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Senior guard Cormac Ryan expressed support for teammate RJ Davis after Davis struggled mightily from the field during No. 1-seeded North Carolina’s 89-87 loss to fourth-seeded Alabama in the NCAA tournament’s Sweet 16 on Thursday night.
According to Andrew Carter of the Raleigh News & Observer, Ryan said the following when Davis was asked about his poor performance:
“I’ve got to chime in here. You guys can write whatever you want about tonight’s game. You could talk about RJ, you could talk about the stats. You could talk about whatever. We would not be in this position today without RJ Davis and Armando Bacot. Carolina wouldn’t be in this position today without these two guys.
“And so, say what you want, there’s just not a true fiber in your being that could actually believe that anything that happened tonight could be the result of something RJ did wrong because RJ’s done something incredible for this team. He’s done stuff that’s never been done before. He’s one of the greatest Tar Heels of all time. And for anybody to come and say something negative about RJ is unacceptable, and I’m just going to say that.”
Davis was North Carolina’s leading scorer this season with 21.2 points per game and the ACC Player of the Year, but his shots weren’t falling Thursday, as he went 4-of-20 from the field and 0-for-9 from beyond the arc, although he still finished with 16 points and seven assists.
The 22-year-old Davis has been a key contributor for the Tar Heels since 2020, and he played a big role in them reaching the National Championship Game two seasons ago.
After missing the NCAA tournament last season, North Carolina bounced back to net a 1-seed this season, and Davis’ career year is a big reason why.
Davis’ UNC career ended in less-than-ideal fashion, but he will go down as one of the most productive players in the history of the program.
His 2,088 career points are fifth on North Carolina’s all-time list behind only Tyler Hansbrough, Bacot, Phil Ford and Sam Perkins.
Davis also had the second-most three-point field goals made by a UNC player with 274, putting him behind only Marcus Paige, who made 299 in his career.
Both Davis and Bacot were part of some hugely successful times in North Carolina basketball history, but with both of them and Ryan set to move on, the Tar Heels will look much different and younger next season.
UNC could still be a contender with 247Sports’ No. 9 and No. 10 overall recruits in Ian Jackson and Drake Powell set to join the team next season, but the Tar Heels will likely sorely miss the leadership of Davis and Co.
Davis’ UNC career didn’t end the way he hoped it would, but to Ryan’s point, it is unlikely North Carolina would have even been in the mix for a national title without him.
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