Following an 18-point comeback victory for No. 4 Auburn over No. 5 Iowa State on Monday night in the Maui Invitational, the Tigers advanced to the semifinals to take on the No. 12 North Carolina Tar Heels in a rematch of the 2019 sweet sixteen matchup.
The Tar Heels had a come-from-behind victory of their own overcoming a 21-point deficit to Dayton in the opening round matchup in Hawai’i – tying the second largest comeback in program history and equaling the largest second-half comeback in North Carolina history.
“There was a lot of motivation going into halftime for myself and Seth,” North Carolina guard RJ Davis said of the comeback effort. “We were kind of like the voice in terms of just trying to get guys going and just build our spirit.”
Davis, a nominee for national player of the year by Naismith, NABC and Wooden and also the ACC’s preseason player of the year, put together a 30-point performance with four second half 3-pointers – a season high – for the Tar Heels against the Flyers on Monday night.
The graduate senior ranks fourth in North Carolina’s all-time scorers list and if Davis matches his 2023-24 point total of 784 he would have the most points scored in ACC history.
Similar to Auburn’s star Johni Broome, Davis played 36 minutes in the Tar Heels’ Maui opener – including all 20 in the second half. The guard was able to get trips to the charity stripe down the stretch against the Flyers making 6-of-6 in the second half – his final four sealed the win in the last 14 seconds of the game.
“Just when you have a very talented player like RJ on your team, I feel like he draws so much attention,” teammate Drake Powell said of Davis.
It was Powell’s make from deep that gave the Tar Heels the lead, ultimately for good, with 1:13 remaining on Monday night. It was one of only two shots the freshman guard took all night, shooting 2-for-2 from three,
“So it's just important to always stay ready,” Powell said. “Yeah, just set my feet, knocked it down. It was a good experience.”
Alongside the two guards is junior guard Seth Trimble who totaled 27 points in 33 minutes of action against the Flyers. Trimble has had a strong start to the season setting a career scoring high in each of the first two games and has scored in double figures in all five games.
In the Tar Heels’ lone loss at No. 1 Kansas, Trimble set another career high with 19 points, becoming the first player on the roster to lead the Tar Heels in scoring other than RJ Davis – who has done so 47 times.
“Auburn is a really good team. They're very competitive. They're very physical. I mean, I think they're a top five team. We have our hands full. It's going to be a good game,” Trimble said of facing the Tigers on Tuesday night. “We know we have to prep ourselves mentally because we got to put two halves together tomorrow. We can't sustain this 15-point comeback every second half.”
With a trip to the Maui Invitational championship game on the line, No. 4 Auburn and No. 12 North Carolina are set to tip off from the Lahaina Civic Center at 10 p.m. CST on ESPN in front of a rocking, and likely Tar Heel favoring, crowd.
“It was electric. It was like a high school-type atmosphere, something we all kind of miss. It was a super loud gym. We had I don't know however many percent of the gym packed out with our fans,” Trimble said.
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Patrick is a junior from Auburn, Alabama, double majoring in journalism and marketing. He started with The Plainsman in the fall of 2022.
You can follow him on X (Twitter) at @patrickabingham
