Plenty went wrong for the ninth-ranked UNC basketball team (7-2, 1-0 ACC) in Tuesday night's 87-76 loss to No. 5 UConn (8-1, 0-0 Big East) at the Jimmy V Classic in New York City's Madison Square Garden. But none of the Tar Heels ' shortcomings dampened the recent scoring prowess of senior guard RJ Davis.
Davis finished with a game-high 26 points, along with four rebounds, one assist, and one steal in his 38 minutes on the floor.
Not only was it his fifth outing with at least 23 points, but it was his third straight with an 8-for-17 shooting clip from the field and fourth straight without a miss from the charity stripe (30-for-30 across that stretch).
The New York native became only the fifth Tar Heel in history to tally 26 or more points in four straight contests. He's the first to do so since Charlie Scott did it 12 straight times in 1970.
And RJ Davis' combined 133 points in the past five games is most by any UNC basketball player since legendary Tar Heel big man Tyler Hansbrough totaled 146 across one five-game stretch in 2008.Â
Through nine games this season, the 22-year-old Davis, now No. 33 on the all-time Tar Heel scoring list with 1,493 career points, is averaging a career-high 21.0 points per game. He's shooting 44.0 percent from the field, 36.4 percent from three, and 95.3 percent at the foul line.
He and the Tar Heels now have their longest break of the season before facing No. 16 Kentucky (6-2, 0-0 SEC) in Atlanta's State Farm Arena on Dec. 16 as part of the CBS Sports Classic.
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