Despite leading by 15 at halftime, UNC and Davis watched their national title hopes slip away to Kansas in a stunning second-half comeback.
RJ Davis’s heartbreak over North Carolina’s loss in the 2022 NCAA Championship game is still fresh, even years later. That night against Kansas wasn’t just another game for Davis. It was the culmination of a magical run, and the pain of letting it slip away still lingers.
“It’s tough, though, bro. Cause I remember that game. Like it was yesterday,” RJ recalled, reflecting on how the Tar Heels stormed out to a 40-25 halftime lead and looked poised to claim the program’s seventh national title.
Davis on the pain and lessons of UNC’s 2022 title game defeat
But the second half was a different story. RJ has been open about what went wrong.
“I think we relaxed. We took our foot off the gas. Started making like, we weren’t getting back on, on defense. They was getting like a lot of transition buckets and we just didn’t like force our will on them. That allowed them to make a run. Get back in the game,” he explained, the frustration that was visible on the faces of every UNC fan as Kansas mounted its comeback.
The locker room at halftime was filled with nervous energy and a creeping sense of anticipation.
“I’m like, we in the locker room. I’m like, bro, do not jinx this. But it was like, yo, we might win a national championship. Next thing you know, we come out there and lay an egg, second half, bro,” he said.
That shift in mindset, from confident to cautious, proved costly, as Kansas outscored the Tar Heels 47-29 in the second half and pulled off a 72-69 win, handing Bill Self his second national championship and leaving UNC stunned on college basketball’s biggest stage.
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Why Davis still replays the loss
For RJ, the loss was more than just a missed opportunity. It was a wound that took time to heal.
“Oh, it took me a minute. Like two, two, three weeks. Yeah…Like that joint hurt. Like, have you watched it? I bought that year, like that summer, the whole off-season. I watched that game. I don’t know. I maybe like more than five times,” Davis remembers.
Despite the heartbreak, the New York native still looks back on that run as the best time of his life.
“I watched that game and, and the final four game. So that was like the, that was literally the best time of my life. Yeah. I was playing well for like a point guard out there. I’m like, we’re winning,” he explained.
Davis led UNC in scoring that night, finishing with 15 points and 12 rebounds, but the box score was little consolation. The memory of being so close and watching it slip away remains a driving force for him. For RJ, the pain of that loss is a reminder of how special the journey was and how hard it is to reach the mountaintop in college basketball.
With five years of NCAA basketball behind him, Davis will try to find his place under the NBA sun and find a roster spot in the Association. With tremendous experience on the college level, RJ will bring his game to a particular franchise and maybe redeem the lost 2022 National Championship by getting an NBA title to his name one day.
“We walked in with confidence — nothing to lose” – RJ Davis on ruining Mike Krzyzewski’s farewell at Cameron.
