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Davidson Wildcats

Davidson is hungry for a victory after beginning their season 0-2. The Wildcats lost a pair of road games by double digits, one to a ranked Auburn squad and the other to Charlotte. Saturday marks their home opener and one they will assuredly expect to win.

An NIT participant last season, the Wildcats went 23-10 against D-I opponents and an impressive 14-4 (2nd) in the Atlantic 10, losing in the A-10 Semi-Finals to Saint Louis. They then fell to Lipscomb in the first round of the NIT. This season, Davidson is picked to finish 2nd once again, headlined by returning A-10 Player of the Year Jon Axel Gudmundsson and 2018 A-10 Rookie of the Year Kellan Grady, both of whom are Preseason 1st team All-A10 selections.

Gudmunddson, a 6-5 senior guard from Grindavik, Iceland, was top 5 in the A-10 in 6 different categories last season, including scoring (16.9 ppg - 4th), Assists (4.8 - 5th) and Minutes (36.8 - 4th). He was also the only player in the A-10 to post a Triple-Double in a win against Rhode Island on Feb 22. It was Davidson's first Triple-Double in 46 years. So far this season, Gudmundsson has been quiet from a scoring perspective, averaging 9.0 ppg thru 2 contests. However, he has pulled down 12 rebounds and dished out 8 assists while also swiping 3 steals.

Grady, a 6-5 junior guard from Boston, is off to a solid albeit inefficient start to the 2019-20 campaign. He's averaged 13.0 ppg and 3.0 apg with 3 steals, but he's also only shooting .200 from three point range and has 6 turnovers. Last year, Grady had 13 20+ point outings and received 3 A-10 Player of the Week honors. Thus we can anticipate an outburst coming soon.

Another backcourt mate, 6-5 redshirt sophomore Luke Frampton, has been impressive, averaging 14.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, and a team high 2.0 steals. He is shooting a team best .538 (7-13) from three point range. The starting 4-guard unit is rounded off by 6-5 redshirt freshman Mike Jones, who has posted 8.5 points on .357 (5-14) shooting from the perimeter.

The lone starting frontcourt spot is mostly a committee, manned by starting 6-10 Austrian Luka Brajkovic. The sophomore is primarily a defensive presence, with 4.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per contest. He only averages 19.5 minutes per contest, with relief coming from 6-8 junior big man Bates Jones (0.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, 18.0 minutes). Another key bench option is 6-7 freshman forward Hyunjung Lee (3.5 points, 1.5 rebounds, 2-7 from 3).

One question mark is the health of 6-3 junior guard Carter Collins. The Chapel Hill native came off the bench to put up a team-high 18 points on 5-10 shooting and 7-8 free throw shooting against Auburn, but was ruled out in the game against Charlotte for an undisclosed injury. His status for Saturday is thus up in the air.

Linssen and Dodd may be able to take advantage of Davidson's weakness in the post on Saturday. The Wildcats have not been able to assert themselves at the 5 spot, with 0 team blocks and only 28.0 team rebounds thru 2 contests. Opponents have blocked 8 shots on the other end of the court. Granted, their level of competition likely had a lot to do with that. But it should help the Seahawks in the rebounding department to be facing a fellow team that uses 4 guards in their starting lineup.

Turnovers have also been a bit of an issue for Davidson, as they are averaging 14.0 per contest. Gudmundsson and Grady have combined for 12 turnovers as Davidson doesn't seem to have a "true" point guard on their roster. But they make up for this in other ways. Davidson is a very good three-point shooting team, and should build on their .340 team percentage as the season goes on. They also do a good job of defending the perimeter, holding a pair of good teams to just .278 from the perimeter.

In short, this is a very talented and fairly deep Davidson squad, especially if they can get Collins back healthy. They were picked to finish 2nd in one of the best basketball conferences in the country for a reason and now host an intra-state rival in their home opener, looking for their first W of the season. Odds are, they'll get it.