Davidson - Saturday, Dec 1 at 7 PM
It's tough to say whether Davidson will be the toughest team we've faced thus far, as UNCG is having a heck of a season, rattling off a couple nice wins over Delaware and Louisiana Tech since playing us to advance to 5-1 against D-I opponents. The Spartans have a huge game @ Kentucky this Saturday. But Davidson is 6-1 against a slightly tougher schedule, having taken down Wichita State and also taking a pair of games over Northeastern.
No matter the comparison there, this will be another massive non-conference test on Saturday, and a rare chance to host a quality A-10 program. It's also Davidson's first true road game of the season.
The Wildcats are led by an impressive backcourt that is big and physical. 6-5 sophomore wing Kellen Grady leads the team in scoring (18.6 ppg) and is shooting at a .366 clip from three-point range. He also leads the team in steals (11) while only committing 9 fouls all season. 6-5 junior point guard Jon Axel Gudmundsson has been equally impressive, averaging 18.1 points per contest, while dishing out 4.1 assists per game and posting a 1.52 A/TO ratio. He is also 2nd on the team in rebounds (5.7 rpg). His ability to grab boards allows the Wildcats to run a 4-guard lineup to start games.
The other 2 guards in the lineup are 6-5 redshirt freshman Luke Frampton (7.4 ppg, .277 3-pt %) and 6-6 redshirt junior KiShawn Pritchett (5.6 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.9 apg). Frampton operates as a wing shooter whereas Pritchett is essentially the 4 in Davidson's lineup. The 5 belongs to 6-10 freshman Luka Brajkovic. The Austrian big man is 3rd on the team in scoring (10.4 ppg), leads the team in rebounding (5.9 rpg) and, impressively enough, in free throw shooting (.842) as well.
Bob McKillop hasn't utilized a very deep bench so far in the 2018-19 campaign. 6th man Carter Collins, a 6-3 sophomore guard, averages 20.6 minutes and does a little bit of everything. He averages 6.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg, and has also contributed 3 blocks and 5 steals in his 7 appearances. Next in line for minutes is 6-3 freshman guard David Czerapowicz. The product from Sweden has averaged 10.9 minutes but not done a whole lot just yet, averaging just 1.6 ppg and 1.9 rpg. No one else on the roster has averaged more than 6.7 minutes per contest.
The relative lack of depth doesn't hurt the Wildcats much in the backcourt, as Grady (36.6 mpg), Gudmundsson (33.3), Frampton (29.6) and Pritchett (28.7) have proven capabale of handling heavy workloads. But the post is where Davidson can be exposed. Whenever Brajkovic (23.6 mpg) is out of the game, they don't have a capable backup plan at the 5 just yet. 6-10 redshirt junior Dusan Kovacevic and 6-7 redshirt senior and Nigerian product Nathan Ekwu may be upperclassmen but haven't been able to gain much trust so far this season, getting very few minutes and touches off the bench. They've combined to take just 29 shots from the field and collect 26 rebounds. Ekwu might have the upper hand of late after going 3-3 from the field against Charlotte last night (Nov 27) and playing 11 minutes to Kovacevic's 2, but that doesn't mean he is going to be a big factor in their scheme. With our trio of Cacok, Cylla and O'Connell, the post could be the best place to try to win the battle with the Wildcats.
Davidson is strong as a team in a plethora of areas. They shoot an incredible .788 from the free throw line as a team, ranking 16th in the nation in that category. So we will need to play great defense without fouling, an area we've had difficulty this season and, let's face it, haven't done well at ever since Brad Brownell left for Wright State. Davidson is also highly efficient from the field, shooting .447 as a team. This primarily only shows up when it comes to 2-pointers, as the Wildcats aren't particularly adept from the perimeter, shooting .314 from 3. Davidson's team A/TO ratio is also a solid 1.27 on the season.
The Wildcats' weakness in post depth, as previously mentioned, combined with their inability to stretch the court with the 3, provides a good opportunity for the Hawks to try to attack the rim on offense and go all out to protect the paint on defense. Davidson isn't a great rim-protecting team, as evidenced by their 18 team blocks (2.6 bpg) on the season. The Hawks are currently even in this category, with 21 blocks in 8 games (2.6 bpg), but have shown improvement in shot-blocking of late: O'Connell and Cacok each have 3 blocks in the last 3 games.
Overall, while Davidson is certainly the superior team right now, there are areas of weakness that can be exploited. Combine that with improved play by the Seahawks in their last 2 outings against Eastern Illinois and ECU, a home environment, and Davidson playing their first true road game, and it makes an upset seem all the more possible. This should be a fun one.
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