Two head coaches with strong ties to the New York area faced off at a venue very familiar to both of them on Tuesday night.
The No. 5 ranked Connecticut Huskies, led by Dan Hurley of the legendary Jersey City Hurley basketball family, defeated the No. 9 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels, guided by Hubert Davis, who was drafted by the New York Knicks with the 20th overall pick in 1992, 87-76 at the annual Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in front of nearly 18,000 fans.
The annual basketball tournament is named after Queens, New York-born and Long Island raised Jim Valvano, the iconic men’s basketball coach who died of cancer in 1993.
UNC senior guard RJ Davis from White Plains, New York, who was named the state’s 2020 Gatorade Player of the Year and won the Catholic league (CHSAA) championship and state title as a sophomore playing for Archbishop Stepinac High School, topped all scorers with 26 points, 19 in the second half—but it wasn’t enough.
Guard Cam Spencer, who is a graduate student, led Connecticut with 23 points, 7 rebounds, and 6 assists, while sophomore forward Alex Karaban added 18 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 steals.
“We just got absolutely everything out of what we wanted when we put this on the schedule,” said Hurley about playing at MSG. “The atmosphere is awesome.” The 50-year-old Hurley, who piloted UConn to the NCAA men’s Division I title last season, played many games at the Garden as a college point guard for Seton Hall.
Coach Davis, whose NBA playing career stretched from 1992-2004, including the first four with the Knicks, lauded RJ Davis.
“Well, I mean, you know, RJ is RJ,” the Tar Heel (1988-92) alumnus noted. “He’s been that way four years straight and he’s one of our leaders and not just on the court, but off the court as well.”
Both the Fordham Rams and St. John’s Red Storm will play Sunday at Barclays Center. Fordham will battle North Texas to kick off a quadruple header at 11:30 am, and the Red Storm will take on former Big East foe Boston College at 4:30 pm. On December 16, the Red Storm and the Rams face off at 3:30 pm at Madison Square Garden.