Davis & Jackson Spark 97-81 Win Over Campbell

Sunday, December 29

Chapel Hill

8 PM

North Carolina

8-5,1-0ACC

Campbell

5-8,0-0CAA

Campbell

North Carolina

Ian Jackson

Photo by: NATE SKVORETZ

December 29, 2024 | Men's Basketball

Box Score Box Score (.pdf)Lucas: The Torch Is Passed Lucas: Rapid Reactions Quotes Postgame Notes Media Central Photo Gallery

By: Matt Bowers

CHAPEL HILL, N.C.— RJ Davis scored 23 points and became the leading three-point shooter in school history as North Carolina dominated Campbell, 97-81, on Sunday night in the Smith Center.

Davis hit a season-high five three-pointers and added four rebounds and five assists. He now has 303 three-pointers in his career, passing Marcus Paige (299) for the most in school history. It was Davis' 30th career game with at least four three-pointers and his ninth with five or more.

Freshman Ian Jackson scored a season-high 26, and Elliot Cadeau had a career-high 12 assists and recorded his first career double-double by adding 12 points. Jalen Washington posted his second double-figure scoring game of the season with 10 points and five rebounds. Drake Powell hit a pair of three-pointers and scored 12 points.

"I do feel like [RJ Davis] is in a better rhythm out there on the floor," head coach Hubert Davis said. "I feel like the last three games, he is finding his rhythm, with a new and changing lineup. One of those things is the growth of Ian, you have another scorer out there. When you have another person out there that can go get buckets, it's very similar to what he experienced from last year, where you had Cormac [Ryan], Harrison [Ingram] and Armando [Bacot], to have a little bit more space and be able to get into his offensive game."

"It's crazy, because there's a lot of shooters and scorers that have come through this program that made a lot of threes and shots," RJ Davis said of becoming UNC's career leader in three-point field goals. "So for me, number one, I think that's a surreal moment and something that I wouldn't have dreamed of coming as a freshman up until now, being a senior, well, super senior. I'm just super grateful for everything."

The Tar Heels shot 62.5 percent in the second half and 57.1 percent overall as they pulled away from the Camels. UNC got 48 points in the paint to 30 for Campbell.

UNC improved to 8-5 and won its second consecutive game in its final non-conference contest of 2024-25 regular season. Campbell lost for the fourth time in five games and fell to 5-8.

Carolina is 180-18 all-time against in-state, non-ACC opponents, including 50 straight wins.

Jackson made his first career start and posted a season scoring high for the second game in a row after dropping 24 on UCLA on December 21 in the CBS Sports Classic. He is the first UNC freshman with 20+ in consecutive games since Cole Anthony in 2020.

Colby Duggan led all scorers with 32 points for Campbell.

"There are not many ball screen read passers like [Elliot] Cadeau," said Campbell head coach Kevin McGeehan. "He is one of the best I've seen. He really took advantage of us, just reading all of that stuff…He did a great job getting the ball to those guys to finish at the rim."

How It Happened
First Half
• After briefly falling behind in the early going, the Tar Heels went on a 15-3 run to take a 22-12 lead. UNC held the lead for the rest of the half.
• UNC shot 12 for 14 from two-point range and 4 for 17 from three-point territory in the opening 20 minutes.
• Colby Duggan scored 11 of the Camels' first 18 points and finished with 13 in the half.
• Davis hit a trio of three-pointers in the first half, his best output in any first half to date this season, and had 11 points before the break.
• UNC shot 51.6 percent from the floor as a team while holding the Camels to 31.4 percent in the opening half.

Second Half
• Carolina hit 8 of its first 12 shots of the second half and pushed its lead over 20 points before the halfway point of the period.
• The Tar Heels blistered the nets, hitting 20 of 32 shot attempts, including 6 of 11 three-pointers, after halftime.

Notes
• The game was the first meeting on the hardwood between UNC and the Camels.
• Carolina junior guard Seth Trimble missed the game due to an upper body injury. Jackson made his first career start in Trimble's place.
• The game marked the first time multiple freshmen have started for the Tar Heels since Caleb Love and Kerwin Walton started against Wisconsin in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
• Davis passed Virginia's Jeff Lamp and Duke's Mike Gminski for 10th in ACC history in career scoring.

Up Next
The Tar Heels will return to the road for back-to-back Atlantic Coast Conference games this week on Wednesday at Louisville and Saturday at Notre Dame.