The Tar Heels have responded to a disappointing 2022-23 season with their first ACC regular season title in five years. On Monday, two of the biggest reasons for that turn around were honored by the conference with their two biggest awards.
Head coach Hubert Davis took home Coach of the Year honors after helping lead the Tar Heels to a 25-6 overall record along with 17-3 mark in conference play. The seventeen conference wins are the most in program history and gave them their first outright conference title in seven years. The 25 wins are the most in five years and follows a 20-13 campaign that ranks up there with some of the most disappointing in program history.
Davis becomes the fifth Tar Heel coach to receive Coach of the Year honors from the conference and the first since Roy Williams received the second of his two in 2011.
His senior guard, RJ Davis, joined him with the Player of the Year honors in the conference after an amazing season. He led the conference with 21.1 points per game and 216 made field goals and finished second in three point field goal makes with 97. His 21.1 per game makes him the first player to average more than 20.0 points per game in a season since Tyler Hansbrough in 2008-09. That mark is also the best since Hansbrough averaged 22.6 per game in 2007-08. His 97 3-point makes has him on pace to break the single-season record for three point makes that is currently held by Justin Jackson at 105 three point makes back in the 2016-17 season. His 43.2% field percentage is the second-best of his career, while his 41.6% 3-point field goal percentage is easily the best mark he has put up in his four years.
Davis becomes the sixteenth Tar Heel to win the conference’s player of the year honors and the first since Jackson in 2017. This award means that Davis’ jersey will be headed for the rafters, something that is well-deserved for a player that has dealt with the ups and downs he has in his career.
This may only be the beginning of the awards that these two receive this postseason. Both are finalists for multiple awards that will be handed out at the conclusion of the season.
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