Davidson 89 Georgia Southern 69

The Wildcats head down to Statesboro in their final regular season test of 2008. Davidson is coming off an emotional Senior Day win over Appalachian State, while Georgia Southern just lost in Charleston last night against their rival, the CofC Cougars. Right now the Eagles are sporting a 13-6 conference record and are eyeing a three seed in the upcoming conference tournament.

Although Georgia Southern got smacked by Davidson, 92-67, back in January, they have only lost once in Statesboro all season. The Wildcat women's team might have warmed up the red karma in Hanner by knocking off the Eagles on Thursday to put them in the driver's seat for the three seed in the tournament. Hopefully, the floor will still be warm with Wildcat success by Saturday night.

Davidson will enter this game with even more lift in their step as the Wildcats were featured on the front page of the New York Times this morning. The article once again sets forth the unique and value-driven approach of Davidson's institutional and athletic approach. Two games on ESPN drove the Wildcats to #27 of the AP poll last week. Would a national article sway over one or two final liberal writers to punch the Wildcats' ticket to the Top 25 for the SoCon Tournament?
---
14 minutes before tip-off and I’m finally settling down to do some hard writing. As you already know by now, Georgia Southern is not equipped with wireless. They are also not equipped with media table…Michael Kruse, Kevin Cary, Logan Kosmalski, John Kilgo and myself have been given the Duke treatment and are confined to the upper rafters of the Hanner Fieldhouse. After initially being told that there was no media food, I found some pizza on top of a Coke machine hidden in a corner. It is as sketchy as it sounds, but I’m hungry.

I’ve got plenty of stories from the Fan Bus on the way down here but I will post some of those on a separate blog entry later on. We had a scenic view of the GSU campus on the way in here. I still haven’t ascertained whether the Georgia Southern students are on break this week…but this campus was absolutely dead. I hope for this school’s sake that they are on break. This gym isn’t too large but it’s filling up pretty nicely. It echoes much like Greensboro’s small breadbox.

Glancing at the nearly all-Caucasian student section that stretches out in front of me, one hand-made sign really stands out: “Graham’s Crackers.”

Curry seems to be having trouble with his waistband again in pre-game intros…the last time that happened he scored 41 at Greensboro.
---
18:30 D 5 GSU 5
Max Paulhus Gosselin gets things going with a layup that was goal-tended. The call came really late and from a ref a long way away. That might not bode well. Good defense to start. I keep remarking that Graham is just too skinny to be an effective post player (I’m sure Davidson forwards have gotten that critique as well). O foul on Dwayne Foreman makes me feel better.
---
16:54 D 7 GSU 10
Curry was left wide-open on several shot attempts and Davidson is jumping passing lanes. I swear that I’m watching Duke play from up here at this weird angle. Two stupid fouls on the Wildcats back-to-back and GSU has a little momentum. Logan breaks down Thomas’ bad foul. Wow. GSU did not shoot like this at Davidson. Maybe I should have held off on the Greensboro references so early on.
---
15:22 D 11 GSU 10
Wildcats might have gotten away with a foul and a palming on that last fast break, But I don’t feel too bad about it because Sander just picked up his second foul. Curry has seven and could get a lot more because the Eagles’ D is very loose. No doubles…not too physical. Kevin Cary predicts another 40-point output. OK…no more Greensboro references…I’m done.

Boris has done well so far defensively securing loose balls and playing strong inside.
---
12:58 D 18 GSU 14
Rossiter with a great cut and Curry finds him off the in-bounds. Curry with another WIDE open three-point look. He waits for an eternity before knocking it down. And these refs are going nuts on GSU away from the ball…that’s the third offensive foul off the ball on them. Graham has two of them and he’s on the bench. Will Archambault is hacked on the way to the rim, but the far ref calls it and does so after realizing that the under guy has swallowed his whistle…a bit embarrassing.

You can tell a lot about a school and their athletic department by looking at the marketing and game operations people around the court. One guy with a credential and head set on under the basket was all in the ref’s ear after a foul. Bush-league.
---
11:10 D 18 GSU 21
And Davidson is really struggling right now. GSU on a 7-0 run as Archambault puts up some forced shots in the paint and then the Wildcats get called for a charge. The Eagles hit on the other end with some big shots, and McKillop calls a timeout. Davidson is playing down to GSU and jumping out of control and throwing the ball up. MPG back in for some defensive mastery, while coach McKillop speaks strongly to Will on the sideline.
---
7:54 D 24 GSU 23
Curry starting to get pressured now, as he shoots a three right into the hands of a GSU defender…always the competitor, Curry got the loose ball and got it back to MPG for two. Meno comes back in for Lovedale and is playing a little better offensively. Curry on the other hand is getting rattled by the contact. GSU is very rough and tumble.

Georgia Southern’s crowd only gets loud for “bad calls” and three-point shots. Doesn’t seem like too much of a home-court advantage to me. And now they’ve got a student playing the shooting game for a prize with a backpack on. What does he have in there that he wouldn’t want to put it down. Oh, they both have them on. Must be some sort of weird backpack-shooting promotion thing.
---
6:40 D 28 GSU 28
Curry and Sander now have two fouls apiece and Will returns to action. Barr replaces him not long after. The Eagles double J-Rich on the inbounds and Boris can’t get it in. I don’t like this. Graham is now back in the game with two fouls…like to see Davidson attack him. The Eagles learning the err of their out-of-control ways as they pick up two very bad fouls 90 feet from Davidson’s basket and Jason makes them pay at the line.
---
4:44 D 30 GSU 28
Davidson Asst. SID Lauren Biggers, she of the (Stef-IN), would be proud of GSU’s announcer. He has said Stef-IN Rossiter throughout the entire game. Andrew Lovedale continues to be off on the offensive end. He had 1 FG against ASU and has not hit yet tonight.

Big break for Davidson as Louis Graham picks up his third foul on an ill-advised charging call.
---
3:19 D 33 GSU 31
Meno looking good right now. He pulls down another O rebound and gets fouled on his shot attempt. His mother has stayed in town and traveled down on the fan bus this afternoon. GSU students show their class by chanting USA whenever Andrew or Boris are on the line. This is one part of the “USA” that I won’t be coming back to for a very long time.

Georgia Southern has cooled off on their shooting, but Davidson has not played crisp basketball in the least. This court has a bit of a Vanderbilt feel to it. There is a lot of space outside of the boundary lines (as I said, there is only one media table, the baskets hang and there is nothing on the baselines) and the court just feels really big and long.
---
Halftime D 42 GSU 35
Curry back in and hits a huge three-pointer. Bryant Barr replaces him to keep him safe before half. Meno with his eighth point of the game. Good game for him. Davidson is finally getting used to Georgia Southern physical over-pursuit (a complete turnaround from how they started the game).

The half about to close and MPG gets pegged with the worst foul call of the night so far. MPG got position on the rebound, stretched out his arms and was driven to the floor by his wrists . And he gets called for a foul.

McKillop should be commended for his game plan here at the end of the half. Curry came in and out for offense only and hit two big three-pointers. He’s got 16 at the break, while Meno has eight.

I just looked at the scoreboard and was shocked to see that seven point advantage. It doesn’t feel like that…that’s what Curry three-pointers will do for you.
The halftime stat sheet doesn’t look as bad as that half felt at times. Meno with six rebounds (four offensive) and eight points. The Wildcats with 10 assists against GSU’s five, and they have forced 11 turnovers on six steals. Louis Graham has been held scoreless so far and has five turnovers and three fouls. Dwayne Foreman has picked up the slack, though, with 10 points on 4-6 shooting.
---
18:51 D 44 GSU 37
Louis Graham on the bench as we start the second half here. MPG on Foreman…we’ll see if that slows him down some. Davidson tastes some of their own medicine as they are called for their second five-second call tonight. Andrew Lovedale picks up his third foul after Matthew Fields ripped a rebound out of his hands. Boris could be back in soon, because Lovedale is off tonight. And there’s his fourth foul. Yikes! Boris will be called on to finish this one off.
---
16:50 D 48 GSU 39
Wildcats very slow on offense so far this half. Curry hasn’t seen many touches yet with Foreman on him. But Louis Graham will go the way of Andrew Lovedale as his picks up his fourth foul on the inside. Davidson will now have to focus on the athletes of Marshall and Fields. MENO!!! With 12 points.
---
16:00 D 53 GSU 42
Curry and Richards slash to the hole for some more points…but today’s story is Boris Meno. He is the first one down the court on offense…he was pressuring the in-bound and nearly got a steal last time. Thomas Sander picks up his fourth foul away from the ball and Meno becomes even more important. Free throw shooting will be crucial later on, and I give the edge to Davidson in that category.
---
15:30 D 57 GSU 42
Kevin Cary states that this is a “big possession” after an Eagle charge. Jason Richards takes the ball to the hoop and scores. Foreman tries to answer but is way off and then Richards finds Curry on the baseline for a sweet jumper. GSU timeout and the guards do their jump and bump at mid-court. Wildcats on the brink of pulling away.
---
14:52 D 57 GSU 42
Many people talk about Davidson’s Wildcat mascot in disparaging terms (I’m looking at you, Bushido), but GSU’s attempt at an Eagle is pathetic. John Kilgo called it a big chicken last year. I think it looks more like a sea gull (props to Meg Clark for the inspiration).
---
12:20 D 59 GSU 49
Will Archer is just not feeling it at all. He is called for charging and taken out again. The Eagles are on a mini-run and this place is realizing that this is their chance to pull it under 10 and try to keep it there.

This place erupts after Graham and Meno battle like heck underneath. Meno goes down and Graham is called for a charge and his fifth foul. He ends his last game in Hanner with five fouls in 28 minutes and 0 points. Horrible way to go out. The event staff underneath the basket are almost ejected.
---
11:38 D 61 GSU 49
Curry picks up his third foul by jumping into a Foreman pump fake. Duh-wayne is not a bad player at all…but his teammates are horrible shooters and it doesn’t help your cause when your All-Conference forward fouls out with over five turnovers and no points.
---
9:44 D 66 GSU 51
Curry with five straight points to put him at 29. He has taken the Hanner Hooligans completely out of the game. It is silent in here…well not really. There is a red section in the upper corner showing their appreciation.
I usually update time at the timeouts but Georgia Southern’s scoreboard shows the time left in the timeout instead of the game time. It is the most bizarre thing I have ever seen.
---
8:56 D 69 GSU 51
Curry with an incredible three from the corner and the hooligans respond by throwing t-shirts and stuff on the court. Grow up people. One cheerleader even threw his megaphone on the court. Richards picked it up and gave it back to him with a smile. I have been a “rival” of the CofC Cougars for the last four years but I am in complete solidarity with them for their disgust of Georgia Southern and its fanbase.
---
7:49 D 77 GSU 52
I don’t know though. Stephen Curry has a “mean streak” in him. He was wide open on a run-out and pulled up for a three-pointer at the top of the key. Drained it for his 35th point of the game. And the fans are leaving like “ants fleeing a kicked anthill.”
---
5:28 D 80 GSU 55
Boris Meno comes to the bench with a “Bow-Ris” chant going. His mom stands up and does the hand chop.

Davidson with a little un-needed physicality on the defensive end and Barr is called for a foul that stops the clock and puts them on the line. Then Thomas called for a foul on the rebound of the free throw and GSU is back at the line.

GSU fans now taking their anger out on the Davidson fans by screaming at them. I hope that the Wildcats have a security detail on their way to the bus. The ones that are still here are just looking for trouble.
---
4:47 D 84 GSU 56
Curry to Max on the alley-OOP. And the foul. Georgia Southern is getting paddled with their pants down right now.
---
3:38 D 86 GSU 58
Georgia Southern has a timeout cheer where they ask one side… “who’s house?” , “our house!” The Davidson fans are the loudest participants right now. Curry is probably done tonight with 35 points on 13-17 shooting including 7-9 from three-point range. His name is already being engraved on that POY plaque in some warehouse in Spartanburg, S.C.
---
Final D 89 GSU 69
Civi Time sees Davidson move to a 3-2 zone to account for their height disadvantage. And MIKE SCHMITT gets into the game for the first time in his collegiate career to a cheer of “Let’s See Schmitt!” Nelms bricked some free throws. Poor Mike. On his first touch, he throws it away for a GSU run-out. At least he gets in the stat book.
Huge win for Davidson! 20-0 is sealed and you can pop a mini-bottle. The real celebration doesn’t come until next Monday. But until the Wildcats take the court against either Wofford or Western next Saturday. Until then, the Wildcats are the first ever team in NCAA history to go 20-0 in conference play.

State of the SoCon

Here's a quick glance around the Southern Conference's internet outlets to find out what's on the fan's minds:

In Davidson-land, fans have begun to get over the slight from ESPN that placed Davidson in a Bracketbuster game with a Winthrop team that is 40-50 RPI points its inferior. Fans are now more concerned about how to keep themselves interested and involved while the Wildcats blow out their conference opponents. There has also been a recent little discussion over how students get tickets, where they get them, and how the stadium staff enforces different sections.

Down in the lowcountry, College of Charleston faithful have joined the ranks of UNC-Charlotte fans in questioning the heart of their team's players and the strategy of its coach. While the Cougar faithful have not been called out by the local press for their gab, things are getting pretty downright depressing in Cremins' backyard. College of Charleston suffered their worst defeat in SoCon history on Saturday and the anger that usually accompanies a proud following has started to border on exasperated resignation. It seems that the only corner of South Carolina where basketball still has legitimate standing is in, of all places...Clemson! The Tigers are third in the ACC and go into Chapel Hill tonight with a chance for a signature victory after falling to the Tar Heels in OT a month ago.

In the North Division of the Southern Conference, the Chattanooga Mocs suffered yet another loss to the "dirty", "better than they look" Davidson Wildcats before dropping an embarrassing loss to Western Carolina, a team with only eight players on the active roster after several mid-season defections. But wait, it gets worse. Chattanooga then went on to beat 4-win Furman by a mere three points, and then was kicked out of the North Division lead thanks to a 20-point blowout by Georgia Southern. Things are so bad up in Chattanooga that starting point guard Kevin Bridgewaters rolled his ankle in pre-game warmups just so he could stop committing turnovers.

So, all this means that reigning North Division champ Appalachian State is now back in first place and ready to make a run at Davidson in the Southern Conference tournament...right? Well, Appalachian State gave up 10 unanswered points at home to fall to the Cougars in the final minutes on Thursday. (Yeah, those Cougars...) Then the Mountaineers end up needing the karma of a missed Citadel free throw just to get the Bulldogs to overtime on Saturday. The Appies came away with the win and the outright lead in the North Division. But that doesn't matter too much, because...they scheduled LSU to start next year's football season! Heck, there is more discussion on Baton Rouge hotel rooms than App's loss to the College of Charleston on Thursday.

So...um...who else? Oh yeah, Georgia Southern! They did beat Chattanooga by 20 on Saturday and are now the projected three seed for the tournament. But...um, I can't find their message board. I did find this, but it seems that's just football-only. Heck, even the Eagles' own fanbase have somehow found better things to do than attend a home basketball game against the North Division-leading Chattanooga Mocs. Only 2400 people were on-hand to watch the Eagles shut down that high-flying Moc attack.

I would mention Wofford's recent streak of winning six out of their last eight games, but I'm afraid they would immediately want to kick me out of the SoCon for not playing D-I scholarship football. Oh wait, I was complementing the Terriers on their basketball team? Well, nevermind.

Video Highlights versus Georgia Southern

Austin Bell, Davidson's own budding movie-maker, has posted new original footage from Davidson basketball. These most recent highlights are from Thursday's night game against Georgia Southern. There are currently plans to incorporate Bell's footage into a new part of the athletics website's "Multimedia" tab.

Davidson goes 3-0 with 92-67 win over Georgia Southern

The Wildcats opened with an 11-0 run and never let up en route to a 92-67 conference win over Georgia Southern. Curry led all scorers with 24 points and scored his 1,000th point in a Wildcat uniform. Curry is the 38th Wildcat to score that many in a career.

"It feels great to get that, but I'm just more focused on what's next," Curry said afterward.

The Wildcats won the battle in the trenches with a 48-38 rebounding edge. Thomas Sander had a break-out game with 18 points and the Wildcats held Georgia Southern's star forward Louis Graham to only seven points. Davidson outscored the Eagles 38-30 with points in the paint.

"We hadn't been that emotional over the last few weeks. But Coach has been working us to be more emotional on the court which showed tonight," Sander said.

Gosselin echoed that sentiment. "We are all having fun now. That's why I came here, to have fun playing basketball. And that's what we're trying to do right now."

Gosselin finished with a season-high seven points, all of which came in the first half.

"We hit singles tonight which was great. We really needed what Sander gave us tonight. Richards and Curry gave us their usual performance, but Sander and Gosselin gave us a sense of urgency," said Coach McKillop.

Curry and Richards had their typical nights as both players finished with double-doubles. Curry's 10 rebounds matched a career-high that he set last year against Chattanooga. Richards' double-double was the seventh of his career. Curry overcame a 3-10 shooting performance in the first half to go 8-19 on the game. Davidson shot 47% from the field on the game.

"We are confident. We have played a tough schedule and we have learned a lot. We are trying to get our swagger back now in the conference," Curry said.

McKillop went with a new lineup tonight as he started Andrew Lovedale in place of senior forward Boris Meno. Meno responded by scoring seven points, while Lovedale had several great hustle plays despite only being credited with four rebounds.

The Wildcats had gone through a form of boot-camp in the days of practice after Christmas. The practices were meant to lift the energy of the team and get them having fun again.

"The fire was still there, but I wanted to spark it a little," McKillop said.

Davidson 92 Georgia Southern 67

Tonight the Davidson Wildcats will plunge into the long dark of the conference schedule. Between now and March, Davidson will play at least two conference foes every week, and every team will have its minds set on knocking off the two-time defending champions.

I will be set up courtside with a live blog going tonight. You can catch John Kilgo's radio feed by going here and clicking on Live Audio. I will post some pre-game thoughts tonight followed by live comments and reactions at every media timeout. Feel free to send questions or comments here.
---
The big news tonight is that Andrew Lovedale is projected to start in place of Boris Meno. I will update that when we do the starting lineups. But plan on the Big Cat seeing early minutes tonight.

The color of the night seems to be orange. An insane number of staff and coaches are wearing orange dress clothes tonight. Odds on the color of McKillop's tie tonight? I've got 10-1 odds on orange.
---
We are confirmed that Lovedale will be starting in place of Meno tonight. He will be jumping the tip.

Davidson comes out with some new long sleeve black warmups. They look pretty good. Combine the new unis with some new facial hair on the part of the forwards and this team looks ready for business. If only they could start wearing the black unis again.
---
17:12 D 11 GS 0
Curry opens things with a three and a jumper to give D a quick 7-0 lead. Lovedale's a better defender away from the basket, which helps against Graham. Graham has already shot and missed several outside shots. And a back door to Max, steal from Jason followed by a Max dunk and this is an early blowout.
---
15:30 D 13 GS 3
Boris is quickly in and he makes a great pass to Thomas inside. It looks like sitting for the first three minutes really focused his efforts. This team has the intensity and skill of that 29-5 squad from last year. MPG playing well, Sander with inside scoring, J-rich on defense. An Archambault turnover brought me back down to earth. But we are still playing really well.
---
12:49 D 19 GS 3
Steph with another charge. But the offense is clicking on the interior. And the defense has been great. Sander now has 8 points and Price has take another timeout. All Davidson at this point. One quick look at stats shows Davidson with an 11-3 rebounding advantage. The Eagles are not getting second chances and are not shooting the ball well at all (FG 1/10). Curry gets an early break and we'll see what Barr can do.
---
11:51 D 19 GS 3
The Wildcat defense is outstanding right now. While no one with a 16-point lead should be complaining, I will say that they need to finish a little better around the rim. Curry should make one more move before barreling into contact. The refs aren't calling much defensively and it's going to take a little more finesse to get these close shots to go down.
---
9:30 D 26 GS 8
Foreman and Graham out of the game for GSU and the Eagles move into a zone. Rossiter with a nice jumper in space. MPG has shown up to play. He is beating the Eagles down the court and Jason has found him. Max now has seven points. And Curry with a sweet move under the basket. This one is fun.
---
8:00 D 31 GS 12
Curry has only been given one steal in the Live Stats. I know that he has more than that. And Lovedale with another sick pick kill at halfcourt...Powers went down. Sander continues his poor foul shooting but he's killing the offensive boards. Will is still off his game, but Coach is giving him time to work through it.
---
6:50 D 33 GS 16
Graham and Foreman are still scoreless. I hate to admit it but the Eagles have been on the wrong end of some questionable calls. Lovedale has tipped several balls out but Davidson has retained possession. The officials are letting both teams play pretty physically which means more loose balls and Davidson (namely Stephen Curry) has been there to pick them up. Things got a little chippy in the last scramble at midcourt. Now things are getting ugly on both ends. GSU is really frustrated and the Wildcats need to be careful not to get hurt. Thomas Sander almost always finds himself in the middle of these things and we don't need him getting hurt.
---
4:54 D 41 GS 20
In a quick SoCon score update, Charleston leads App 25-24 in a big conference game in Charleston. Richards shows his maturity again by pulling up at 15 feet and hitting an easy jumper instead of driving into the mess for a contested layup. Jason and Thomas have now scored in double digits. And the chippiness escalates...Tech on Price after some questionable calls on both teams. The Eagles interfered in the cylinder but were then awarded a makeup call which Price didn't like.
---
3:20 D 43 GS 22
Davidson has not shot well from 3 point land, but they are owning the paint. Lovedale and Sander have fought for every loose ball and are seeing plenty of looks for shots. Price has not even talked to his team during the last media timeout...he was arguing that Davidson's "traffic," where Sander walks up the court with Richards behind him, is a moving screen. Price won't win that battle. With Davidson in the bonus, they are going to need to up their FT percentage. Lovedale just went 1-2.
---
Halftime D 45 GS 31
Coach McKillop is not proud of his team's play there at the end. The Eagles ended the half on a 9-2 run thanks to some sloppy play. The Wildcats are shooting an atrocious 16% from three but they have the lead due to some hustle plays on the defensive perimeter and the offensive paint. If Davidson could convert their second-chance opportunities and hit the open jumpers, this would be completely over...as it stands, Georgia Southern is still barely breathing. Curry only has seven points and conventional wisdom suggests that he will get at least 13 more points. The huge story of the first half was Sander. He went 6-8 from the field with three offensive rebounds. But his biggest number was 0. The number of fouls that he has picked up. Let's hope that trend continues.
---
18:00 D 51 GS 35
There it is. Curry for three. MPG picks up his third foul which is frustrating. He has played well tonight. I've also noticed that Davidson hasn't left their feet as much on the interior leading to less fouls on the forwards. MPG with four fouls on a ticky-tacker. That sucks.
---
15:35 D 53 GS 39
Curry is hunting shots now. He has 15 points and at least six shot attempts in the second half. Unfortunately, Meno continues to struggle with another missed layup. He went 0-2 in the first half.
---
13:13 D 60 GS 39
This game has lost a lot of luster right now. Bad FG shooting...half-court grinds...missed layups on both sides. As I type that, Barr hits a nice three and then Curry gets an o-rebound and hits an off-balance layup AND1. Nice. Very nice. And Davidson on a 7-0 run.
---
11:50 D 63 GS 39
The run continues with a nice feed to Meno underneath. Davidson has been a beast on the boards...Curry with 9 right now (his career high is 10 which he got last year at Chattanooga). Richards has nine assists. And Curry has big no. 20 on the points tally.
---
9:00 D 72 GS 50
Davidson is in the bonus now on another rebounding foul. Rossiter gets some easy points from the line. I'm really not impressed with Louis Graham at all. He's very undersized for a 6'8" guy and he's only scored seven points tonight (and now has four fouls). And Archer gets a nice three after a 2. That was good.
---
7:55 D 75 GS 52
MPG back in the game and he got a chance to bring the ball up with Jason being double-teamed. I wouldn't be surprised if he some touches at point next year. Sander with a new season high 16 points, and he's still in the ballgame.
---
6:20 D 79 GS 53
Yikes. Meno is having a really tough time tonight. Two points. Several bad turnovers away from the basket. I wonder how much him not starting tonight will help or hurt him. We hope that it will motivate, but it might have the opposite effect.
---
4:48 D 81 GS 54
Fields fouls out and Curry hits a nice jumper. The older fans behind me are not happy with the officials tonight. Oh well. You can't please everyone. In other SoCon action: Furman knocks off Western Carolina for their first win of the year. Chattanooga and Wofford playing it close in Spartanburg, while App has a small lead over Charleston in Charleston.
---
3:42 D 86 GS 54
Lil McKillop into the ballgame and he gets a rebound off of a missed free throw, much to the delight of the crowd. Things getting chippier as Curry is thrown to the ground. Coach needs to get him out of there before he gets hurt. He has a game-high 24 which is slightly higher than his season average.
---
1:00 D 91 GS 65
Nelms, Civi and Bond into the game after the Eagles hit several threes to pull the margin closer. And McKillop with a big three to put Davidson over 90.
---
Final D
Big statement win for Davidson tonight. They dominated from the opening tip and sent a message to the Southern Conference. Steph Curry now has 1,000 points for his career.

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.

The J-Rich Game

"There's just something about J-Rich."

My mom repeated this line over and over when she called me on Tuesday night to talk about Davidson's come-from-behind 101-92 win over Georgia Southern. Jason Richards had just recorded a career-high 32 points, 20 of which had come in the first half. At the nine minute mark in the first half, Jason hit a layup. He would go on to score every single basket (14 points) that the Wildcats produced in the next 5 minutes as Georgia Southern attempted to pull away.

For a point guard who is second in the nation in assists (7.9 apg), the ability to consistently put up double digits in points means that the Wildcats are imposing their gameplan on their opponents. Or at least scoring a whole lot of points.

Coming into this season, Richards knew that this Wildcat team was his to lead. He still had a sour taste in his mouth after last year's loss against Ohio State, a loss in which several of his turnovers sparked the Buckeyes' second half run to victory.

This year, Jason has shown himself to be both the sparkplug and the engine on a team that is full of hype. Whether it's Stephen Curry putting up soft jumpers, Max Paulhus Gosselin rejecting shots on the fast break or Will Archambault hitting threes from out-of-bounds, this team has a lot of highlight reel players. Sometimes Jason Richards would rather you not always look at his replays.

Against Appalachian State, Richards kept pushing to the Mountaineers to the brink of their mental patience. Whether it was driving the ball to the lane and drawing the foul or constantly being physical with the man he was guarding, Richards knows each step of the dramatic performance that he weaves on the basketball court.

Some of his opponents think Richards plays cheap. Opposing fans might call him dirty. Richards knows that there are 13 players out on the court at any one time. He doesn't see the referees as agents of evil, but only what they are: regular people that are trying to call the game right. At the end of the day, Richards takes what they give him (and sometimes even what they don't) and it is really beginning to fluster his opponents. Richards' ability to distribute the ball, put himself on the free throw line, and hit clutch shots from nearly anywhere on the court, has led to one of the best seasons in recent memories for a Davidson point guard.

Maybe there is just something about J-Rich.

Notes:
When the Wildcats face Western Carolina on Saturday, they will be looking for their ninth conference win of the season and for Bob McKillop's 300th win of his career. The Wildcats only home loss last year came at the hands of the Catamounts and they are hoping to exact some revenge. Western will be playing without the services of Kyle Greathouse who was seriously injured in an accident earlier this week.

In Tuesday's win over Georgia Southern, Davidson forward Thomas Sander had a breakout game with 19 points and eight rebounds. The junior from Cincinnati had been struggling of late, averaging only 7.5 points and 3 fouls in the last two games.

The Wildcats overcame a halftime deficit of nine points and a first half hole of 14 points en route to their victory over the Eagles. The only comeback from a larger deficit this season came in the opener against Eastern Michigan when the Wildcats came back from 16 down to win it.

The last time that the Wildcats lost to any sort of animal mascot was back in November against the Missouri Tigers. Since then, they have beaten the Phoenix, the Bobcats, the Broncos, the Cougars, the Terriers, the Bulldogs, and the Eagles. Davidson hopes to keep it going against the Catamounts.

**photo by Richard Shayegan (davidson.smugmug.com)**