Davidson 75 ASU 70

The Wildcats are shooting over 50% here in the first part of the first half. That is really good news when thinking about fatigue and opportunities and so forth. Unfortunately, ASU has also hit a few shots of late. Like to see Coach going to the bench so early, although we need to do better with rebounding. It's also good to see Max scoring a little bit early.
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Arizona State is dominating Davidson on the boards (18-6), and foul trouble has Curry, Sander and Boris in a little bit of a pickle. Once again, it's good to see Barr and Gosselin getting some points on the offensive end.
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Jason Richards just made a big-time drive and teardrop to help build the Cats' nine-point lead. After a Gosselin block in the interior, Archambault found himself open for another three-pointer. I have a feeling that Arizona State is not going to be able to score very quickly, although they are getting a lot of second-chance points. This lead has been built, by the way, with Curry on the bench with two fouls.
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Arizona State hit two free throws to end the half as Archambault picked up a foul with the buzzer expiring. Quick half-time stats show Sander leading all Davidson scorers with 12 points, followed by Richards with 9. Meno and Curry have as many combined fouls as they do points (4). Although our assist/turnover ratio is a cool 3.00 (9:3), the Wildcats are getting outrebounded by a margin of 23-7. ASU has 10 offensive rebounds so far. Davidson is shooting 52% from the field while ASU is only shooting 37%. ASU has been to the line five more times than Davidson, hitting 10-11.

The Wildcats certainly need to find Boris and Andrew for a few points inside, and have to make up the rebounding margin by not letting the Sun Devils get second chances. It will also be interesting to see how aggressively Stephen Curry plays after fouling out last night and having two quick fouls in the first half.
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Boris Meno starts the second half out strong with a turn-around jumper and a dunk. Curry gets the sixth point and Herb Sendek has had enough.
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16:44 to play, and Curry gets his fourth foul. We need to get back to the east coast when they let Stephen play his style of defense. Sander picked up his third foul. This is going to be a long hard 16 minutes.
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We have outscored them by 10 in the second half and have outrebounded the Sun Devils. Jason Richards has really stepped up with Curry on the bench. He now has 14 points.
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Sander now has 4 fouls and Lovedale finally gets his first points of the game. Both teams are now in the bonus with 10:47 to play. With an 18 point lead, I feel pretty confident right now. The Sun Devils don't seem to be able to score quickly at all. We can't slow down the game by fouling.
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I like our defensive strategy right now. Our 1-3-1 zone with the bigs really has ASU worried about every pass they make. Richards now has 19 points. And Archambault gets a steal and a basket. This is looking good.
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Arizona State making a little bit of a run. One interesting stat right now is points off turnovers: 19 for Davidson, and 7 for ASU.
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Check that. Make it a terrifying run. 10-0 run after a 3-pointer, turnover and an offensive rebound. Thankfully they can't shoot free throws.
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Richards is having a big game with 21 points, but after an ASU 3-pointer, they have some confidence. It's about time to see some Sander and Curry. And here they come. This one is going to come down to it.
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Jason Richards hits a big-time three pointer. I propose a marketing plan to call us "Dagga Nation!"
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Sun Devils refuse to give in. Meno fouls out after a turnover and Sendek's full court press is reaking havoc. I should not have said anything about having this thing in hand. What a game so far. Davidson has really choked at the free throw line at the end of this one. That's not usual for us.
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What a huge win for Davidson. That 16-0 team from two years ago won most of their games after giving up a lead and holding on at the end. If we would have shot a little better from the FT line (14-23), things wouldn't have been so dicey.

Incredible game for Richards who finished with 25 points, 3 assists. Stephen Curry and Thomas Sander both got double figures with 10 and 14 respectively. Otherwise, there weren't too many good statlines as far as rebounding, FT shooting and fouls. But you have to win the ugly games. This was a big win for the program and it's time for Christmas.

Davidson at Arizona State

Countdown is under two hours now for the championship game of the Sleep America Classic between the Davidson Wildcats and the Arizona State Sun Devils. ASU is coached by Herb Sendek who instituted a Princeton-style offense while at N.C. State. In the past few seasons, some of Davidson's toughest games have been against teams that have slowed down the offensive flow of the game and limited the Wildcats to fewer shot attempts. Davidson will either have to go crazy on the offensive boards, create transition points off of turnovers, or raise their shooting percentage. They won't be scoring anywhere near 80 points in this game if they shoot under 40% from the field.

The Wildcats showed some fatigue during last night's game as there were stretches in the first and second halves when they allowed Ohio to work their way back into the game through turnovers and missed rebounding opportunities. Davidson can't afford to be sloppy against a team that slows the game down and limits opportunities to score. It will be interesting to see how fatigue affects this one.

Look for increased minutes from Steve Rossiter, Bryant Barr, Andrew Lovedale and Will Archambault as the Wildcats try to use their depth to counteract fatigue and (if we get the same whistle-happy refs as yesterday) foul trouble. While Coach McKillop might try some pressure defense to create turnovers in the passing lanes, don't be surprised to see the Wildcats briefly come out in zone looks after timeouts. They have been very effective in messing with set plays and keeping the offenses off guard.

Final Prediction: Davidson 70 Arizona State 62