The Tar Heels, the West Region’s No. 1 seed, suffered a devastating 89-87 loss to No. 4 seed Alabama in Sweet 16 play on Thursday.
Davis got off to a slow start and was held to two points in the first half. He scored 14 points in the second half, but it was not enough to advance the Tar Heels to the Elite Eight for the first time since 2022. He finished with 16 points, shooting 4-of-20 from the field and 0-of-9 from the 3-point line.
“I just wasn’t good enough today. Missed a lot of easy shots that I normally make,” an emotional Davis postgame, before stopping to put his head on the table. Teammate Cormac Ryan interjected: “We would not be in this position
today without R.J. Davis and Armando Bacot. … (Davis) is one of the greatest Tar Heels of all time. For anybody to come and say anything negative about R.J. is unacceptable.”
