RJ Davis of North Carolina shines, but the Tar Heels still have “a lot to talk about.”

An top scorer is hard to contain for very long. Guard R.J. Davis of North Carolina demonstrated this on Monday night.

After a terrible 1-of-14 performance in the Tar Heels’ victory over Virginia on Saturday, Davis was a flamethrower all night long at the Dean Smith Center against Miami. With 42 points on 14 of 22 field goal shooting (7 of 11 from downtown), the senior set an arena record and contributed more than half of No. 9 North Carolina’s points in its 75-71 victory over the Hurricanes.

That’s quite the comeback, huh?

Before being hounded by his teammates, Davis told ESPN’s Angel Gray, “Just all the credit to my work, my work ethic, and my confidence,” following.

Davis, now in his fourth season in Chapel Hill, has been the driving force behind this endeavor. The native of New York is shooting 43.1 percent from the field, 41.1 percent from three, and 89.6 percent from the free-throw line while averaging 21.7 points, 3.7 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.3 steals.

As the Tar Heels’ main facilitator, five-star rookie Elliot Cadeau, has taken on more scoring duties this season, which has placed Davis under more pressure. And he’s delivered almost every time. His combination of poise, handling, and shot placement was evident on Monday, as every bucket turned out to be significant.

Yes, he did, and the 6-foot guard’s performance probably sealed the deal for ACC Player of the Year. Since Justin Jackson earned the award in 2016–17, which also happened to be the season the Tar Heels won their most recent national championship, North Carolina has not had a player win it, but Davis is quite likely to do so.

However, Davis’ teammates need to improve if North Carolina is to duplicate the success of the 2016–17 squad. After all, the Tar Heels found it difficult to finish off the undermanned Hurricanes despite the soon-to-be All-American’s 42 points. With just over five seconds left, Miami, minus guards Wooga Poplar and Nigel Pak, went on a 14-3 run to trim North Carolina’s lead to two.

From then, the Tar Heels were able to win it, but only after Jae’Lyn Withers drew a foul, made two free throws, and snatched an offensive rebound off Seth Trimble’s second consecutive miss from the line.

“The best scenario for a coach is this one, is fortunate enough to get a win, but also have a lot to talk about,” Davis stated.

He certainly does. On Monday, North Carolina only made 12 of 21 free throws from the penalty spot. Furthermore, the team only completed 5 of 12 if you exclude the man of the match’s 7 of 9.

With big man Armando Bacot scoring just five points (after his 10-point outburst against Virginia), the Tar Heels still have a lot of work ahead of them.

North Carolina needs more from the supporting cast to secure the conference title and move closer to securing a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. With a 1.5-game lead over Duke in the ACC standings and games against N.C. State (Saturday), Notre Dame (March 5), and away from the Blue Devils (March 9) approaching, the team needs to perform better.