Keeping It Heel
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UNC Basketball: Tar Heels’ projected 2022-23 starting lineup

By Blake Cockrum

CHAPEL HILL, NC - FEBRUARY 16: Caleb Love #2, Brady Manek #45, R.J. Davis #4, Armando Bacot #5, and Leaky Black #1 of the North Carolina Tar Heels line up and talk during a game against the Pittsburgh Panthers on February 16, 2022 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Pittsburgh won 76-67. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images)
CHAPEL HILL, NC - FEBRUARY 16: Caleb Love #2, Brady Manek #45, R.J. Davis #4, Armando Bacot #5, and Leaky Black #1 of the North Carolina Tar Heels line up and talk during a game against the Pittsburgh Panthers on February 16, 2022 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Pittsburgh won 76-67. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images) /
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UNC Basketball
CHAPEL HILL, NC – NOVEMBER 05: R.J. Davis #4 of the North Carolina Tar Heels plays during a game against the Elizabeth City State Vikings in an exhibition game on November 05, 2021 at the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. North Carolina won 83-55. (Photo by Peyton Williams/UNC/Getty Images) /

R.J. Davis

It took most of the season for us to find out, but R.J. Davis is definitely the Tar Heels’ best option at the point guard position. More often than not, the North Carolina offense is at its best when Davis is the team’s primary ball-handler.

When the UNC offense is running through Davis and he’s distributing to the likes of Caleb Love and Armando Bacot, things just work better for the Tar Heels. Not only is Davis better suited for that role, but Love also becomes a much more lethal offensive weapon when he’s playing off the ball and looking to get his shot off.

Davis, who announced his return to the program on Saturday afternoon, averaged career-highs in points (13.5), assists (3.6), rebounds (4.3), shooting percentage (42.5), three-point percentage (36.7), and free throw shooting (83.3) as a sophomore at North Carolina.

A 6-foot, 180-pound guard from White Plains, New York, Davis notched 20 or more points on five occasions last season and he scored a career-best 30 points to go along with six assists and five rebounds in the Tar Heels’ second-round upset of top-seeded Baylor. He posted another personal best, 12 assists, two days prior in the Tar Heels’ win over the ninth-seeded Marquette Golden Eagles in the Round of 64.

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