If we dive into the process, which is the preparation and the practice? Our play will take care of itself. It doesn’t matter who we play. Play Syracuse, play the Denver Nuggets – it doesn’t matter. Like, our concentration is on our improvement and us playing the best that we can play. That’s where our focus is.”