Saturday, January 19, 2008

Davidson 85 Chattanooga 58

The Wildcats tip off against the Chattanooga Mocs today at 2 p.m. on this 100th anniversary celebration Saturday. Lefty Driesell spearheaded a panel discussion this morning that was moderated by John Kilgo and featured Mike Williams '49, Hobby Cobb '56, Dick Snyder '66, Jerry Kroll '70, John Gerdy '79, and Kenny Wilson '84. More on that to come...

Today's game will be the biggest matchup for the Wildcats in Belk Arena this year. The students will be in town and fired up as this is rush weekend on campus. Unfortunately, the bad weather forecast might keep away Davidson fans who were planning to drive home in the afternoon. Most forecasts call for icy roads and dangerous conditions starting around 2 p.m. It is not far from anyone's minds that the last two conference home games that Davidson has dropped in five years were on Saturday afternoons with either cold or wet weather.

Updates on starting lineups and matchups from Belk Arena soon to come...including a special feature article from Michael Kruse.
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20 minutes before tipoff

Can Civi is still dressed out in street clothes today, along with Bond and Allison.

The D-Block crew has found its way into section 8 while the back of the basket filled up pretty quickly. Students should be lining the corner sections all the way up to the ceiling. The electricity in Belk Arena has not reached this level in a long time.

Chattanooga will be starting Watts (6-7), Doaks (6-7), Hartwell (6-8), McDowell (5-11) and Bridgewaters (5-9).

Wells Black of Davidson Basketball Update fame will also be here today filming. He has acquired a pass and will be shooting from the baseline.
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15:30 D 11 C 6
I apologize for the delay as the wireless internet is going haywire right now and I'm also answering phones. But Curry opened with five big points and Meno just finished a big slam off a slipped screen. Belk Arena is rocking and rolling with a full contingency of students.
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13:12 D 17 C 8
UTC's Kevin Bridgewaters reminds me a lot of D.J. Thompson or Tim Smith. He has the ability to break everyone down off the dribble and find open people inside.

But Stephen Curry is still the class of the conference. He gets a steal and a big defensive rebound and goes for two huge threes from 25 feet out. He wants the MVP now! J-Rich forces a turnover and Belk Arena comes down in a waterfall of noise. This feels like the finals of the SoCon tournament.
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11:39 D 19 C 11
Things calm down a little with a missed BBarr three pointer and a Meno turnover. Unlike App, Wofford or Georgia Southern, these Mocs don't seem to be intimidated by Davidson's emotional starts. They are not pressing and still getting pretty good looks from their offense. It will take 40 minutes to put this one away. UTC did not let App St. run away from them on Thursdy and it won't happen this afternoon.
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8:33 D 25 C 15
Things get chippy after Sander gets hit without a call at midcourt. Jason Richards sends a signal by putting his shoulder into his defender's face. That charge call was booed extensively but it was legit. The no-call before it was bad. Don't mess with Sander because you will get all of Jason Richards. Needless to say, this place has a lot of emotion. The Wildcats have a few teardrops rim out in consecutive possessions.
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7:50 D 26 C 15
Curry with a layup in traffic and then hits a wide-open three-pointer. He now has 16 points on 6-9 shooting including three three-pointers. A media timeout keeps Shulman from taking one himself.
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6:41 D 26 C 17
The Wildcats have not had any hangover from playing some of the bottom teams of the Southern Conference. They are playing at a good clip tonight and have been sharp from the field. Meno has continued to play better and better and better. Richards has five assists as well.
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4:28 D 33 C 22
Curry finished the first half of the Appalachian State game with 26 points. He might push that today...he's already got 21. Talks of half scoring records are now circulating around the SID crew. Hetzel has the Davidson mark with 28. Not sure about Belk Arena records.
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3:55 D 33 C 22
After a steal and finish and then another jump ball tie-up, Jason Richards is talking at Bridgewaters. These Wildcats are taking no prisoners today. They are now calling all former basketball players down to the tunnel...thankfully there are plenty of photographers and videographers to film this. It's going to be special. I see that Lefty is sitting down next to Kilgo, not sure if he's on the radio all game.
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1:21 D 41 C 24
Curry hits a big three to put him at 24. I just checked out the hit stats for the blog and saw that no one is following online. That is excellent. I feel like everyone is here today sitting around and watching this in all of its glory. Make that 27. Curry needs 1 point for the Davidson 1-half record. ---
Halftime D 41 C 26

Curry misses a shot right at the buzzer and finishes with 27 points for the half with 6 threes, one point behind Hetzel's record of 28 which he set twice. Richards has 6 assists.
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16:39 D 49 C 26

The internet is down again. And so are livestats. The halftime show was an incredible event as Wildcats from every generation lined the court with the Hall of Famers standing at the middle. Curry hits two free throws to put him at 29, but he might be starting to tire now. He short-armed a layup. But Boris finishes a huge two hand slam on the next possession and then gets an alley oop monster. What an emotional game! Meno now has 10. I’ve never seen so many videographers here along the baseline before. This game might not be on TV, but its incredible footage will be getting out soon. Chattanooga is about to give up.
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15:28 D 51 C 26

Football quarterback Ryan Alexander came extremely close to winning 10,000 dollars at the media timeout but he misses the half-court shot. Davidson is starting to run away now. Too bad Curry is getting tired. He might have had a career day after that first half. He is still at 29.
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12:43 D 57 C 31

Meno with the turn around alley oop jam on the baseline out of bounds. You could get a full highlight video out of this game alone. Meno has 12 while Lovedale has 8. Curry takes a seat to give Barr some looks while Rossiter replaces Meno. Lovedale’s little jumper falls again. That thing looks pretty this year. Too bad he just picked up number 4 on the foul category.
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11:41 D 59 C 35

Richards pulls a little Stephen Curry out of his pocket as he hits a very difficult fallaway with the shot clock expiring. And Curry comes back in during Shulman’s 30 second timeout. This is an incredible display today and a message to the Southern Conference. I also thinks that it sends a message to the students that this season is still one of a kind even without the wins over Duke or UNC.
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8:37 D 66 C 41

Richards is now 1 assist away from a double-double after scoring his tenth point at the foul line. Davidson’s defense has continued to play very well although the offense has sputtered now. Lovedale becomes the victim of some tough calls inside and he gets a standing ovation for his efforts. The refs are calling a lot now and really slowing this game down. It can’t be too fun for either team to watch anymore. The excitement left after Meno’s last dunk which seemed like an hour ago.
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6:51 D 70 C 47

Sweet Caroline does its magic again as the students continue the chorus in a cappella into a Chattanooga free throw. As the Moc free throw missed, the student section went nuts. An MPG dunk lights everyone up again.
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4:05 D 76 C 50

Poor Curry. His shot is off in this half. He has only scored four second half points. The Will’s World jinx works again. He hits a three as I type. He hits another one from 30 feet out falling down. Poor Lefty. He is missing quite a show by hanging out in the SID office watching the Maryland game (his son is an assistant coach).
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3:24 D 79 C 51

Matt Gwynne picks up an intentional foul by knocking Thomas Sander to the deck. Sander is still down with Ray Beltz attending to his face. That will be a continuing theme for this year. SoCon teams getting frustrated with Davidson’s play and physicality and retaliating by playing dirty. Coach puts in McKillop, Nelms and Rossiter to keep Richards and Curry safe. Curry finished with 37 points and eight threes, one point behind his career high.
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Final D 85 C 58

A complete display from the Davidson Wildcats today. Stephen Curry had a performance for the ages while Jason Richards, Boris Meno, Andrew Lovedale, Max Paulhus Gosselin…heck, everyone played really well. Davidson will take the greatest show in the Southern Conference on the road next week when they head to Cullowhee and then Charleston, SC.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

we're listening/watching & wishing we were there.

Anonymous said...

"Chippy" - is that a Charleston expression, or a Bryan family euphemism?