"I came out of the womb flicking my wrist": DJ Davis reflects on what his parents told him about his lethal shooting skills

DJ Davis has emerged as one of the nation's top shooters during his college basketball career. While he joined UC Irvine in 2020 as a three-star prospect, he thrived in three seasons with the Anteaters before transferring to Butler, where he became their leading free-throw shooter in the 2023-24 season.

He became a four-star transfer per 247Sports, committing to the Washington Huskies for the upcoming 2024-25 season. Ahead of his first season with the Huskies, the talented combo guard revealed his initial fears of dribbling and how his parents spoke highly of his shooting skills from an extremely young age.

"For as long as a I can remember, I've always been able to shoot the ball -- that was my first skill. It took a lot more work for me to develop a handle," Davis said, per Sports Illustrated.

"When I was younger, I was more scared to dribble. Playing AAU growing up, I was more catch and shoot. My parents told me I came out of the womb flicking my wrist."

Davis was one of the best players on the Butler Bulldogs roster last season. He averaged 13.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists in 33 starts.

DJ Davis led the nation in free-throw shooting last season

While DJ Davis' field goal (42.9%) and 3-point percentages (35.1%) from last season were unremarkable, it was his percentage from the free-throw line that caught the eye. He shot a nation-leading 95.0% from the charity stripe.

Prior to joining the Bulldogs, he also had a strong free-throw percentage for the Anteaters in the 2022-23 season (87.9%).

Davis takes pride in his free-throw shooting and feels it's his responsibility as a shooter to be great at it.

"There's not a more open shot you can get than a free throw," Davis said. "Me being a shooter and not having a high-percentage free-throw shooting rate I feel is embarrassing."

The Huskies will hope Davis can keep his momentum going in the 2024-25 season. While they haven't made the NCAA Tournament since 2019, they have replaced head coach Mike Hopkins with Danny Sprinkle and assembled a solid signing class that ranked 6th in the Big Ten conference per On3.

Besides Davis, the Huskies added talented Utah State transfer Great Osobor, ranked 14th overall in the transfer portal per On3. They also landed four-star prospects Zoom Diallo and Jase Butler, which gives them a solid chance to enjoy a strong 2024-25 season.