Davidson Holds Off Wofford...Again

After the Georgia-South Carolina game, I got in my car and made the now familiar drive from the Gamecocks' campus to Huger Street then up to I-26. This time I was not getting off at the always crowded Harbison Boulevard exit. No, I was heading up to Spartanburg to see Wofford host Davidson.

It seems the magical time range for any of my basketball road trips so far is ninety minutes (I can make Charlotte in that time frame with my lead foot) to two and a half hours (Coastal Carolina). The trip from Columbia to Spartanburg is ninety minutes. I was debating whether to stop along the way for dinner or find a place near campus. To what I thought was my eventual chagrin, I chose the latter. Along the way though, I saw the exit for Presbyterian College, one of my eventual Big South Conference destinations.

The exit for Wofford College is Route 221, which brings you directly into the heart of Spartanburg. But as I got close to Wofford, I didn't see much in the way of restaurant choices. So I drove into the main entrance to Wofford and a nice campus safety guard showed me the direct way to get to the main parking lot for Johnson Arena.

To get to Johnson Arena, basically, you have to drive past the main Wofford College entrance and take the second right on Pearl Street. Then as the campus safety guard noted to me, once you see the pink house on the top of the hill, you bear right. Then you follow the winding road down behind a housing development (nice houses by the way), which then takes you down a narrow road that leads to the entrance of the main parking area. There an attendant directs you to park. I wouldn't have found this myself had it not been for the helpful campus security guard.

Once I got out of my car, it was a little after 5:30. I followed some Wofford fans to the entrance of the Campus Life Building where Johnson Arena is located. When you first walk into the Campus Life Building, you are greeted by a small statute of a Terrier. Then you walk into a quiet commons area with a coffee bar on the right hand side. But if you look in the right hand corner, you will see a student cafe. This cafe contains ample seating, flat screen TVs and a mini food court with a Chick Fil-a counter, a deli counter and another "Foods of the World" counter. In front of the entrance to the mini food court was a table with homemade baked desserts, cookies, cakes, cupcakes etc.

After striking up a conversation with the friendly attendant at the Chick Fila station where he made me a fresh grilled chicken sandwich, I grabbed some waffle fries, some desserts and grabbed a sweet tea. I managed to somehow hold onto all four items without a tray, paid the cashier and made my way to a set of tables that was right in front of the flat screen TV showing Northern Iowa and Wichita State (eventually won by the Panthers).

There was a nice mix of students and Wofford fans, many of them older fans. I could see why many people would come out for a nice Saturday night game. My reserved ticket cost twelve dollars, a bleacher seat costs ten dollars. Dinner was seven dollars. Think about it, for twenty bucks per person you can have a decent meal and watch a good basketball game. That's a good deal. Thanks Wofford!

After dinner, I made my way to my seat. There are two wings, the east and west wings, each of which has a separate entrance and outside of one hallway outside the arena, there is no connection to the wings once in the building. Not knowing this, It turns out I went to the wrong wing entrance. But the usher was kind enough to show me how to get there and I eventually made my way to the east wing section where my seat was located.

Now don't take this the wrong way Wofford fans, but when I got to my seat at Johnson Arena, I didn't consider it an arena. It's somewhat a very large gym with mostly wooden bleachers that had three sections of reserved comfortable chair back seating on each side in the front.. There is no club suite seating. The walls are your classic concrete gym walls.

However, there are two standout things you notice about Johnson Arena. First is the striking parquet floor, one of the few of its kind. Second, the gym holds noise well. Really well. In fact, in the second half, when Wofford made a run on Davidson, it started getting really loud and it was not packed (about 1500 was the attendance last night). Turns out, as I drove home, I turned on the post game show from the local Wofford station and they noted that half the students still haven't returned from break. Imagine the arena when Wofford had good teams that made the NCAA Tournament in 2010 and 2011. I bet it was the place was rocking.  Plus, the giant "Beware of Dog" sign behind the Wofford basket was a nice touch as well.

A local grade school choir did a wonderful job singing the national anthem. The students also were located in the bleacher level behind me, so when they made their way up to their seats, I made sure to tell the music choir director what a good job they did. It was the start to a very good evening of basketball and promotional events.

As the team introductions were made, I saw that Davidson's fans had basically taken up the entire section behind the Wildcats' bench. Yes, it helps to draw fans when you are 9-1 in conference. But considering Davidson's long storied history, I am not surprised by the large contingent they had for last night's game. I thought for sure that they were going to break out into "Sweet Caroline" late in the second half.

The Wildcats came out early scoring the first four points. Spencer Collins though would drill a three pointer, in what would be a reoccurring theme for the Terriers on the night. Through the first six minutes, it was a close affair, with Davidson maintaining an 8-6 lead.

But if you have watched enough of Davidson's basketball games on TV or in person, you can see that is so difficult to stop Bob McKillop's team on offense. The Wildcats' offensive sets are a thing of a beauty, both from a ball movement standpoint and a player movement standpoint. The Wildcats are constantly moving without the ball. This leads to multiple screens, backdoor cuts and a lot of open looks driving the lane. In the second half, with Davidson on my end of the court, it was truly a treat to watch their offensive set from my vantage point.

As a result, Davidson started pulling away from Wofford in the first half. First it was a 9-2 spurt on four consecutive layups, including a three point play by senior forward Jake Cohen. Davidson was up 17-8 and Wofford Coach Mike Young had to call timeout. It was a good timeout which resulted in an offensive set that got Karl Cochran open for a three pointer that he buried to cut the lead to 17-11.

Again Davidson responded with an 8-2 spurt with Tom Droney and Chris Czerpowicz each scoring four points. The Wildcats were now up 25-13 with nine minutes left in the half. It seemed that the Terriers had no answers to stopping Davidson on offense.

However, Wofford kept in the game in large part due to Collins (number 32 pictured here), who by himself would keep the Terriers in the game. Collins scored ten straight points for Wofford on a variety of shots, a three pointer, a layup and a couple of short jumpers. After being fouled in the act of shooting and missing his first attempt, Collins hit the second free throw to end his ten straight point outburst and cut the Davidson lead to ten 31-21.

Davidson's relentless offense would respond with another mini spurt, outscoring Wofford 7-2 over the last five minutes of the half. The Wildcats would enter halftime up 38-23. It was similar to their first matchup I saw when they played back in December at Belk Arena. Davidson was up big early, 31-10, before Wofford used a 12-0 run to cut the lead to nine at the half, 31-22. The Terriers would cut it to four late but the Wildcats would eventually hold onto win 63-56. I wondered if there would be a similar outcome.

Wofford has a lot of unique promotional events during media timeouts. Three stood out. Early in the first half during the first media timeout, they had a "Cheeseburger in Paradise" promotion where the Wofford cheerleaders toss out wrapped McDonald's cheeseburgers in plastic bags. Guess who got one?

In the second half, they had "Steal a Meal". One fan gets a meal - a drink, burger and fries. But another fan gets to try to steal the meal. If they hit the layup, they get the drink. If they hit the free throw, they get the chips.  And if they bury the three pointer, they get the burger. It was a couple and thankfully for the wife, the husband missed all three attempts. I would love to play that game with my son (are you reading this, Wofford? :-) ).

Finally, at halftime, to celebrate the 75th year of the NCAA Tournament, Wofford is putting on a series of "re-creations" of famous plays from the NCAA Tournament. In this case, they tried to "recreate" the famous Christian Laettner game winning shot vs. Kentucky. One fan played Grant Hill with the inbounds pass at one end of the court. Two girls each got an attempt to play Laettner in catching the pass and turning around and hitting the shot. They were not successful in any of the attempts, which shows how difficult that play was to make.

The start of the second half saw Davidson maintain its double digit lead as Cohen scored six points in the first seven minutes of the half. Wofford kept within striking distance due in large part to Cochran and Collins, who scored all but two of the first fifteen Terriers' points in the first seven and a half minutes of the second half.

But after two straight Czerapowicz baskets put Davidson up by thirteen with ten minutes left, it didn't seem like Wofford would be able to get any closer. Enter the Australian sophomore point guard with the striking name of Indiana Faithfull. Faithfull would have a hand in the Terriers' next three baskets by hitting two three pointers and assisting on a Cochran layup. His second three pointer cut the Wildcats' lead to seven, 54-47 with seven a half minutes left.

A little later, Collins would get the Terriers's closer with a three point play to cut Davidson's lead to six, 59-53 with a little less than five minutes. That's when the fans started making some noise and you could tell the potential of how loud Johnson Arena can be with a full, noisy crowd.

Wofford had two chances to cut the lead even closer. But their two leading scorers, Cochran and Collins each committed a critical turnover. And when Jake Cohen buried a NBA three pointer to put Davidson up 64-53 with 1:10 left, that was the ball game. The Wildcats would eventually win 68-57.

Davidson had a very balanced attack with four scorers in double figures. Cohen led the Wildcats with fifteen points, eight rebounds, three steals and three blocks. Czerapowicz also had fifteen points and six rebounds. De'Mon Brooks and Droney each had thirteen points. Davidson shot forty eight percent from the field and an impressive twenty four of twenty seven from the charity stripe. Davidson is now 15-7 overall and 10-1 in conference.

Collins led all scorers with twenty four points on ten of nineteen from the field. Cochran added fourteen points. And Faithfull, who played all forty minutes of the game, had eight points, nine assists and six rebounds. A truly solid all around performance for the Australian. Wofford is 8-15 overall and now 2-8 in conference.

As I left Wofford walking through the commons area, reveling in the good time I had last evening, I saw the coffee bar was still open. It was tempting, but I figured I would visit that the next time. The next time I am at Wofford, I hope to have my color analyst, aka my seven year old son Matthew with me. The thought of sitting with him in the commons after the game, going over the contest and watching another basketball game sounds really appealing. That is something that should be shared.

Still, I really enjoyed myself last night. Thanks Wofford for a fun experience.

Wildcats Show How It's Done (Recap of UNCG v. Davidson)

After watching the South Carolina State - South Carolina game, I took the now familiar drive from Columbia to Davidson to see the Wildcats play the Spartans of UNC Greensboro in Southern Conference play.  I parked in the same school parking lot across from the Brick House Tavern and made the again familiar walk on main street into Davidson town, then down to Belk Arena on the school campus.

After I walked in to the arena and the usher scanned my ticket, I pulled two dollars out of my pocket and preceded to walk straight to a small stand.  Before I was even up to the stand, the tall pretty short haired very friendly blonde at the stand said "Now there comes a man prepared".  She knew I was there to get my program and knew how much it cost.  Two dollars.  She told me De'Mon Brooks was the featured player in the program and thanked me.  Nineteen years ago, I might have struck up a conversation with her.  But I have a pretty long brown haired woman with two cute blonde haired kids waiting to move down to South Carolina with me.  They are my world, well that and college basketball.

Now it is early January and most colleges are not in session, as was the case with South Carolina earlier in the day.  Davidson was also the case, but unlike South Carolina, who had their cheerleaders, dance team and pep band, the Wildcats had none of the above.  So filling in for the pep band was a local cover group called Cradle Fish, composed of drummer/vocalist (who sang the national anthem), keyboard player, guitarist and bass player.  When they started out with Johnny B. Goode, I knew I we would get along just fine.

Davidson was coming off a nationally televised loss to #1 Duke on national TV on Wednesday.  The Wildcats were tied with the Blue Devils at the half before the Dukies clamped down on defense and won by seventeen.  Coming off a tough loss like that, you often don't know how a team will respond in their next game.

Davidson showed quickly that there was no hangover from their loss to Duke.  In what would be a common theme for the game, Jake Cohen scored the first five points of the game.   UNC Greensboro would not score their first basket until five minutes into the game.  By that time the score was 12-4 Wildcats.  Two Nik Cochran free throws and a Brooks dunk extended the Davidson lead to 16-4.

It was clearly evident six minutes into the game that you had two teams with different half court sets and mind frames.   Watching Davidson in their half court set is an absolute pleasure.   Not only do they move the ball around, the players are also in constant motion.   In fact during one play in the second half, you could clearly hear Bob McKillop yell out "Keep it moving!"   The Wildcats half court offense leads to either a lot of open three point looks, which they hit eight on the night, or back door layup opportunities (Davidson was 19 of 33 on two point field goals).

Meanwhile, at the outset, Wes Miller's UNCG team's half court offense needed some work.  It's not that they are not talented.   They may have been 2-9 on the season entering the game, but they had close losses at East Carolina, Rutgers and Virginia Tech.  Plus they won their only conference game, a thirty point home pasting of Citadel.   Last season, they won eleven of their last sixteen games and return their two top leading scorers, Trevell Simpson and Derrell Armstrong.   Plus they added a former CAA player I know well in fifth year senior forward Kelvin McNeil who played at Delaware for his first three seasons (averages six points and nearly seven rebounds per games).

And, for a brief time, the Spartans made a game of it.  They outscored the Wildcats 7-2 and after David Williams three pointer, UNC Greensboro was only down 18-11 with 11:21 left.  Perhaps they just needed a little time to get settled.

But for the rest of the game, the Spartans basically shot themselves in the foot on offense.  On most of their half court sets, UNC Greensboro barely used any of the shot clock and took a ton of off balanced, forced, bad shots.  Players would drive into double teams and put shots off the backboard, a couple of times off the side of the backboard.  And if not, then they would be called for an offensive foul.   It was like they had a bus to catch. Often you just cringed at what the Spartans put up.  Yes, it was that bad.

As you could guess, the result was Davidson and their precision offense started picking apart UNC Greensboro. Cohen nailed a three pointer to start a 17-7 run. Nik Cochran capped it with another three pointer to put the Wildcats up 35-18 with about three and half minutes left in the first half. Davidson would enter halftime with a 45-27 lead.

Cradle Fish was making my night. It's not often you hear a pep band, or in this case "a guest band" play Allman Brothers at halftime or "Another Brick in the Wall". But my favorite song they played was "Rambling Gambling Man" by Bob Seger. It's one of his lesser known songs, but it's a favorite of mine.

And Wes Miller must have felt like a rambling gambling man that was out of luck. His team apparently didn't listen to him at halftime. UNCG continued with their off balance, rushed shots. As a result, Davidson extended their lead to twenty one, 55-34 with about fourteen minutes left.

Then the Wildcats ended any Spartans' fans hopes of making the game respectable by outscoring the visitors 22-6 over the next seven and half minutes. JP Kuhlman buried a three pointer to put Davidson up 77-40 with six and a half minutes left in the game. Several Davidson fans started heading to the exits, secure in the knowledge that their team had won the game.

All that was left was De'Mon Brooks to score his 1000th career point on a free throw. Bob McKillop emptied his bench in the last few minutes of the game. Seldom used Connor Perkey finished the Wildcats' scoring with a layup and Davidson had a 85-53 win.

Cohen led five Davidson scorers in double figures with twenty points and eight rebounds. Brooks had fourteen points and seven rebounds. Cochran had twelve points, Tyler Kalinoski came off the bench to score eleven points and Kuhlman added ten points. Armstrong was the only Spartans scorer in double figures with seventeen points. Simpson, the Spartans leading scorer on the season, was held to seven points and only attempted seven field goal attempts.

As I walked back on a brisk Main Street to get back to my car, I thought to myself that I had a very good time. Another impressive Davidson win and I really enjoyed the "guest band". On a cold January night, the experience of a fun college basketball game keeps you warm.

UNCW Falls to Davidson’s Three Point Shooting Prowess (Recap of UNCW v. Davidson)

When you statistically take a look at the Davidson Wildcats, one statistic in particular stands out to you.  Entering their game yesterday, Davidson was the nineteenth ranked team in the country in three point percentage at 39.6 percent.  They average eight three pointers per game.  It stands to reason then that Davidson defeated Vanderbilt and West Virginia in the Old Spice Classic and the Wildcats were a handful in their close losses to New Mexico and Charlotte.

For the second week in a row, I went to Belk Arena on the lovely campus of Davidson College to watch the Wildcats host the Seahawks of UNC Wilmington.  But as I did last week with Matt Cayuela, I wanted to have dinner and a tasty beverage first.  But when I went to the Brick House Tavern, the place was packed and there were no spots at the bar, as there were the week before.

So I took a short walk to Main Street looking for a place to eat.  I found the Toast Café, saw the dinner menu on the board outside the restaurant and walked into the place.   There was a bar on the right hand side and a main dining error with more tables in the back.   Immediately a waiter and the hostess said they would be right with me.

  

The hostess led me to a small table in the back, midway between the main dining area and the smaller back dining area.  I liked the paintings done by local artists and the tapestry hanging on the wall.   When I first came in, there were a few people sitting at tables.  Within fifteen minutes, just about every table was filled, several with Davidson fans.  A sure sign that this was not only a local hangout, but a well liked restaurant as well.

I decided on the Prix Fixe menu; Caesar salad, chicken Marsala and what turned out to be a terrific brownie ice cream dessert.   I washed that delicious meal down with a Fat Tire beer.  The Toast Café in Davidson is very highly recommended by yours truly.

After the meal, I made the familiar walk down Concord Road to Belk Arena.   Before I went to my seat, I went to see my friend, Brian Mull, the terrific sports writer for the Wilmington Star and the beat writer for UNC Wilmington.  Brian was starting to tweet his fun facts about UNCW, as he does before every game, when I said hello.  We talked for about five minutes or so about the game, CAA, Atlantic Ten and Big East basketball as well as our families.  

After talking with Brian, I made my way to my seat on the other side of the arena.  My seat in section 106, Row G, was basically center court.   I took a picture of the seventeen Southern Conference Championship banners in the rafters and tweeted that to the few, the proud, the followers of my twitter account. 

Before the game, I also noted on my twitter account that if UNCW could gain an advantage on the boards, especially on the offensive end, the Seahawks would have a shot to win the game.   They needed that advantage to offset the three point advantage Davidson had. Coming into the game, UNCW was 288th in the country in three point field goal percentage at 28.7 percent.  The Seahawks only average four three point field goals per game.

Early on, UNCW was holding its own.  In the first eight and a half minutes, the Seahawks held the Wildcats scoreless from beyond the arc and Davidson was only 2 of 10 from the field.  The score was 9-9 with 12:30 left.

  

Keith Rendleman, the wonderful forward for the Seahawks, did his best to keep his team in the game in the first twelve minutes.  Rendleman scored ten points during that time frame.    He did it in various ways; layups, a sweet little face up outside jumper and his best was a one handed putback slam that tied the score early on at seven.

But you can only keep a good shooting team like Davidson down for so long.  First it was De’Mon Brooks working inside to put Davidson up to stay 13-9 with a couple of free throws and a basket.  Then the Wildcat three point barrage started.  Davidson would hit four three pointers over the last nine minutes and forty three seconds of the first half.   

Clint Mann was in the thick of things scoring nine straight points for the Wildcats who opened up a fourteen point lead, 35-21.  The Davidson student section started a large chorus of “You can’t stop him” and gave Mann a loud ovation when Mann took the bench late in the first half.   The Wildcats led at the half 35-23.

People ask me why I prefer to sit in the stands than sit on press row, which I do on occasion.  The main reason is that most of the time in the past two years, I am with my older son Matthew, which due to my family situation has been rare this season.  The other reason I tell them is that you get a better perspective from sitting in the stands, especially what other fans are thinking about the game and the players. 

Last night, I was sitting near several UNCW fans, who made the drive from Wilmington to Davidson.  Late in the first half, Seahawk guard Freddie Jackson drove the lane, stopped and nailed a short jumper.  A  UNCW fan behind me yelled “See, a little penetration will go a long way!”  Hearing the fan talk with his friend afterwards, apparently Jackson doesn’t drive the lane enough.

And that actually was a telling remark about the first half of play and the difference between the two teams.  Davidson passes the ball really well; quickly, sharply, looking for the open man on the defense.  It’s a trademark of a Bob McKillop coached team.  This often leads to open three point looks and as noted, the Wildcats are very good at hitting the three pointer.  

Meanwhile, the Seahawks struggle on offense.  As noted, they don’t have good three point shooting.  Also, the Seahawks, especially point guard Tanner Milson, dribbled the ball too much.  This allows the defense to concentrate on the ball handler and often results in forced shots with not much time left on the shot clock.  Such was the case for UNCW last night.

Just like last Saturday, there was another entertaining grade school basketball game at halftime.  Once the second half started, the Seahawks made their best run of the game.  Rendleman made a couple of layups while Milson buried two three pointers and hit a two point jumper in the span of barely over four minutes.  UNCW had gone on a 14-5 run to cut the Davidson lead to 40-37 with fifteen and a half minutes left.   During a timeout, the student section heartily sang along with Mariah Carey’s version of “All I Want for Christmas”.

Then the Wildcats’ Jake Cohen went to work, giving the student section an early Christmas present.  In the span of a little over four minutes, Cohen scored thirteen points, including six from the free throw line.  After a JP Kuhlman layup, the Wildcats had outscored the Seahawks 21-11.  Davidson was up 61-48 with about eight minutes left.  During the under eight media timeout, the entire crowd sang along to “Sweet Caroline”, which was their theme song during their magical run in the 2008 NCAA Tournament (remember it fondly from being at the Raleigh regional).

Rendleman and Cedrick Williams each hit jumpers to cut the lead briefly back to single digits, 61-52 with seven minutes left.  But once again, Davidson went back to its bread and butter, the three pointer to close the deal.  Chris Czerapowicz nailed two shots from beyond the arc and Cohen as well hit a three pointer.   The Wildcats had opened up a fourteen point lead, 70-56 with three and a half minutes to go in the game.

All that was left was the creative Davidson student section to start loudly singing “Silent Night”, which brought a lot of smiles and laughs from the crowd in my section.   It was fitting because UNCW was about to” sleep in heavenly peace” as far as the final score.  Davidson would eventually win 77-61.

Cohen led four Davidson scorers in double figures with twenty one points, most of which came in the second half. Brooks was a double double terror inside for the Wildcats, scoring fourteen points and adding twelve rebounds, six on the offensive end.  Mann had all thirteen of his points in the first half while Czerapowicz added fourteen points, including four three pointers. 

Rendleman led the Seahawks with twenty points and nine rebounds, but only two came on the offensive end.  He was double teamed all night and was forced to hit outside jumpers, which kept him from the glass.  Milson was the only other Seahawk in double figures with ten points.

UNCW shot the ball well, shooting forty seven percent and actually had more field goal attempts than Davidson (57-53).  But as Brian Mull so aptly put it, the view of their three point statistics told the difference.  UNCW was only 3 of 7 from beyond the arc while Davidson was 9 of 22.  That’s an eighteen point difference.  The margin of victory was sixteen.  Also the Seahawks were only 4 of 10 from the line (Rendleman was 2 of 6), while the Wildcats, the ninth ranked team in the country in free throw shooting at 78.3 percent, was 16 of 20.

After the game, I finally met Mid Majority Writer, Ian “The Machine” McCormack, who is ubiquitous in his coverage of South Carolina and North Carolina college basketball.   I have been an admirer of his work and we will be sitting together for the Appalachian State – South Carolina game on Wednesday.

I made my way back to my car which was in a school parking lot across from the Brick House Tavern.  After talking with my wife on the phone briefly, I drove my car over to the Brick House parking lot. I went into the Brick House and had a beer at the bar while waiting for Brian Mull to come by after he finished his work.   

Since there were no seats at the bar available, I was standing by the corner of the bar.  A few minutes in, a gentleman came up from behind me and said "Excuse me".  It was Coach McKillop.  He was out celebrating the win with his wife and his coaches.  I introduced myself as a fellow former Long Islander (read my previous article for Coach McKillop’s Long Island background) and we talked for a few minutes.  He described his team’s play last night as “efficient” and he couldn’t have been nicer.  I wished him a Happy Holidays and we toasted.    

Brian came by after he finished his article and we sat at the bar and talked for a while.  Mr. Mull knows his North Carolina basketball and we talked for seemingly a good hour.  Afterwards, we said our goodbyes and I told him I would certainly see him on February 9th for the Hofstra-UNCW game and some good barbecue.  Brian is good people.

I was smart enough to have had only one beer in three plus hours at the bar.  Also I had two coca colas before I left the bar, which was important because the caffeine more than kept me alert on the road.  Turns out I needed that caffeine.  About twenty minutes outside of Columbia on I-77, there was a deer in the middle of the darkened road.  I saw it just in time and honked.  The deer moved just enough as I swerved to the right to avoid it.   

Knowing my wife would be up, I called immediately to tell her what happened.  She picked up immediately and thought I had been in accident.  I told her I was fine and just wanted to share with her what happened.  You always hear of stories about cars hitting or nearly hitting deer late at night.  This was my first experience with that and a reminder that I wasn’t in Long Island anymore.

But no potential deer in the road will deter me from going to Davidson again for a Saturday night basketball game if the schedule warrants it.  Davidson is a wonderful college town with a cozy basketball arena, nice local surroundings and a good basketball team.   

And if you’re fortunate, you might literally run into the head coach at the local bar/restaurant after the game.

Doubleheader Game 2 - A Fun Night at Davidson - Recap of Wofford vs. Davidson

I have had great admiration over the years for Davidson.  First, the Wildcats Coach is Bob McKillop, who happens to be a Hofstra graduate.  When I was growing up on Long Island, McKillop was the coach of Long Island Lutheran, a major power in New York high school basketball.
 
McKillop took over as head coach of Davidson in 1989.  He has taken the Wildcats to six NCAA Tournaments, including three tournament appearances in a row from 2006 through 2008, which was the year that Davidson made the Elite Eight and was a Stephen Curry three away from beating Kansas and going to the Final Four. The Wildcats were back in the NCAA Tournament in 2012 barely losing to Louisville in the second round.

I was fortunate enough to have gone to the NCAA Regional in Raleigh in 2008.   It was truly a magical experience to watch Stephen Curry and Davidson rally to beat Gonzaga in the first round.  Then in the second round game, once again Curry and the Wildcats rallied to take down the Georgetown Hoyas in front of a very pro Davidson crowd made up of mostly North Carolina fans (North Carolina lost to Georgetown in the NCAA Tournament the year before).

So during yesterday’s Charlotte vs. Central Michigan game, Matt Cayuela told me he was going to see Davidson host Wofford at 7:00 PM.    It turns out that Davidson is about thirty minutes from Charlotte.  Since I am still by myself in South Carolina until my house closes, I had no plans.  So Matt and I got into our separate cars and went to Davidson.

Davidson is your truly classic college town, a small town with a main street with the school as the main focus.  Matt suggested a place recommended by Trip Advisor called the Brick House Tavern.  The Brick House Tavern is a very large restaurant/ bar/brewery that's a short walk from Main Street.  It looks like it was once a large warehouse.

The hostess noted that there were two seats at the bar.   My seat was right behind a tap.  The female bartender said I was hiding.  I noted that being near the tap is one of my favorite places.

Both of us had a Blue Ridge Burger, which had bleu cheese.  I had mine with bacon and a side of mashed potatoes.  Matt had his with Mac and cheese, which would have impressed my seven year old son.  We each had a restaurant brewed beer, which was quite good. I recommend The Brick House Tavern highly.

We decided to walk from the Brick House parking lot to Belk Arena.  The walk briefly brought us onto Main Street into the main section of town.  Then we made a left and we were at Belk Arena in about ten minutes.

Matt had already had a ticket through a Living Social deal.  My deal was awaiting me at the ticket line.  An older gentleman asked if I needed one ticket.  He had bought a two for one ticket deal.  My cost for the seat, $9.00.  I thanked the very kind man who I ended up sitting next to during the game. Matt ended up sitting next to me since there were a decent number of available seats for the game.

Belk Arena seats a little over 5,000.  When you enter the arena there is a main concourse with concessions as well as a downstairs with concessions and bathrooms.  To make sure I would be able to drive home after a long day, I got myself a coke (there was only one size) and Matt got a drink as well. We went back up stairs to our padded seats.

In Belk Arena, what you first notice are the banners in the rafters.  One of the things you see among those banners is the 2008 Elite Eight banner.  But it’s not the only Elite Eight banner. There are two from 1968 and 1969 when Lefty Driesell coached the Wildcats (he also coached Davidson to a Sweet Sixteen in 1966).

The next thing you notice is that the students sit in one of two places, behind the opponent basket and behind the opponent bench.  Matt noticed that it was like a high school dance.  The male students sat behind the opponent’s bench while mostly female students sat behind the basket.

Before the game started, Matt pointed out to me that Wofford has a player from Australia named Indiana Faithfull. Faithfull plays twenty minutes per game.  Davidson also has several foreign players including starting forward Chris Czerapowicz from Sweden, Ali Mackay, a forward from Scotland, Nick Cochran, the starting point guard from Canada and seldom used Youssef Mejri, a forward from Tunisia.

It was the first Southern Conference game of the season for Wofford, who along with Davidson are the two schools that have represented the conference in the NCAA Tournament six of the past seven seasons (Wofford made the NCAA Tournament in 2010 and 2011).  Davidson had won their first conference game at Chattanooga on December 1st.  Wofford had come into the game having won two games in a row over Winthrop and Gardner Webb.   Davidson was coming off a tough home loss to North Carolina rival Charlotte.

The Wildcats came out firing away from beyond the arc as they hit their first six three point attempts.  Tyler Kalinoski made three of those shots from beyond the arc.  The score was already 18-4 Davidson not even seven minutes into the game.

Davidson’s first points that weren’t a shot from beyond the arc came on a De’Mon Brooks layup and one.  Thus Davidson’s first points came from three point plays, six three pointers and an old fashioned three point play.   Brooks then scored again on a layup and one, but missed the free throw.   After nine minutes, the Wildcats were up 23-6.

During one of the media timeouts, Davidson had one of those kids’ games where they dribble a ball, get dressed in basketball gear and then race to shoot a layup.  A blond haired girl impressively won the contest, and then just walked off the court without celebrating, as if it was nothing big.  It reminded me of Reggie Miller running off the court after beating the Knicks.  It was pretty cool.

Davidson’s lead swelled to twenty one, 31-10 with three and half minutes left in the first half after two Jake Cohen free throws.  The fans were very much enjoying the Wildcats’ impressive play.  It looked like it was going to be a blow out.

But as previously noted, Wofford is a team with a lot of success the past three seasons (last season, the Terriers won 19 games and made the CBI Tournament). They responded by outscoring Davidson 12-0 over the final three and half minutes.   Faithfull had three assists and a layup during the run.  Two of his assists setup three pointers by Taylor Wagener.   Davidson entered the half now only up nine points, 31-22.

After halftime, which featured a fourth grade AAU basketball game, Faithfull hit a jumper to cut the Davidson lead to seven, 31-24?   But the Wildcats responded with a 14-6 spurt over the next eight minutes. Brooks got another old fashioned three point play to put Davidson up 45-30 with twelve and a half minutes left.

But, as feisty Terriers are known to do, again Wofford refused to give up.  The Terriers outscored the Wildcats 20-8 over nearly an eight minute span.  Again, it was Wagener and Faithfull  in the middle of the run.  Wagener had eight points and an assist while Faithfull had two assists.  Karl Cochran’s three made it 53-50 with a little less than five minutes left.

But Wofford would not get any closer.  Jake Cohen hit a jumper then followed with a layup to put Davidson up seven, 57-50.  That would be the margin of victory as the Wildcats held off the Terriers 63-56.

For Davidson, Nik Cochran led the Wildcats and all scorers with fifteen points, including ten of eleven from the free throw line.  Kalinoski was the only other Wildcats player in double figures scoring with eleven points. Four players, Cohen, Brooks, Czerapowicz and Tom Droney each had eight points.  After hitting their first six three point attempts, the Wildcats went one of fourteen from beyond the arc the rest of the way.

Wagener had fourteen points to lead the Terriers. Faithfull added eleven points and five assists.  Wofford shot only thirty five percent from the field.

After the game, Matt and I walked our way back to The Brickhouse parking lot.  We said goodbye since both of us had long drives home.   I enjoyed hanging out with Matt and was glad he told me about the Davidson game.  I plan to be back at Davidson next Saturday when they host UNC Wilmington.

Depending on my plans, I plan to be back at the Brick House Tavern again next Saturday.  A good burger, a beer and basketball.   All good things start with the letter B.