Thursday, December 21, 2006

Davidson 83 Ohio University 74

OK, so I caved. I'm young and have no reason to get up before noon tomorrow. So here we go, we'll have up-to-date comments during the game tonight.
---
It seems that we have Dick Snyder on for the halftime show. Let's hope I can stay awake til 1 AM. Kilgo has also talked about some travel problems with getting the team flown out to Arizona. I'd be interested to know if Ohio ran into the same bad weather.
---
Only on Davidson Basketball radio do we get to hear Alien Ant Farm introduce John Kilgo from a commercial break. Pretty sweet. It feels really cool to think that most everyone on the east coast is sleeping right now, while we have a nice little group of Davidson diehards on the internet here.

In the pre-game interview, Coach McKillop talked about the offensive prowess of Ohio. He also mentioned the need for Davidson to use a little zone tonight. I'm hoping that we utilize it a little bit in the first half. For the first time in many years, we have a group of guys that are long enough to make passing very difficult when we are in a zone. It also makes scouting a little more difficult when SoCon squads have to put in a zone offense in their short weeks of practice.
---
Things seem to be going pretty well for the Wildcats right now. We have been strong on the rebounds and defensive pressure as Ohio has missed quite a few shots. Big man Leon Williams already has two fouls for the Bobcats and is now on the bench. We have turned the ball over 4 times so far, but without seeing the action, it is kind of hard to know how they happened.
---
Ohio seems to be having a lot of trouble inside against our big guys. With the junior Leon Williams with 2 fouls, and 6-9 freshman von Kempen now with 3 fouls, let's look to see Sander get some looks on the blocks. We have already hit 4 three-pointers, but I would like to see us continue to attack the paint. Curry leads all scorers with 6 points. Coach seems to be rotating Steph and Jason at point. That's an interesting arrangement, especially this early in the game. Bobcats just picked up their seventh team foul.
---
With 7:54 left in the first half, you have to love the depth that this team is displaying. Steph has become a pretty solid backup PG, which was a point of weakness earlier in the season. Barr has hit a three for Davidson, Lovedale, "the Big Cat" (I guess it's better than Anthony Lovedale) has been very strong inside and Archambault continues to provide speed on the wings. Ohio is in some major foul trouble right now with van Kempen and Williams both having 3 fouls inside. I am a little surprised that Sander hasn't been seen more on the offensive side of the court so far. These refs aren't scared to blow their whistles tonight. Double bonus already for Davidson.
---
Davis has been very good for Ohio so far. He has 13 points right now. Turnovers are really hurting us right now as the Bobcats are being able to get some transition points and keep their size disadvantage minimized. They seem to be doubling down inside, and Davidson needs to continue to work their inside-out game. Barr got open on the last possession and hit a three off of an inside feed. Over 17 total fouls in the first half.
---
Pretty good first half for the Cats. They always go through a stretch of offensive inefficiency, but the Bobcats couldn't get closer than 5 points. It is always important to be able to hold off runs when you aren't getting points on offense. This team looks to be headed towards another 80+ point performance tonight. Although Kilgo might not completely testify to it, I think that these players are really playing loose right now, which is something that we struggled with last year. Playing loose allows you to be a little more aggressive on defense and relaxes the offense to a point where they are not pressing to create baskets.
---
Good to see that we're attacking the paint so far in the second half. Although our 14 turnovers are beginning to get on my nerves. Ohio is finding some scoring on the inside right now too. The Bobcats can score quickly. Kilgo hasn't mentioned it yet, but I wonder if we utilized any zone tonight. McKillop might put it in right after this timeout.
---
HAHA! I called it. The Wildcats come out in the 1-3-1 zone, before switching back to man.
---
"Curry's in a hurry!" Wow, there are some real Kilgo moments tonight. Like to see Archambault get a nice basket inside and seeing Curry run transition.
---
The offense seems to be slowing up just a little bit in the last few minutes. Ohio refuses to relent in the frontcourt and the three-pointers are not falling like they might for Davidson. However, our depth still seems to be causing them problems.
---
Curry just picked up his fourth foul with 10.5 minutes to play. This might not be so good. We'll see how this affects our offensive flow. Meno and Sander might be getting some more looks inside. Gosselin just committed our 16th team turnover. Momentum is definitely in the favor of the Bobcats. We need to do more than just hold on. We need to be keeping the pressure on.
---
Both teams are really starting to feel some major foul trouble. Ohio has hit some big time shots, and have pulled this thing close. In these last few minutes of the game, Davidson needs to be careful about fatigue. Ohio has a lot of momentum and have been beating Davidson to the glass on the offensive end. The Wildcats need to take some pride in their defense.
---
With Curry on the bench, Sander steps up big. With two three-pointers and some big rebounds on the defensive glass, he's going to have lead this team in the next five minutes.
---
Curry comes back in to hit a big three. Then subsequently fouls out. A little over 3 minutes to play, and Davidson will need to look to its big juniors to carry this team for 3:18 more. But after a Meno turnover, Ohio pulled the game to within five under 2:30 to play.
---
Sander hits a clutch basket with under a minute to play. Williams fouls out and this game looks to be in hand. You gotta love the play of Sander and Richards late in this game. Boris finished with a double-double on 17 points and 16 rebounds. Juniors stepped up big tonight.
---
Big win tonight. I'm going to bed. Whew. It's a great night to be a Wildcat.

13 comments:

WB said...

You caved! I love it!

Anonymous said...

"I love Andrew to death, and he's got a lot of strengths, but that ain't one of them."

Kilgo on Lovedale's 3-pt shooting skills

Anonymous said...

"Somebody ought to take a Taser to that person behind me."

Kilgo on a fan seated behind him who whistles loudly

(so loudly, in fact, that I had to turn down the volume on my broadcast)

Anonymous said...

"I don't think Jerry Rice in his prime could have caught that ball! That was a bullet."

Kilgo describing an errant pass, which (in true Kilgo form) we only learned about ten seconds after the fact.

Anonymous said...

"Usually when bad shots are taken, bad things happen to your team."

This quote reveals the essence of John Kilgo's soul. This, my friends, is a man man who is really onto (or, perhaps, on) something.

Halftime score: Internet Static 3, John Kilgo 3 (Davidson leads Ohio 42-31)

A somewhat slow game tonight for Kilgo, who is either jet-lagged or suffering from alcohol deprivation. I wonder whether Kilgo knows that you can order alcohol on airplanes.

Anonymous said...

someone needs to get Kilgo some claritin...this snorting is kind of disgusting

Anonymous said...

I've been wondering this for a few years now, but here goes.

When Kilgo comments on a shot and says, "that's gonna be no good," exactly how far in advance of the shot actually missing does he say it? From the sound of it, he prophesies the outcome of a shot the moment it leaves the shooter's hand. Uhm...

PS I think the "anonymous" poster is a certain person with the last name Cary who dreams of one day becoming a sports writer.

Anonymous said...

"Bob McKillop goes "single single." What does that mean? Hit a single, not a home run."

Will Bryan said...

HAHAHAHA! I'd be pretty amazed if he read this thing.

Anonymous said...

On the floor maintenance out there in Flyover Country:

"There's sweat on the floor, someone's out there to mop it up. That person didn't do a whole lot."

On microphone noise (which caused 10% deafness in my left ear):

"What are you doing with that thing, Mark*?"

(*Probably 75% of the time you can't actually tell whether he says Mark or Martin.)

Anonymous said...

John and Martin just spent two minutes trying to tell us what time tomorrow's game is going to be broadcast. I'm going to go by the Davidson Web site and not by whatever they tried to say.

Davidson plays Arizona State tomorrow for the air mattress championship or whatever the hell this is.

I hope we defeat Sendek. (Sendek was a nice fit for NC State though; he made us depressed year after year, which is the whole point of NCSU athletics.)

WB said...

"I'm going to bed. Whew."

You big wuss. LOL.

Anonymous said...

Yes - when McKillop is saying "single, single" it is a baseball reference (to not hit a home run) - a common point of emphasis for him