'Coach's son' Elijah Davis joins the UNC men's basketball team as a walk-on

All his life, Elijah Davis has been surrounded by UNC basketball. 

His great uncle, Walter Davis, a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame, led the Tar Heels to an ACC title and NCAA championship appearance in 1977. And Hubert Davis, Elijah's dad, is pretty accomplished, too. Hubert was named UNC head coach in 2021, earned ACC Coach of the Year in 2024 and still holds the North Carolina record for career 3-point percentage that he set between 1988-92. 

And now, as a walk-on, it's Elijah's time to don the Tar Heel uniform.

“It’s not really about the name on the back,” Elijah said. “It's more about the name on the front.” 

The 6-foot-3 guard competed at the Division III level for the University of Lynchburg the past three seasons. However, he returned home to Chapel Hill to play under his father for his final two years, including a redshirt senior season this upcoming winter. 

Although the plan was never to play for UNC, junior year injuries coupled with careful consideration of his future paved a roadmap back to his roots. 

“Coming out of high school, I knew it wasn't the right moment for me to come to Carolina,” Elijah said. “I knew I needed to be somewhere else away from Chapel Hill to really grow as a person and as a player.” 

However, growing up, Elijah always wanted to play for Hubert and Hubert always wanted to coach Elijah. But it never worked out because of overlapping seasons. Now, they have a unique opportunity to team up on the sidelines much later in each of their careers. 

“Elijah could see very clearly that his playing career was coming to an end and he’d be transitioning into some other way of keeping basketball in his life,” Leslie Davis, Elijah's mother and Hubert's wife, said. “I think that helped him make the decision that it would be a really great way to end that, to be back here with his dad.”

Elijah started conversations about transferring after North Carolina’s season ended in 2023. Over the next few days, Hubert and Elijah talked about what playing at UNC would look like, and Hubert told his son how much he would treasure coaching him. 

After a month of contemplation, Elijah called his dad in his car after class outside a Lynchburg dining hall to inform him he had made his decision. It was a moment they would never forget. 

“I was like, ‘There's nothing I want more than to come here and play for you,’” Elijah said.

The whole Davis family was thrilled about the move to UNC, but Leslie was ever-so-slightly annoyed that she was the second parent in the know. After all, Leslie was the one who recruited Elijah to North Carolina, Elijah said. She still teases them about it, but she's happy they could share such an intimate moment.

Now that Elijah is at UNC with Hubert, they no longer have to make plans to meet for dinner at Lynchburg. Elijah and Hubert spend more time at their longtime favorite local restaurant, Four Corners. 

Whether in Virginia or North Carolina, one constant is keeping basketball out of dinner conversation. This separation between basketball and family is what has made the father-son duo so close over the years. On the court, there’s separation, too. 

“In between those lines, I don't call him ‘dad,’” Davis said. “I call him ‘coach.’”

Elijah's teammates, who see Hubert award Elijah a pat on the back after a good play and, of course, an earful after a not-so-good move, understand this distinction, too.  

“Elijah's like a brother to us,” junior guard Seth Trimble said. “We don't see him any differently. We never think too much into it.”

This new step in Hubert and Elijah's relationship has brought them closer and given them the opportunity to learn more about each other in a different setting. For instance, Elijah said Hubert now sees that his son welcomes criticism on the court. 

On the flip side, Elijah is learning just how passionate and “crazy” his dad is. 

“I remember the first time I missed a box out,” Elijah said. “He ripped a new one into me. That was different.”

Even though Elijah said it's been the best couple of months of his life playing under his father, the forefront of Elijah's focus remains on doing what he can to help North Carolina bring home a national championship. 

The head coach may be Elijah's father, and the late UNC great Walter Davis may be the reason Elijah wears No. 6 (which Walter wore for the Phoenix Suns), but it's about the team name on the jersey — not the “Davis” on the other side. 

“There's no teasing or anything about ‘the coach's son,’” Elijah said. “I'm just another player.”

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