'The silent assassin': RJ Davis leads Tar Heels to ACC tournament championship

WASHINGTON — Thirty-six seconds remain on the clock. RJ Davis steps up to the charity stripe. He takes a deep breath, spinning the ball in his hands as he inhales. 

He lets the air out of his lungs, lines up and lets the shot fly. Swish. He repeats the process, and, like clockwork, he gets the same result. It might seem like nothing special for the ACC’s second-best free throw shooter, who makes a cool 88.7 percent of his attempts, but those two points were the difference maker between allowing Pitt to stay alive and putting them in the ground. 

“I think for me just to go out there and close out games the way I do," Davis said, "it speaks for my confidence."

On Friday night that confidence shined, as the senior guard proved why he was named ACC player of the year, scoring 25 points and notching multiple clutch baskets in the final minutes of the game to help No. 4 UNC men’s basketball clinch a spot in the ACC tournament championship with a 72-65 win over Pitt. 

When North Carolina needs to find a way to win, Davis steps up. 

With four minutes left, UNC found itself tied with Pitt at 62-62. The Tar Heels were fired up. They knew they had let the Panthers hang in the game for too long.

It was time to put the game away. Now or never. 

So naturally, they got the ball into the hands of Davis. He dribbled down the court, paused at the top of the arc, stepped back and knocked down a 3-pointer. Then again, less than two minutes later.

Cool. Calm. Collected. Confident. 

“All year, RJ has been our closer,” graduate center Armando Bacot said, “and in moments like that it's a huge luxury."

That confidence is nothing new. In fact, Davis’ father, Robert(or “Big Rob” as Davis’ friends call him), gave his son the moniker “the silent assassin” in third grade because of how steady he remained in tough moments. 

“He does it nice and mellow,” Robert said. “He don’t argue, he don’t curse, he just go out there and play.” 

He plays, he shoots, and in the moments when it's mattered the most this year, he’s scored. He does it all without showing much emotion. Even after the team’s senior night blowout win against Notre Dame, when Bacot was shedding tears, Davis remained steadfast. 

That’s just who he is. 

“I never let anything rattle me or get me out of my personality,” Davis said. “I like to stay poised in tough moments — that’s [when] I feel most comfortable.” 

He’s been developing that mindset for a while. In sixth grade, Davis sprained his ankle while playing football during the fall. As a result, he had an orthopedic boot put on his leg. That meant no AAU basketball all winter long. 

Finally, in the spring, his doctor took off the boot and gave Davis very clear instructions: no basketball for the next four weeks. Within two, Davis and his father were begging his coach, Tommy Swinton, to let Davis back on the court. 

During a tournament in Virginia, Swinton reluctantly relented. In his first game back, Davis hit 25 points. Even now, the senior thinks back to that game and how he played through the injury successfully.

“I think it just spoke about toughness," he said. "Mental toughness."

And this season, that toughness has directly translated to his steady mindset.

“He’s got supreme confidence as he should,” graduate guard Paxson Wojcik said. “He’s a leader and he puts in all this work, so there’s no reason for him to ever lack any confidence.” 

So it’s not surprising that when Davis took his place at the free throw line with half a minute remaining, he didn't flinch. It’s what has set him apart this year, what has earned him his honors and what his teammates respect, and love, about him. 

Junior wing Harrison Ingram and first-year guard Elliot Cadeau have proudly declared he is the best player in the nation. So have a handful of Davis’ high school teammates, who've known for longer than most what an asset he is to a basketball team. 

#ACCMBB Player of the Year RJ Davis doing POTY things. 👌

🎥 ESPN | @UNC_Basketball pic.twitter.com/BkmNNUVAdm

— ACC Men's Basketball (@accmbb) March 14, 2024

The further UNC makes it in March, the more the hype grows around a potential national player of the year award. But for the time being, Davis is happy to stick to his “silent assassin” roots and let others do the talking.

“For them to praise me like that just shows how much we support and care for each other,” Davis said. “So I’m not going to say, I’ll let them speak for me, but I think they do a pretty good job.” 

@peacegwen 

@dthsports | sports@dailytarheel.com

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