Davidson 68 Charlotte 75

I apologize for not getting the live blog up tonight. My wireless internet did not work in Halton Arena for some reason. I did take notes live as the action happened and am posting them here. Sorry again.

17:59 D 2 UNCC 3
This is horribly bad basketball right now. Charlotte’s bad field goal shooting is rearing its ugly head. They’ve missed some free throws badly as well. Unfortunately it seems like its contagious. Goldwire opens the scoring with a three pointer. We all remember what he did two years ago.

15:38 D 4 UNCC 9
Bobby Lutz took this whole green out thing a little too far. He’s wearing a green coat and looks like a leprechaun. The 49ers don’t have much of an offensive rhythm outside but they do like jacking threes. That’s three now. Stephen looks a little flustered offensively. This is a very hostile crowd. Much more so than at Bobcats. There were two ways that this thing could open for Davidson. This is the bad way. Jason Richards has all Wildcat points on two drives to the paint.
49er sign of the night (it looks like it’s the only sign): Communists wear red.

13:55 D 10 UNCC 11
Davidson’s shooting looks really bad tonight, and I have to wonder if this ball isn’t a little overinflated. It has taken some odd bounces and I have never seen a ball jump around the rim like it has tonight. But an overinflated ball didn’t play bad defense on that last possession as Davidson gave up a wide open dunk. Curry hits a three and the refs give Davidson a few calls and these Charlotte fans are a little upset. They aren’t very creative.

11:31 D 17 UNCC 12
Thomas Sander is heading back to the Davidson locker room. Didn’t see him get hurt at any point but Boris and Andrew are doing just fine (Lovedale with a big block last possession). The 49ers are not challenging on rebounds at all. It seems like Davidson has calmed down a little and are getting into their rhythm. Stephen Curry to the line after the media timeout. Davidson is winning the battle for loose balls but are playing in control at the same time. Bryant Barr gets some more time at the spot after Archambault picked up two fouls.

9:14 D 23 UNCC 19
Stephen Curry missed his first of two free throws and a Charlotte player stepped into him to box him out (thinking it was 1-and-1). No violation was called and McKillop is pissed. Richards gets some rest and Davidson turns it over. Lovedale with another big block. Sander is back in the game which is a good sign for Davidson after the locker room trip. MPG hits his first three for the year on an assist from Sander. Curry turns the ball over bringing it up and Richards is back in. Steph is definitely better at the 2.

7:57 D 23 UNCC 21
Wilderness has been a non-factor offensively (as I type he makes a nice layup, way to jinx it, Will). Davidson’s in the bonus now on a touch foul at the perimeter. Sander lost another opportunity for a layup or foul shots by waiting too long on the inside. He got called for a travel. And the “gold-dusting” dancers take the floor and are not bad on the eyes at all.

6:28 D 28 UNCC 24
I was worried that Davidson wouldn’t bring too much of a crowd here tonight. Everyone with whom I spoke was studying for something or other. But the Davidson sections are pretty filled up. They are getting drowned out, but every seat is filled. A loose ball play on the sidelines and Coach McKillop is playing defense again. Unfortunately he got called for a loose ball foul. Davidson has slowed up on offense as Curry misses another jumper. They aren’t getting the inside looks that they did against Duke (I don’t believe I just wrote that). Curry for three!

3:48 D 31 UNCC 27
Curry picks up his first foul 15 minutes in. I can deal with that. And I get another co-assist with Hill Overton on a loose ball to the sidelines. Davidson’s shot selection is pretty poor. Steph got it near the sideline, pumped, backed up even further and launched a bomb that clanged off. We can do better than that. Another set of threes, Sander hits one and Barr misses another. They aren’t getting much field goal possession either. Richards picks up a silly charge foul trying to create space on the perimeter and draws jeers from the crowd as he flashes a smile walking back down the court.

1:52 D 33 UNCC 29
Leemire Goldwire hits an outside shot that was originally called a three. Then they change it to a two. Fans are upset. Bad possession for Davidson that time as Charlotte extends the defense…Curry breaks it to an open Max who tried to force the ball inside. But the Wildcats got back on defense and made a huge play on a dunk, forcing the ball out of the rim.

1:00 D 34 UNCC 35
Richards has been on the bench more than normal this game. I’ve been impressed with our ability to elevate. Meno has been jumping out of the building to get offensive rebounds and tips to extend possessions. Unfortunately, we don’t have enough weight to battle inside straight up. Curry has 12 right now but he has not been driving or getting shots off close to the basket. With this pressure defense, I think that would be a better solution than getting Boris the ball 10 feet from the hoop. Goldwire with a huge three to give Charlotte the lead.

Halftime D 36 UNCC 35
Curry fed a wide-open Rossiter on Davidson’s last possession to give the Wildcats a lead going into halftime. That was really important after Goldwire’s big three. Halftime stats show Davidson winning the rebounding edge 27-16, including 9 offensive. Meno already has 8. Curry leads all Davidson scorers with 12, while Goldwire has 13. Davidson is shooting 12-31 from the field while Charlotte is 12-30, but the big difference is in 3-point attempts. Davidson is 5-19 (Curry 3-8) against Charlotte’s 6-12. The Wildcats also have 9 turnovers against Charlotte’s 5…I was not expecting that stat heading into today. Another worthy stat comes in the minutes category…Richards with 14 while Curry has 20 (Goldwire has 19). Richards had two fouls and a couple of bad turnovers. The Wildcats will need him leading the attack in order to get this offensive thing going again. Curry just seems frustrated when he’s making the initial passes and bringing the ball up the court.

16:59 D 40 UNCC 42
Max is coming out after a really bad start. Missed shot, turnover and a foul in three possessions. And Charlotte is on a mini-run. There is a lid on the basket in front of us. Nothing is going in. Archer in and makes a great decision to give up a three and shoots the ball inside to Boris who scores. And Boris gets a dunk! Wow, that looked more difficult than ones that he’s missed (I hear a “he looks goofy when he runs” from behind me).

15:55 D 40 UNCC 44
Davidson looks like they don’t know where their offense is going to come from right now. Archer was scared to shoot that time and drove only to pick up a charge. Charlotte, on the other hand, seems completely comfortable with their game plan and the scoreboard reflects it. I really thought that Charlotte’s poor field goal shooting and Davidson’s rebounding advantage (which has been very significant so far) would keep the Wildcats in the lead. Davidson has every reason to be leading right now (decent calls from the refs, second chance opportunities) but they can’t get the ball to go in the basket.

14:06 D 40 UNCC 45
Jason Richards picks up his third foul on a charge. The last possession he was called for a walk. This offense is completely out of sync right now. The team is bizarrely inconsistent, they can make runs at UNC and Duke but they can’t figure out how to attack Western Michigan and now Charlotte. Barr has playing a lot of time at the three. That is really bad that Max and Will are not contributing much at all.

11:50 D 43 UNCC 47
Max back in to guard the shorter Dijuan Harris while Richards guards Wilderness. Steph hits a runner in the lane that came all the way out and fell back in. Steve gets called for a questionable moving pick on the perimeter and we’re at the media timeout. I wont say that I don’t think Davidson is capable of coming back in this one, but they need to find a rhythm on offense. The 49ers have been picking up points here and there and Goldwire isn’t far from another three-point tear. Davidson can’t let them get away in this hostile environment.

8:39 D 43 UNCC 47
Both teams are in the bonus as Harris picks up his fourth foul away from the ball. But Sander misses the free throw. I haven’t seen a Davidson team struggle with free throws this much in my years here at the school. Steph made a nice back cut but was met at the rim and his shot was way off. Jason airballs a three and Steph misses one next time down. Jason has been very very cold from outside going all the way back to the Night with the Cats event where he got blown out in the three-point contest. Davidson has only scored seven points this half. This is a really ugly game. I have to wonder if Charlotte’s play isn’t a bit contagious.

7:38 D 51 UNCC 49
And Archambault fouls out. What a rough game for him. Five fouls, no points. Davidson won’t be able to fully reach its potential until they get his situation figured out. Curry with two huge threes and he’s preening a little bit. The red fans upper in the dark reaches of this place are going nuts. Curry has 20 points. No two-point shots. It really doesn’t take much to take momentum away from a team that scores 14 points in the opening 13 minutes of the half. That’s why Charlotte has had so much trouble with teams like Monmouth this season. One or two big shots and that collective momentum is shot.

5:10 D 56 UNCC 54
Coley III knocks down a huge dunk and Boris gets called for an offensive foul. Then J-Rich gets a steal and a finish. This game has picked up offensively. Lots of swings of mo. Should be interesting in the final few minutes because I don’t either team will pull away.

3:39 D 58 UNCC 58
Sander misses the second of two free throws and Davidson keeps missing out on opportunities. The 49ers are also putting more pressure on the glass as they have challenged for several long rebounds off of missed three-pointers from Charlotte. If this were Duke or even Western Michigan, Davidson could easily be down by double digits, but all of Charlotte’s open shots are rimming out. I think that free throws might end up deciding this one. In the past, that would be encouraging, but I’m beginning to wonder whether that’s the case this year.

2:20 D 60 UNCC 67
Two huge threes by Goldwire and then an acrobatic finish and-1 for Coley and this thing is quickly running away from Davidson. That’s nine Niner points on three possessions. Davidson doesn’t have that much time.

1:00 D 65 UNCC 70
Goldwire hits another three-pointer and MPG answers on the other end with his second three of the game. But Davidson will need to get a defensive stop or two to come back to win this one. Somehow, I feel like the intangibles of this place might keep Charlotte up for the rest of the way. Davidson is having a rough week.

:55 D 68 UNCC 70
Curry with a huge three-pointer. And this will be the test…can Davidson come back to win at the end? Can they make the shots that Ellington and Paulus hit in weeks past? This is a huge defensive possession. Charlotte’s Mack took an ill-advised three-pointer last time…another one here would help.

:32 D 68 UNCC 73
Leemire Goldwire played the role. And Davidson gets put down by another unconscious type of shot in the final minute. The Wildcats need some huge plays to pull this one out. This really sucks to see all of these teams play so well in the final minute.

Final D 68 UNCC 75
J-Rich misses a three and the Davidson bigs couldn’t put it home. No one has said it so far b/c they thought that close games against UNC and Duke would be good anyway, but I think that this team is a bit broken down now. They don’t know how to win…even against teams that they can beat. I won’t be writing it up later tonight so this will have to suffice. Davidson now will stand on the court to watch UNCC take back the brain on a stick. I apologize for the technical difficulty and not being able to publish this live. It’s going to be a long trip to California on Friday.