'Just do it for you': RJ Davis reflects on journey at UNC after loss to No. 2 Duke

The realization hit RJ Davis when he woke up on Saturday morning: the next time his head would hit the pillow, he would have played his last game in the Dean E. Smith Center.

He visualized how he wanted the game to go, embracing the feelings and emotions. The reigning ACC Player of the Year and First-Team All-American pictured himself in front of 22,000 fans, in the arena where he holds the single-game scoring record. Where his jersey will one day hang honored in the rafters.

He saw himself raining threes and doing his patented 3-point goggles celebration, fulfilling the dream of a young basketball player who wore goggles.

“‘Just do it for you,’” Davis said. “‘You owe it to yourself.’ And I kept telling myself that. Because I felt like the journey I had, the career I had, it was all looking back on the little kid who had a dream to be in this position.” 

Davis wanted a fairytale victory over juggernaut No. 2 Duke. It was his 170th game as a Tar Heel — a number that surpassed Armando Bacot for the all-time ACC and UNC records. He rained threes, scoring a game-high 20 points and inspired a North Carolina comeback after the Blue Devils built a 15-point lead in the first half. But it was not enough. UNC faded late and fell short, 82-69, in the regular-season finale. The Tar Heels led by seven with 15:44 to play before Duke closed on a 33-13 run.

“A lot of those [emotions] going through my head right now,” Davis said. “The best way to put it is hurt.”

That Davis was in the jersey and the building he was on Saturday, having accomplished so much in both, was the result of pure chance more than five years ago. 

Then-assistant coach Hubert Davis took a red-eye flight and arrived in Atlanta for a Nike Circuit AAU event before the 8 a.m. games. It was the only day he would be at the event. Davis asked then-head coach Roy Williams if he could roam around the 12 different courts instead of staying at just one. Williams said yes.

So Hubert Davis roamed. But he kept turning around. He saw a kid make a three. Then he walked some more. Then he saw the same kid make another three. He saw him get a steal, score a layup and make a nice assist.

“I found myself at that court almost the whole time,” Hubert Davis said. “And I came back to coach Williams, and I was like, ‘there’s this kid named RJ Davis that’s pretty good. I think we need to take a look at him. He just plays the right way and looks like a really good kid.’”

The rest is history. RJ Davis went from playing his first game in the Smith Center in front of cardboard cutouts to beating Duke in the Final Four and competing for a national championship. 

He chose to stay at UNC for all five years. Now a graduate student, Davis said he’s learned a lot and wouldn’t want this chapter of his life to be any different. He’s enjoyed it all, from the high of beating Duke in Mike Krzyzewski’s last game in Cameron Indoor Stadium, to the low of missing the NCAA tournament as the preseason No. 1 in 2023.

“It just gave me a clear picture of what life is,” Davis said before the Duke game. “The legacy that I’ve built, I think it has a common theme of dealing with adversity and how to overcome that. That’s what I really preach on and harp on because that’s what life throws at you."

"Sometimes life will go your way, sometimes it won’t. And how you respond to that really defines who you are as a person. That’s how I envision my last five years of being here. The legacy I’ve built here has been phenomenal. And I’m just proud of the way that I persevered through it all.”

Davis was emotional on Saturday night. Watching the senior video. Walking out of the tunnel before the Senior Day ceremony. He shared a full-circle moment with Williams, who was his coach during his first year. He raised his arms in the air to show his appreciation to the Smith Center crowd during the ceremony and received a profound response.

Then the ball went in the air. Davis did not take a shot in the first five minutes but then drained a deep three. 

Duke was relentless on offense, shooting lights out to start the first half, and got out to the big lead. But Davis responds to adversity. He helped the Tar Heels claw back. 

With 2:21 to go in the first half, he drilled a ridiculous step-back three, hitting the deck and then rising to pound his chest, cutting the lead to three points. His teammates on the bench were shocked. Junior forward Jalen Washington put both hands on his head. The noise in the Smith Center was deafening.

“He made those plays like he always has,” junior forward Ven-Allen Lubin said. “He just gives us the energy and momentum that we needed.”

On the next UNC possession, Davis went into the teeth of the defense and finished through contact to make it a one-point game. He would not be denied.

Davis came out of the locker room for the second half still on fire. As the shot clock ran down, he buried a deep contested three to tie the game. A minute and a half later, he made a tough step-back mid-range jumper to put the Tar Heels up five and force Duke to call a timeout.

The fairytale seemed possible.

But the jumper with 17:43 to go were the last points he scored in the Smith Center. Davis started to cramp and Hubert Davis took him out of the game with 14:23 on the clock. Duke took back control of the game. Davis missed his final five shots.

With the game lost under a minute to play, Davis came out of the game to one final ovation. He hugged Hubert Davis, all of the assistant coaches and his teammates. He sat on the bench and looked down at the hardwood. 

This season, like his career, has been filled with challenges. Still with only one Quad 1 victory on the resume, the Tar Heels will need to at least make a deep run in the ACC tournament, if not win it, to make the NCAA tournament. Every game moving forward could be the last of Davis’ North Carolina career.

The final buzzer sounded. Davis walked off Roy Williams Court for the final time.

“My approach, my mindset, me being a leader,” Davis said. “Everything I envisioned came true. Just sometimes the outcome of the game doesn't go your way. And that’s just life.”

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