When the UNC basketball program begins the 2025-2026 season on Monday night, it will be the first time in quite some time that RJ Davis isn't on the roster.
With the additional "COVID year," Davis spent the last five seasons at North Carolina, becoming a consistent factor regardless of how the rest of the roster shaped up.
Now, for the first time since March 11, 2020, the UNC basketball program will play an official game without Davis on the floor.
The last time UNC played an official game without RJ Davis:
— UNC Zone (@unc_zone) November 2, 2025
March 11th, 2020 pic.twitter.com/WEwHj2PHhj
It's been exactly 2,063 days since that last occurred.
That day is not one that anyone remembers fondly. While the UNC basketball suffered a brutal 81-53 loss to Syracuse in the ACC (ending the 2019-2020 season), that's not nearly the worst thing that occurred on that day.
It also is the day that the World Health Organization (WHO) officially declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global pandemic.
During those 24 hours, we saw the NBA suspend its season, stars, such as Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, test positive for COVID-19, as well as President Donald Trump (in his first term in office) announcing the 30-day travel ban on non-U.S. citizens from 26 European countries.
While songs like "Blinding Lights" by The Weeknd and "The Box" by Roddy Ricch were dominating the music charts, we still lived in a world where Armando Bacot was a freshman playing alongside Cole Anthony. Little did we know at the time, our world was drastically about to change, but one consistent would remain the same.
RJ Davis wearing a Carolina Blue uniform.
It will be weird to see a UNC basketball team without Davis, who spent a half decade with the program. While he isn't on the roster (and someone new is wearing the No. 4 uniform), fans should be thankful that we all got to witness RJ Davis put together an outstanding career as a Tar Heel.