North Carolina basketball star RJ Davis was never supposed to go out like this. The ACC Player of the Year had been a force all season, right up until the most important game of the year. The No. 1 Tar Heels fell 89-87 in the Sweet Sixteen of March Madness to No. 4 Alabama Wednesday night, in large part due to Davis' shooting performance.
The first-team All-American shot 4-of-20 from the field, and 0-of-9 from deep. Fellow North Carolina guard Cormac Ryan came to his defense in the post-game presser, interrupting Davis before he went down a rabbit hole of self-criticism.
Should Davis be blamed for the North Carolina basketball loss?
An age-old sports debate is whether or not to fault a star player who struggled in a big game after having an excellent season. While they technically failed the team when it needed them most, it also would've never gotten that far without their consistency and leadership in the first place. Ryan made his stance clear, scoffing at the notion of pointing any criticism Davis' way.
“I've got to chime in here. You guys can write whatever you want about the game. You could talk about RJ, you could talk about the stats. You could talk about whatever,” Ryan said, via Rodd Baxley of the Fayetteville Observer. “We would not be in this position without RJ Davis and Armando Bacot. Carolina wouldn't be in this position without these two guys.”
Ryan has a point, as Davis averaged 21.2 points per game on 42.8 percent shooting, while Bacot averaged a double-double. Statistically, they were a consistent dynamic duo all season, leading North Carolina to a regular-season conference title.
“And so say what you want, there's just not a true fiber in your being that could actually believe that anything that happened (against Alabama) could be the result of something RJ did wrong, because RJ's done something incredible for this team,” Ryan continued.
While Ryan did the right thing by coming to the defense of his teammate, there's no avoiding that this game will be an unfortunate part of Davis' legacy. The team leader does shoulder more responsibility than the average player. Perhaps it's an unfair standard to hold a 22-year-old college student to, but the greatest players are primarily remembered for how they performed in the biggest moments.
“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 anything negative about RJ is unacceptable, and I'm just going to say that,” Ryan concluded.
If Davis doesn't come back to North Carolina, he can hang his hat on an excellent career. The senior passed Michael Jordan on the UNC all-time scoring list last month, and has the second-highest FT percentage in Tar Heels history (25 or more attempts) in NCAA Tournament play (93.5%), via GoHeels.com.
At the end of the day, Ryan is mostly correct in his statements. Davis will go down as one of the best players to ever put on a North Carolina uniform. That's no easy feat, considering the school's history as a top-three program of all time. However, that doesn't fully excuse his struggles against the Crimson Tide. The loss isn't solely on him, but he does shoulder some of the blame.
In order to take home a national championship, the team's best players usually have to play well in every game of the tournament. If Davis does decide to come back for one last dance, he'll need to put his Alabama demons behind him and step up when it matters most.
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