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.

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.