Furman post-game thoughts and quotes

***Photo by Brian Westerholt***

-The main story from today's game was Will Archambault. Finishing with a career-high 28 points, Archambault paced all Davidson scorers, including Stephen Curry who finished with 26. Both players scored more than half of Furman's overall point total of 51. Archambault's performance came on the heels of a solid seven points and four offensive rebounds against Greensboro.

"Will is a mirror of what our team is," McKillop said. "He is getting better. Throughout the season, his entire game has improved...much like our entire team. We know his potential, and to see him turn that potential into production is exciting to see as a coach."

"It was just during the games that [my shot] wasn't falling," Archambault said. "I had been playing well in practice, so I tried to attack the basket more and I kept shooting. It just started falling."

-As soon as the game ended, the Wildcat team rushed up the side steps with a signed ball for Dick Sanderson, a lifelong Davidson fan with ALS. Kevin Cary wrote an article about him last year after the Wildcats presented him with the championship net after Davidson's SoCon championship.

-Andrew Lovedale had a superb game...finishing around the hole with authority and not leaving the ball on the rim where it might fall off. He finished with 14 points and five rebounds.

-Davidson's defense was absolutely spectacular. They held Furman scoreless for the first eight minutes of the first half and first 4.5 minutes of the second half. "We put pressure on the ball and cut the court in half," Curry said. "We tried to limit them to one shot so we could get back on the offensive end."

-Jason Richards had a huge game at the point. Seven rebounds and nine assists despite not hitting a field goal. "We have put an emphasis on gang rebounding. Jason Richards had a huge game with seven rebounds," McKillop said. "We want all of our guys rebounding. We want all five guys working on every play, every rebound, every in-bounds. If you don't get rewarded, someone on your team will and that will be a reward to you."

Despite playing a five-win team sandwiched between big TV games against UNC-G, Davidson came out with fire and intensity and knocked Furman to the mat from the beginning.

""I thought we were very consistent today," McKillop said. "We built on our first half and that was encouraging to me. Our seniors understand that their careers are in the twilight. They want to savor every opportunity. They look at it as a gift and they want to use this gift wisely."

Davidson 86 Furman 51

Davidson looks to win its 15th consecutive game and 27th consecutive conference match today when they take on the Paladins of Furman in Belk Arena. The 3 p.m. tip will be televised on SportSouth, marking the 12th time that Davidson has played a televised game this season. Davidson's winning streaks rank third and second respectively among all NCAA schools.

The Wildcats are led by Stephen Curry, the nation's fourth highest scorer with 25.6 points per game. He bolstered that average with a career-high 41 points against UNC-Greensboro to lead Davidson back from a 20+ point deficit for a five-point win. Stephen Curry leads all current NCAA sophomores for most career points with 1,345, nearly 300 more than second place Ryan Anderson out of California. Curry is only one three-pointer away from tying Matt McKillop's career mark of 223.

Curry's lowest point output of the season came when Davidson played Furman last in January. The sophomore only had 14 points, which is one of six instances that he has not scored at least 20 points.
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7 minutes to tip

Sitting here next to John "Killer" Kilgo of the Davidson Radio Network. On my left are the guys from CSTV's "Going Mad" road trip blog. You can check out their video blog on this site sometime tomorrow. They were at Elon for the Appalachian State upset earlier this week.

Turnout is absolutely atrocious for today's game. Atrocious.

Sander in the starting lineup.
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18:29 D 2 F 0
Furman opens in a zone and Curry misses his first shot but hits on the next possession.

The Paladins took the ball at Sander immediately and knocked him on his back without a call.
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16:51 D 7 F 0
Curry hits a three and ties Matt McKillop for the second most threes in a Davidson uniform (223). Lovedale with a nice turnaround and MPG forces an offensive foul. All Davidson so far in Belk Arena.
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15:44 D 7 F 0
Furman stays in zone and Richards misses a three badly. If Furman keeps this defense up, Davidson will be jacking threes all night. I don't particularly mind that. Davidson's defense has been outstanding so far...forcing a shot clock violation, offensive foul and nearly forced a five second violation.

Lots of stoppages of play so far.
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13:52 D 12 F 0
Archer for three. He had a quiet game against UNCG but a very productive one none the less. He then comes and hits a nice runner. Good to see him playing productively and confidently.

I'm beginning to wonder how long it will take before Furman scores. They haven't put up many good shots so far. They are like a B-league team from Davidson intramurals.
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12:30 D 17 F 0
Curry for three. Sander for two. Offensive foul on Furman...and the students are chanting, Nananana nananana hey hey goodbye. Archambault continues to look very confident as he rips the ball through the defender and sets up Sander with a crisp pass.

And now the whole arena is doing the wave. I have never seen that in Belk Arena! Lovedale with a huge block! Wow, this is fun.
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11:42 D 19 F 2
Furman finally on the board and the students go nuts. It only took them eight minutes to do it. Curry with 10 points so far. This is absolute domination. I was talking with Kevin Cary beforehand and he thought that this would be a pretty nondescript 15 point win. So far, Davidson is very focused and intent on burying the Paladins...alive.
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9:40 D 25 F 8
Holy cow Stephen Curry. Elevates 10 feet in the air to get a steal, tracks it down along the sideline and then does a reverse layup around a Furman guy to put it home. It is really hard not to smile on press row (be objective...be objective...be objective...dang we are really good).
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8:14 D 25 F 13
"We are all human...except Logan." Gotta love it Kilgo. Furman has hit a few nice runners to keep this thing somewhat respectable. Davidson can't let up at all. Greensboro was up by more than this...but then Furman isn't Davidson.
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7:00 D 28 F 13
Furman's zone has forced one or two errant entry passes but Stephen Curry's three-point shooting largely nullifies its effectiveness. You can't stop him if you don't try to guard him. You can't stop when you guard him either...but oh well. Curry leads Furman again (15-13). How often does he do that in first halves? Over/under on Curry outscoring them the rest of the half?
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5:00 D 35 F 16
Furman hits a three and Curry counters by getting fouled on a three point attempt. Curry also fed a wide open Archambault for a dunk with a Steve Nash-esque pass. Kilgo is still talking about it. Curry 18 Furman 16. Curry's free throw streak continues.
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3:57 D 38 F 16
Can't say enough about Will Archambault lately. He has been playing some incredible basketball. He's got 10 points already today on two threes. His energy is way up and he's really creating the mismatches that we expected back in November. I'd rather get it now than never. Good for Will.
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Halftime D 46 F 22
Curry misses a three on the play that he scored on to end the half against Greensboro. But Furman doubled the screen and saw it coming. Curry finishes with 18 while Archambault has 16 on 4-7 3 pt shooting. Huge game for him. Lovedale has eight points as well. Davidson as a team had a 3:1 assist/turnover ratio (12/4). All Davidson all the time here in the first twenty minutes.
And the Hall of Fame inductees take the court. Rod Knowles is really really tall. He was a very special component to all of those Lefty teams that has gone under the radar a little bit. It's great to see him get the recognition he deserves here today.

Alex Deegan, Davidson's goalie during the Final Four season, is also here today. He took part in some of the most memorable Davidson sports moments ever. His save in the quarterfinals will go down in Davidson history because of his elevation (unlike Knowles, he is not very tall) to tip the ball over the top of the net in OT shootout.
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17:20 D 46 F 22
Sander is playing today but you can tell that he's still feeling it. He missed a transition layup that forced him to turn quickly. Then he comes back down to take a charge. McKillop rewards him with some rest time on the bench. He is so beat up.

It's been a defensive struggle here early. Davidson's shots have come from the paint and have rimmed out. While Furman is just throwing up bricks.
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15:54 D 51 F 22
Curry breaks the sloppy shooting with a big three and he's got 21. Big Cat is starting to pad his rebounding numbers (4, 3 in the second half). Wow, Furman cannot shoot at all. They are now 26% from the field overall.

Kilgo says that the "yard dog" might come out. We'll have to see.
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14:30 D 53 F 22
Davidson's offense is very slow right now, but thankfully their defense still has a lot of energy. Furman didn't score for eight minutes at the beginning of their first half, and now they haven't scored for four and a half minutes to start the second half. Archambault back in the game to jumpstart some offense.

And Kilgo is timing Curry's free throws.
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13:10 D 56 F 24
Archambault now with 19 as he gets an AND1 after hitting a runner in the lane. He is a man possessed today. Furman still under 28% shooting.
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11:39 D 61 F 26
The CSTV guy just leaned in and asked me whether Curry has ever outscored a team for the whole game. Curry trails Furman by three. I suggest that Will Archambault might do it today, he has 24 points with five threes.
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9:00 D 69 F 34
Archambault gets a standing ovation as he takes a break with 26 points on the game. Lovedale also having a nice game with some steals and 12 points, the latest coming on a dunk assisted by Richards (9 assts). Then he gets his fifth rebound and is fouled. 13 points...14 points...
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7:37 D 72 F 39
Davidson's perimeter defense needs a little shot in the arm. Curry back in to do it. The Paladins have had some wide open three point looks. This one is all about image and Davidson can't afford to let the last ten minutes become a snooze fest like they have in the past. Curry for three...
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4:30 D 78 F 47
McKillop into the game at point and there's lots of dribbling around the perimeter. Davidson really doesn't have a full squad of reserves, so there will be a lot of experience in the game until the end. Curry is still stuck at 26...but it's ok because Rossiter and Meno are scoring inside. Davidson's defense continues to be solid.

Nelms in the ballgame along with Barr.
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3:00 D 80 F 47
Archambault with 28 points and he beats Curry today. Huge game for him. Lots of aggressiveness...precision shooting...quick defense...hustle plays...excellent, excellent. Davidson hasn't played the best second half as a team, but I would argue that it's better than it's been in other blowouts (CofC, WCU, Wofford...)

And apparently the yard dog's name is Chambers?
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1:00 D 84 F 51
I'm not liking Davidson's perimeter defense in the second half. Furman has had some wide open three-pointers and they've hit a few.

Overall, though, this game shows how dominant Davidson really is in this conference. UNCG is beating App...Furman has played others close...this conference has a lot of parity. We aren't a part of the conference.

And Nelms gets a point after Civi fed him with a solid pass. He missed the contested layup and the first free throw.
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Final D 86 F 51
Can Civi gets the exclamation point on this victory after an impressive drive and scoop shot around two Furman defenders. The crowd on their feet...huge win from everyone in red and white. And it's on to UNC-Greensboro. Post-game thoughts and quotes coming from the press room soon...

Blogs killed the radio star

I experienced yet another perspective on Davidson Athletics on Tuesday night, when Wildcat radio man Derek Smith asked me to fill in for Tia Washington and do color for the radio broadcast of the Women’s basketball team’s game against Furman. The most color commentary that I have ever done came in my own living room bantering with my Dad as we watched a game with the sound turned down. Derek said that was all I needed to do on the radio, as long as I didn’t say anything too far out there. Not a bad deal.

As it turned out, I had a lot of fun. While I was expecting to be very nervous by those pregnant pauses that meant that I was supposed to have something witty and insightful to say, I found that there was so much going on in the game that Derek didn’t pause enough for me to get everything in. I do admit that there were a few moments where Derek’s up-tempo play-by-play lulled me into silence that I had to wake myself up and remember to say something. (You can hear the entire broadcast here).

So what actually happened in the game? Well Davidson overcame a 16-8 deficit to open up a 22-16 lead midway through the first half. During that stretch, they dominated the Paladins on the boards and mixed a potent three-point shooting attack with great entry passes that ended in open layups. The Wildcats were used to Furman’s 2-3 zone as they had faced something similar just a few games earlier at Elon.

Although Davidson had way too many ball-handling turnovers and went through an offensive slump to start the second half, they held on for the double-digit victory thanks to some strong play from Mercedes Robinson and Ashley Lax. Robinson put together another double-double by scoring 16 and rebounding 10, while Lax came off the bench to score a career high of 11 points.

I learned throughout the game of the constant torment of the color-man: you often don’t get the chance to say what you want and you never have much to say when you are put on the spot. I probably sounded like a broken record as I talked about the “great passes and good looks” that resulted in made baskets. I hope I wasn’t too ridiculously obvious with my commentary. Some of the best moments of the night included joking with Derek about the ease of some Wildcat baskets while he chided me for making it sound easier than it really was for a man like himself.

Overall, I really enjoyed breaking down Davidson’s play on the fly and organizing some thoughts for the world to hear. It definitely beats having to organize thoughts with these stupid commas and periods and reasonably short sentences. Maybe I should start on an audio blog where I want be judged for prattling on. Hmm, there’s a thought.

Davidson records 17th straight conference victory, 73-51 over Furman

The Davidson Wildcats hit their first eight of nine shots to open up a 24-13 lead over the Furman Paladins Wednesday night before cruising to a 73-51 victory. The win puts Bob McKillop's Wildcats at a perfect 7-0 in the conference. It is the second consecutive season that Davidson has opened the league slate with seven victories.

Stephen Curry once again led all scorers with 14 points. However, Curry was off of his game on this night, hitting only 1-8 three-pointers and turning the ball over four times. He made up for his poor offensive performance by playing very aggressive defense, blocking one shot and collecting a team-high seven rebounds.

Boris Meno and Will Archambault turned in solid performances off the bench. Each scored in double figures in less than 20 minutes of play. Archambault attacked the basket off the dribble on several possessions and showed his ability to score from different looks. Andrew Lovedale started his fifth consecutive game and put together another solid performance with eight points and five rebounds.

Although Davidson got off to another quick start, they hit a slump halfway through the first period. Several costly turnovers by Davidson's guards found Jason Richards sitting on the bench and Furman trying to pull within single digits. Although Richards started with a couple of big three-pointers, he played most of the game out of sync. He played through the trash time at the end to finish with eight assists and 11 points. The nation's leading assist man now has over 500 assists for his career.

Davidson's defense played well for the night, forcing 16 turnovers and holding Furman to 4-19 shooting from three-point land. Six different players were credited with steals while the Wildcats challenged many Paladin shots around the rim.

Thomas Sander continued to provide a strong presence inside, pounding the Paladin forwards on every possession. The physical strain seemed to get to him a little in the second half though. He was visibly tired on the free throw line, missing two freebies off the front rim and going 1-4 from the FT line on the night.

The Furman student contingent tried to get in the Wildcats' heads all night by referring to players' siblings and past history.

"We have all learned to tune that stuff out pretty well," said Sander afterwards. "But that's probably the first time that people have brought up my sister."

As Davidson was leaving the Timmons Arena, the players were greeted by the first falling snow of the season. Native Canadian Max Paulhus Gosselin was grinning from ear to ear.

"It feels just like home."

Davidson 73 Furman 51

Coming off a 85-50 stomping of Wofford on Saturday, Davidson travels to Furman tonight to take on the Paladins in this final matchup of the three-game road trip. Furman has struggled mightily this season, posting a 2-14 record overall. Davidson will look to win its 31st of its last 32 conference games.

I will be on hand in Greenville to bring you all the action via the live blog. So keep it tuned here while you listen to John Kilgo out there in the digital world. And after the game, check out my post-game writeup and check out Lauren Biggers' View from Press Row on the new athletics blog of Davidson Athletics.
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18 minutes to tipoff

Aaron Bond has joined Can Civi on the bench in street clothes tonight. I haven't heard anything definitive about Bond, but I do know that he didn't get his normal time at the end of the Wofford game on Saturday. Maybe there's still some lingering affects from his early-season shoulder injury. Furman's Stanley Jones will also be in street clothes tonight as he has been suspended indefinitely. That leaves Opacic as the only Paladin with significant playing experience against Davidson.

Timmons Arena doesn't look too bad. They switched the benches to the other side and they have put the Davidson fans back in the nice seats. They took the stage down on the other side and seats extend from the floor up 25 rows to a black curtain. They also curtained off the extraneous upper bleachers that faced the court at weird angles. So it now looks like a semi-normal basketball facility, albeit with a smaller capacity.

Davidson's collection of bloggers have been put behind the basket on a table with very little protection. I have a feeling that we will get hit with some stray balls and flying bodies.
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"Welcome to tonight's game between Furman and the Wildcats of Davidson University," says the PA announcer.

Wow.
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After the Wildcats broke their last huddle, Curry went over and gave Meno a big hug. I'm sure that he really wants to get back into the starting lineup. Lovedale still starting tonight.
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17:50 D 7 FU 6
MPG opens things with a steal and Steph converts. After a Furman basket, Richards had an untimely turnover leading to 2 more for the Paladins. Davidson attacked the paint on their first half court possession and got easy points and then J-Rich hits a three. Now the defense needs to tighten...FU has scored on every possession.
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15:40 D 14 FU 8
Jason Richards responds to chants of "Lindsey" (his All-American sister) by hitting another three-pointer. Davidson now 5-5 from the field. They miss one but Curry responds with a nice jumper...team is now 6-7 FG.
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15:18 D 14 FU 8
MPG picks up his second foul and he will go to the bench going into the first media timeout. The pace of this game really favors Davidson right now. Furman has gotten a basket or two in transition but Davidson has gotten many. Only one Wildcat FG came after 25 seconds of a possession. That's Davidson's bread and butter...run and shoot, and hit in open space.
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11:43 D 21 FU 10
The high-flying Wildcats continue their offensive slaughter with another Curry three. Everyone in but Richards is a bench player now, and the Wildcats are cooling off a little. FU's Evans is really quick off the dribble. He just made a nice baseline reverse layup past everyone.
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11:00 D 21 FU 13
A turnover from Steph followed by a Connor Nolte leads McKillop to use a 30 second timeout. He's not letting Furman pull back now. He also puts Richards back in after a 20 second stint on the bench. And the Furman students let loose on his sister again. Our offense looks out of sync right now. We need to get Sander more looks inside. He has a way of steadying nervous offensive energy. And McKillop gets some surprising looks in the first half.
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7:56 D 24 FU 16
Richards hits a big three and he and Curry both have nine now. Curry's defense is excellent, but his ball-handling seems a little off right now. The Paladins have cooled off from the field, with several shots rimming out. SoCon opponents have done their homework on Davidson's screen slipping. Lovedale has tried several times and Furman knew it was coming. This score is actually very comforting because Furman is outplaying Davidson right now.
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4:48 D 29 FU 18
Furman is doing everything right now except for offensive rebounding and not lucking out on some bounces at the rim. Davidson is looking progressively sloppy. Sander hasn't gotten anything easy inside and our threes are further off the mark. Archambault breaks the slump with a nice baseline two...he had been blocked in the lane on his last attempt.
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4:18 D 31 FU 18
Meno scores a big two from a nice little J-Rich lob (2 assts on the game). Jackson calls a 30 to try to stop this mini run.
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3:56 D 31 FU 18
Davidson is doing a nice job of not leaving their feet on defensive possessions. Rossiter got a block on that last possession by standing straight with his hands up. Furman is 7-24 from the field and their last few shots have not been pretty. The Wildcats have kept position and have been gobbling up the defensive rebounds and not letting Furman get any second chance opps.
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1:04 D 35 FU 20
Meno is playing better and better. His defense has been very strong tonight and he has not made mistakes on offense while still being aggressive. He might begin starting again soon. It looks like the message is sinking in.
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Halftime D 37 FU 20
Richards feeds Archambault on a backdoor cut to end the half and Will slams Davidson to a 17 point lead.

Apparently the Furman students like to do sister research in their spare time. They are now getting on Thomas about Bridget. I'm surprised that they haven't brought up Seth but maybe they figured that wasn't intimidating enough.

So it looks like the Paladins have been to Wofford. Their tennis team is playing on the court tonight. I don't believe this. I'm getting pelted with tennis balls.
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18:00 D 39 FU 22
There's that easy Sander layup that I've been looking for. Davidson is shooting well over 50% from the floor while Furman is under 30%.
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17:51 D 43 FU
Richards and Curry drive unimpeded to the basket and Furman has to call a timeout. Both players have 11 on the game.

I got to meet Mr. DavidsonBasketball Blog at halftime which was great. The Wildcats have a pretty nice turnout from D-town...good mix of students and older fans representing for a weekday night game. The consensus is that we need to play better.
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14:13 D 47 FU 27
Furman's Jordan Miller just picked up his fourth foul. That came out of nowhere. MPG gets his first points with a nice finish at the cup. The fans are now getting on Andrew Lovedale and his habit of grunting on every rebound. I don't know but I think it's pretty cool. Curry is really really off tonight. Shots are way off, he's turned the ball over 4 times and he's giving them the confidence that they are shutting down the best player in the league. At least their fans are happy about it. Thankfully, Furman is pretty offensively inept and some other Wildcats have found easy ways to score.

Sander just missed two free throws to the tune of Bridget. He looks tired from rebounding and his shots are short.
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13:33 D 52 FU 30
KCary observed on the message board that Will Archambault is playing more aggressively. That is very accurate. He just ran an iso play with everyone on the left side of the key and Will driving right. He almost got a three-point play but settled for two free throws. Then, as I type, he does get a two AND1. Archer has 10 points.
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12:30 D 52 FU 32
Davidson moved to a 1-3-1 zone that last possession with Richards in the paint guarding Opacic. The Furman forward has several inches on him but Richards held his ground and Davidson got the stop. On the next possession, Opacic took advantage and drew a foul on Barr. Back to man.
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10:20 D 59 FU 35
Meno with eight points now. He and Archambault have played really well on the offensive end tonight. Curry is back in and looking to shoot. He hits a pull-up that time. I hope he doesn't get "selfish" here in the final ten as he tries to get his scoring total up. He needs to still play within the offense.
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8:20 D 60 FU 37
Free throws are becoming an issue again tonight. Davidson is 7-12 from the line with a bad 1-4 mark from Sander. Rossiter has not played very well tonight either. He just picked up a foul inside and comes out without any points to his name. Furman has also kept with Davidson pretty well on the rebounding end. The Wildcats aren't getting any O rebounds or second chance points.
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7:06 D 62 FU 41
This blog has what I call "the Will factor." After most negative critiques of Davidson, we usually fix them in the next possession. Two possessions after that last post. Two offensive rebounds and two points for Lovedale. Gotta love it. Paladin fans are heading out here in the penultimate media timeout. That's sad.
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5:15 D 64 FU 45
Brendan McKillop comes into the game to chatter of daddy's boy. After two quick fouls, they are now yelling "send in Mom." Davidson has not played well tonight and maybe Furman has reason to jeer us. We aren't playing as well as we should. But gosh, Furman is pretty bad. Outright bad.

Lovedale coming back with some strong play here in the end. Some big rebounds and a two while Sander sits on the bench.
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3:54 D 66 FU 45
Bryant Barr misses on an Archambault-like runner on the baseline...he threw it all the way over the hoop. That's not his shot yet. This Furman fight song is starting to grate on me. I just know that I'll be humming it all the way home tonight.
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25 sec D 73 FU 51
With Civi out tonight, Jason is getting some extended time here at the end along with Brendan. His presence makes Nelms, Rossiter and McKillop look much better. They now have him at seven assists after two nice dishes. McKillop for three and Richards has eight.
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Final D 73 FU 51
The Wildcats' performance could have been crisper tonight. Curry was not on his game tonight but the Wildcats saw some good things from Archambault and Meno and Lovedale. I will get a post-game story up later tonight from the road. Head over to Wildcats' Roar to check out Lauren Biggers' story. Also go to the Davidson Basketball blog to see some pictures and video.

SoCon South Division

With the conference season about to begin in earnest, I have compiled some short notes on every member of the SoCon and their season thus far. I will publish an entry or two on every team leading up to Davidson's Jan. 3 game with Georgia Southern. I will start with the South Division in this post.

Georgia Southern

The Eagles are currently 8-2 with a perfect 2-0 mark in the Southern Conference. Their conference victories came at Furman and hosting Appalachian State.

The Eagles' biggest out-of-conference win of the season came against Alabama-Birmingham. Georgia Southern held UAB scoreless for four-plus minutes down the stretch as they turned a four-point deficit into a seven-point lead. The Eagles hit 11 of 12 free throws in the final minutes to pull out a two-point victory.

Georgia Southern finished last season in the bottom half of the conference with a 7-11 league record including an overtime loss at The Citadel, 74-69. They lost to the College of Charleston in their first game of the conference tournament.

Although the Eagles lost Donte Gennie and his 16.2 points per game, they returned 6-8 forward Louis Graham and their floor general Dwayne Foreman. This season, Graham is in the top 10 in the conference for both scoring and rebounding while Foreman has averaged 6.2 assists per game (second in the conference behind Davidson's Jason Richards).

Davidson plays the streaking Eagles at odd times during the conference slate: during Christmas Break on Jan. 3, and at the beginning of Spring Break on March 1.

Last season, Davidson trailed GSU in Statesboro by nine points at halftime. However, Jason Richards scored a career-high 32 points including four three-pointers and twelve free throws to give Davidson a 101-92 victory. GSU's Graham scored 26 points while Foreman dished out a game-high 11 assists. Davidson's Thomas Sander hit three three-pointers in that game. The 6-8 forward has only hit four threes in the entirety of the 2007-2008 season.

Wofford

The Wofford Terriers have surprised a few people around the Southern Conference with their 7-4 start and one-point victory over North Division rival UNC-Greensboro. Wofford now stands third in the conference with a 1-1 record after dropping a road game at Elon.

The Terriers responded by defeating the Purdue Boilermakers and winning the Findlay Toyota Las Vegas Classic by besting Texas Southern and Bethune-Cookman.

This Terrier season comes in true form as Wofford continues to be the Southern Conference's most inconsistent squad. Last year, the Terriers knocked off Cincinnati and barely lost to College of Charleston before going 5-13 in the conference with a loss at The Citadel.

Their fortunes have largely been determined by the play of their two stellar guards: Shane Nichols and Drew Gibson. Both players are incredible outside shooters, but they have had very little help from their teammates in the past, and the Terriers usually fall when they are held under 15-20 points apiece. Throughout their careers, both players have missed games due to injury, and Nichols' 15.3 ppg this season is not registered among the conferences' leaders because he has only played in six games.

The Terriers seem to be a different team when playing in tiny Ben Johnson Arena on their campus in Spartanburg. Wofford is 4-0 at home this season and they went 7-5 at home last year with near misses against Davidson (83-78), Western Carolina (81-75), and The Citadel (74-71). In the last seven years, Wofford has held an average winning margin of 7.8 over Davidson with a 4-2 record at Ben Johnson Arena. Davidson will travel to Spartanburg on Jan. 12, the Saturday before students return to campus from their holiday break.

College of Charleston

The College of Charleston Cougars will wrap up their last holiday set of games in the old John Kresse Arena on December 29 and 30 when they host JMU, S.C. State and Mercer in the "Jim 'N Nick's Cougar Classic." The Cougars have come perilously close to knocking off two BCS powers, losing to Florida State and South Carolina by a combined eight points. They are now 4-6 with a 1-1 record in the conference (their sole loss came at Chattanooga, 86-70).

The defending conference runners-up, the Cougars have seen increased production from point guard Tony White Jr. who currently leads the team with 13.8 ppg and 3.1 apg. Last year, White backed up all-conference standout Dontaye Draper who completed his eligibility last spring. Combining Draper's absence with the off-season defection of upper-class forward Josh Jackson, College of Charleston's Bobby Cremins has had to look to his incoming players to make an impact.

Andrew Goudelock has averaged 12 points off the bench while shooting a team-best 44% from the field. His immediate impact has helped to overcome the slow start from returning letterman Marcus Hammond. The junior averaged over 7 points a game last year as a starting guard, but he is only shooting 30% from the field and scoring 5 ppg this season.

Davidson has had College of Charleston's number over the last few years. The Wildcats won all three matchups last year and are a collective 8-1 against CofC over the last four seasons. Out of those eight victories, three of them came in thrilling fashion with Davidson hitting a last-minute shot to win the game.

The Citadel

For a team with 13 freshman and an injury to one of two returning lettermen, The Citadel Bulldogs have done well to go 4-6 to this point in the season. Pat Conroy's team has a victory over county rival Charleston Southern and "good losses" to teams like USC, South Carolina and Washington State. The Bulldogs played conference-favorite Davidson tough for one half two weeks ago.

The Bulldogs have played some of their recent games without returning local senior forward Demetrius Nelson. Nelson missed the matchup with Davidson due to a stress fracture.

With Nelson out, Conroy has seen increased production from sensational freshmen Austin Dahn and Cameron Wells. Wells currently ranks third in the conference with 15.5 ppg. He is also averaging 3.4 assists per game.

Although The Citadel will probably finish ninth or tenth in the conference once again, they have a very talented young team that could sneak up on some conference opponents and possibly win a game in the conference tournament being played in their hometown.

Furman

The disaster that is the 2007-2008 Furman Paladins first reared its ugly head on March 2, 2007 when the Paladins managed only 15 points in the first half of their SoCon semifinal game against Davidson. No player outside of graduating seniors Moussa Diagne, Eric Webb or Robby Bostain obtained anything more than garbage points, and Furman was absolutely humiliated after Teddy Valentine threw out Diagne from the last game of his career.

Furman made several off-season improvements to their home gym in Greenville but that has not helped a team that has yet to win a game this season. Furman's 0-10 record (0-3 SoCon) includes embarrassing losses to USC Aiken and Utah Valley.

The Paladins have been led by freshman Justin Dehm who has averaged 9.6 points per game so far. Returning letterman Tony Anderson is one of two Paladin players with a positive assist/turnover ratio, but he has only scored 29 points in ten games played.

Davidson has only lost to Furman once since 1995. That loss came at Timmons Arena in 2006 as the Paladins ended Davidson's nation-leading conference winning streak. Without a scorer averaging more than 10 points a game, it doesn't look like the Paladins will find much success against Davidson or any other team in the Southern Conference this season.

Weekly Wrap-up

As many of you have already seen from the Dson Bball Blog and the message board, there is a new 'Cat in town. The blog's name is Lefty's Legacy and it is run by some Davidson alums from 4th Watts and Base Rich. Although the blog is still in its infancy, I still like its tumbling format. The quote feature is pretty cool.

I want post that, unless otherwise noted, all images used on the site now come from Davidson volleyball coach, Tim Cowie. You can find some of Cowie's photos that are available to purchase here.

This week all eyes turn to Raleigh, N.C. for Davidson's game with the N.C. State Wolfpack. I won't be doing a live writeup, but I will post some observations on Saturday at some point. Although Davidson suffered a 4-5 record from a very tough front end of a schedule in November and December, it means the Wildcats get to relax a little throughout most of their holiday break. In the past 5 years, Davidson has sported a less-than-stellar 10-11 record against D-I opponents over the holiday break. If you take out last year's 5-0 mark, that number becomes even more discouraging. This year's holiday break extends so far into January that the Wildcats will have already played six games before students get to see them again on January 19th against Chattanooga.

Speaking of the Chattanooga game on the 19th, fans should begin to make plans to come to Belk Arena for both that game and the Feb. 16th game against Furman. On the 19th, Davidson will honor players and coaches that have helped build the Davidson basketball program over the last 100 years. While legendary coaches Lefty Driesell and Terry Holland will be in attendance, fans will miss out on seeing Davidson legends Mike Maloy, Fred Hetzel and Derek Rucker who will not be attending. On Feb. 16th, Davidson will honor another class of inductees into its Hall of Fame. The class of 2008 includes soccer goalie Alex Deegan '95, Steve Heckard '65, Rodney Knowles '68, and Carolyn Kirsch '97.

Furman pre-game

Here are some pre-game thoughts before today's semifinal round against Furman.

Davidson will be facing a different beast in today's game. While they had to contend with length and leaping ability yesterday, today's game will about shooting and defending the perimeter. Against UNC-G yesterday, Furman's Robby Bostain scored 18 points, going 5-8 from the field and 3-4 from three-point land. Davidson will have to extend their defense to limit Furman's looks from outside.

The Cats should have a nice home court advantage in this game. Davidson has a lot of fans who made the trip down I-77 today; so many, in fact, that I don't know if anyone will even be reading this blog during the game. Furman will be outmuscled in terms of crowd noise.

Davidson will have to integrate Max Paulhus Gosselin back into their gameplan. He did not have any steals or points yesterday against UTC. Gosselin needs to regain his confidence and create some fastbreak opportunities at the top of Davidson's defense.

The Wildcats have to take advantage of all of their offensive opportunities because Furman, unlike UTC, will make them pay on the other end of the court. Each possession will be very valuable in this game.

In a nice human interest tidbit, former Davidson assistant SID Erica Madden is here at the game today. However, she will be wearing the purple and white as she now works for the Furman SID department. Madden is engaged to former Davidson DBO Will Roberson.

Wildcats run to 16-1 in conference

When the Wildcats found themselves down 10-2 nearing the first media timeout, they knew that this wasn't going to be another easy home win against Furman. Last year in Belk Arena, the Wildcats held Furman in single digits for the first 10 minutes of the first half. Davidson found themselves trailing at halftime after the Paladins outmuscled and outshot the high-powered Wildcats. It was the second time in as many games that Davidson was beat out of the blocks by a lesser team.

Unfazed by Furman's clutch shooting, their physical exertion in the paint, and several questionable calls by the referees Davidson responded in the second half by pushing the floor and making some of the most spectacular plays in recent Davidson history. Possession after possession showcased another juke, jive and readjustment within the air as Davidson streaked out in front of the stunned Paladins.

Stephen Curry finished with 24 points, four assists and six rebounds as he extended his 23-ppg streak to 9 games. With his 3 three-pointers, he pulled closer to the NCAA record for threes by a freshman in one season. He is now only nine threes away.

The Wildcats were able to pound the ball into the paint, oftentimes through the drive, as they scored 46 paint points and had 10 second chance points. With the 75-57 victory, Davidson is now 25-4 on the season and 16-1 in the conference, as they clinched yet another conference championship. With only one more game before the Southern Conference tournament, this team looks to be putting on the final touches for a long run into March. Even if they lose in the conference tourney, they are guaranteed a spot in the NIT per the new rule of automatic qualification.

"When you respond like we did against Furman, it's an important statement of courage when you are looking into the Southern Conference tournament," Coach McKillop said afterwards. "We are playing courageous basketball right now."

Other highlights of the game included increased playing time for Lamar Hull and John Falconi. Both walkon seniors started the game and saw some time near the end of the contest. Neither player scored in their final game in Belk Arena, although Hull had one layup attempt that barely rimmed out. Can Civi, however, scored the first field goal in his Davidson career.

Davidson will next head to The Citadel for their fourth game in the last week. The Citadel has played the Wildcats tough in McAlister Field House over the last few seasons and Davidson will need to be prepared for another physical team that will try to push Davidson out of its system. The Wildcats will have to overcome their fatigue and put away a scrappy Bulldog team that played the College of Charleston very tough tonight.

'Cats beat Furman 71-63; Extend streak to 10

Driving down to Greenville, SC on a Saturday afternoon last January, I was surrounded by a large group of quaint older Presbyterians in red sweaters, working mothers and their elementary school 'Cat fans wearing vintage Wildcat jerseys and three or four college students who made up the core of the traveling fanbase. That day we had high expectations for a Wildcat victory. Davidson had never lost a game in Furman, and the Wildcats were looking to extend their nation's best 27 game conference winning streak.

I will never forget the feeling of climbing back onto that bus nearly 2.5 hours later. These Wildcats weren't supposed to lose. They obviously had the best team in the conference and yet Furman beat them. I couldn't even tell you why we lost; somehow the scoreboard just kept putting a higher number under "FU." At the end of the day, that's how I felt too.

When the Davidson Wildcats traveled back down to Greenville yesterday afternoon, they had no intention of walking away with such a bad taste in their mouths. For only the sixth time this season, the Wildcats trailed at halftime by 1 point. By the end of the game, the lead would change 18 times and no team led by more than 10 points.

By most outward appearances this game looked to be favoring the Paladins nearly all night long. The Wildcats, becoming better known as a team that likes to continually push the floor, were continually thrown out of their rhythm through inadvertent official timeouts due to incompetent shot clock and scoreboard workers. Furman finished the game having hit 43% of its three-pointers, while Davidson only managed a paltry 28%. Furman also forced a +3 turnover margin in their favor and held the Wildcats to only three players scoring more than 9 points.

However, the numbers can only tell so much. In the last ten minutes, the Wildcats were able to maintain near a 6-8 point lead, and several key baskets by Thomas Sander led the Paladins to fouling in order to keep the ballgame close. Although the Wildcats played terrific team defense all night long, the ice cold end-of-game foul shooting has always been Davidson's key to success.

For the game, Davidson was led by Thomas "Big Cincinnati" Sander who had 25 points, nine rebounds, and three steals. Jason Richards contributed another double-digit performance with 18 points and eight assists, despite six turnovers. On a reputedly "off night" Stephen Curry only managed 15 points and 3 rebounds on 4-11 shooting. Max Paulhus-Gosselin also made good contributions with his eight points and nine rebounds including six offensive ones to continue to Wildcat possessions. As Coach McKillop said in the post-game interview,

"those offensive rebounds are like bolts of lightning to opposing defenses. They come down and strike you in the heart."

The Wildcats will have to look forward to two more "trap" games as they travel to Wofford on Saturday and then host the Citadel on Tuesday. Although the Terriers have not found the winning formula in the SoCon thus far, they have always played the Wildcats tough in that Spartanburg doghouse. Davidson also cannot look past another group of dogs in the Citadel, a team that is 2-1 in their last three conference games including a tough fight to the finish against the College of Charleston last Tuesday. All this will lead up to the biggest SoCon game on the schedule when the Appalachian State Mountaineers travel to Davidson on January 20th for a North-South showdown.

**Photo by Bart Boatwright**