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Wildcats Throttle Saint Louis in Convincing Rout

(Written for The Davidsonian in my capacity as sports editor. I will post everything I write on this blog as well as on Davidsonian.com)

Coming off a tough loss on the road at #20 VCU, Davidson bounced back nicely with a statement 89-54 win over Saint Louis (8-8, 0-3 in A-10) at Belk Arena. The win puts Davidson at 11-3, but more importantly, 2-1 in the Atlantic 10. Davidson led by as many as 38 points late in the second half.

Jordan Barham ’16 (career-high 21 points, 9 rebounds) had the ball in his hands a couple of steps behind the three-point line with 10:30 left in the game. Despite having taken only two threes all year, Barham elected to shoot. As many in the crowd cringed, the ball dropped through the net and Davidson led 66-38. Barham would knock down another triple a few minutes later. It was that type of game for the Wildcats, a game in which little seemed to go wrong.

“When [Barham] comes to play, he’s a huge spark for us,” captain Tyler Kalinoski ’15 said of his fellow guard after the game, “He’s the most athletic guy on the team. He can do so much for us defensively, rebounding wise and offensively, he creates mismatches. When he’s there for forty minutes, our team can sometimes be unstoppable.”

Battling against a Saint Louis defense that likes to limit possessions and force turnovers, Davidson controlled the pace from the opening tip, pushing the ball up the court at every opportunity. Jack Gibbs ’17 and Kalinoski carved through the lane with ease in the half court and found shooters and cutters all over the court. Davidson shot 55.2% overall and 54.5% from deep, besting their mark of 11.2 a game, which ranks second in the nation, with 12 threes today.

Gibbs was relatively quiet on the offensive end in the first half, taking only three shots, but he asserted himself in the second. In addition to his expert passing and vision that continues to lead to open looks for teammates, Gibbs showed off his ability to score off the dribble. Between his floaters and pull-up threes, Gibbs has developed an impressive offensive arsenal. Yet again, Gibbs didn’t turn the ball over despite having it in his hands possession after possession. He finished with 12 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists and 0 turnovers.

Kalinoski continued to do a little bit of everything on both ends of the court, finishing with 11 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists. With a transition three midway through the first half, Tyler Kalinoski became the 46th member of the 1,000 point club in Davidson basketball history.

The Wildcats were on fire early, leading 15-4 at the first media timeout behind three Brian Sullivan ’16 triples in the opening three and a half minutes. From there, Davidson used a 26-10 run to stretch the lead to 19 with five minutes left in the first half. But Davidson began to cool off late in the half. And the Billikens used an 11-2 run to cut Davidson’s lead to only 14 at the break.

For Sullivan, who’d been shooting the worst percentages of his career this year, the opening stretch of 14 minutes was one to remember. Sullivan made his first six shots overall, including four threes on his way to scoring 18 points in that stretch. He wouldn’t score the rest of the game, but those opening minutes set the tone for Davidson’s rout.

Saint Louis’s Malik Yarbrough, who came into the game leading the Atlantic 10 in points per game during league play at 22.5, was quiet for the start of the game, but asserted himself against Davidson’s inexperienced post players as the game wore on. Yarbrough finished with 18 points on 7-11 shooting in 26 minutes.

The Billikens struggled offensively when the ball wasn’t in Yarbrough’s hands, missing their first seven three-pointers and 16 of 19 overall.  They turned the ball over 9 times, and shot only 13-28 from the free-throw line. For a team that likes to get to the line as much as they do, their abysmal shooting from the charity stripe is almost comical.

The two-time reigning Atlantic 10 regular season champion Billikens lost all five of their starters to graduation this past year and have struggled as a result. They have made the 3rd round of the NCAA Tournament in each of the last three seasons, but it appears 2014-2015 will be the year that ends the streak.

After three ineffective games since Jake Belford’s season-ending injury, Peyton Aldridge ’18 showed signs in the second half that this slump will be brief. He knocked down a couple of threes and fought down low, helping Davidson to a 40-28 advantage on the boards.

“If you ask in our locker-room [how the players feel about the 11-3 start],” said Coach Bob McKillop, “I think you’ll get the response that we’re right on target with where we need to be.”

Davidson travels north to UMass for a Wednesday night game before heading to Richmond on Saturday evening. The Wildcats return home Tuesday the 20th for Black-Out Belk against Dayton.

For continued Atlantic 10 coverage, follow me on Twitter (@Klaus_Faust).


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Davidson Hangs Tough Against #3 Virginia

(Written for The Davidsonian in my capacity as sports editor. I will post everything I write on this blog as well as on Davidsonian.com)

Davidson men’s basketball (9-2) fell on the road at #3 Virginia 83-72, but the Wildcats made a name for themselves with impressive guard play against the nation’s leading defense. Virginia trailed by as many as 12 points in the first half as Tyler Kalinoski ’14 and Jack Gibbs ’17 excelled for Davidson. But ultimately, it was Virginia’s offensive rebounding that gave them the advantage.

The Wildcats were without Jake Belford ’15 once again today, but after the game it was revealed that he didn’t miss the game with the foot injury that has plagued him this month. Instead, Coach Bob McKillop announced that the forward injured his knee in practice and will likely miss the rest of the season after surgery on a torn meniscus. Jordan Barham ’16 also missed the game due to a concussion.

Without Belford and Barham on the boards, Davidson had to use the inexperienced duo of Peyton Aldridge ’18 and Nathan Ekwu ’18 up front, where they were overmatched by a veteran Virginia core. Virginia, led by double-doubles from Anthony Gill (25 points, 13 rebounds) and Darion Atkins (13 points, 10 rebounds), grabbed 17 offensive rebounds against only 19 defensive rebounds for Davidson. The Cavaliers hit the boards hard, and time after time got second and third chances near the rim.

But for much of the game, the story was Davidson. The Wildcats, led by Gibbs (21 points, 4 assists) and Kalinoski (20 points, 7 rebounds) took a 29-17 lead behind hot shooting and clever offense. Gibbs carved apart the nation’s best defense at times, and continuously got teammates open looks. He shot the ball well from deep and showed off a nifty set of floaters. Gibbs also had only one turnover, despite playing 34 minutes. Gibbs, Kalinoski and their fellow captain Brian Sullivan ’16 combined for 11-19 shooting behind the arc.

Virginia made adjustments offensively in the closing stages of the first half and began attacking the interior of Davidson’s defense, and began inching back into the game. Davidson led 36-32 at halftime, but Virginia took the lead soon after the break as they gained momentum and picked up their intensity. Davidson kept the game close through hot shooting from Sullivan and Gibbs, tying the game at 55 with a corner three, but from there, the Cavaliers pulled away.

Many will say Davidson should be pleased with playing Virginia so close for so many minutes on their home floor, but Coach McKillop will see this game as having both positives and negatives. Davidson can take away that their offense is good enough to compete with anyone nationally, and I mean anyone. Gibbs, Kalinoski and Sullivan are all capable of being first-team all-conference in the A-10.

But today also served as a harsh reality check for life without Belford the rest of the way. Ekwu and Aldridge will have to mature quickly on the defensive end in conference play if Davidson wants to compete for a conference title. Andrew McAuliffe ’17 will need to step up too. He was as good as I’ve ever seen him on the offensive end, showing off some post moves, but he didn’t grab a single rebound in 16 minutes of action.

This team does many things as well as anyone, but they’ll need to figure out how to rebound defensively against bigger teams on the road.

Davidson opens Atlantic 10 play at home against Richmond Saturday night on NBCSN. For a preview of the conference season, check out my conference preview here.


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Davidson Cruises Past Stetson

(Written for The Davidsonian in my capacity as sports editor. I will post everything I write on this blog as well as on Davidsonian.com)

Davidson handily beat a young Stetson squad 90-59 before a smaller crowd of 3,132 inside Belk Arena Saturday afternoon in non-conference action. The win, Davidson’s 4th in a row, moves the Wildcats to 6-1 on the season.

Coming off of an emotional victory over Charlotte on Wednesday, there was always a chance for a let-down. But the Wildcats were focused and used a balance attack to build a large lead. Defensively, the Wildcats limited Stetson to 32.2% shooting, including holding them without a field goal for over ten minutes in one stretch that spanned across the halves. It was sustained pressure for forty minutes that manifested itself in a large margin of victory.

Tyler Kalinoski ’15 once again led the way for Davidson with an efficient showing now typical from the senior captain. He matched his career-high 25 points (including a career-high 7-9 from deep), breaking the 20 point mark for the second time this season and third time in his career. He also had 4 assists, but perhaps most impressively, he grabbed a season high 9 rebounds. With starting center Jake Belford ’16 sitting this one out due to a foot injury, the Wildcats needed the help on the boards.

“[Kalinoski] just continues to get better and better and better,” Coach Bob McKillop said after the game. “He’s the heart and soul of this team. He was the catalyst for why our guys were ready to compete today and I thought we competed the entire game.”

Brian Sullivan ’16 also had an effective game, dishing out a career-high 8 assists while adding 14 points. When Jack Gibbs ’17 went to the locker room for a few minutes late in the first half, Sullivan calmly took the reigns and helped settle the Wildcats in the half court. Sullivan was only 2-8 from three today as his shooting woes continue, but he’s finding other valuable ways to contribute. As a team, the Wildcats dished out a season-high 25 assists.

“I’m still not really shooting as well as I’d like to, but I’m not really worried about it. I’m playing well and I’ve let [the worries about the shooting struggles] go,” Sullivan said. “I wasn’t getting too down on myself because I was still playing really good basketball.”

The highlights again came from Jordan Barham ’16, who’s carving himself a nice scoring role off the bench. These highlights involved a pair of high-flying dunks. The first, which was negated by an offensive foul, involved Barham posterizing a Stetson defender with a left-handed tomahawk. Nobody will remember that he was called for a foul on it. The second came off an inbounds pass below the basket. Barham cut across the lane and soared above a Hatters defender to catch the Kalinoski pass well above the basket. His two-handed alley-oop slam punctuated a perfectly designed out-of-bounds play. And this one counted.

Despite the final margin, the opening minutes were probably the sloppiest Davidson has played this season, with a few too many passes thrown to unsuspecting teammates. It wasn’t necessarily a ton of turnovers, but just a general lack of focus in the opening two or three minutes. Perhaps that could have been because the arena had none of the energy from Wednesday night, or perhaps it could have been a pre-exams lull, but credit the captains for getting their team going quickly. Coach McKillop talked about this being a trap game, but Davidson avoided all potential problems by keeping the throttle on.

Stetson is one of the most inexperienced teams in all of Division I basketball, starting three freshmen and playing another three significant minutes. But today they were also hindered by the fact that Brian Pegg, their leading scorer, didn’t play. They seemed inclined to push the pace in the early going, which was an odd choice. They were often out of control, and their shooters were simply awful (4 of their first 28 from deep).

In the first half, Davidson seemed content with running their half-court sets and getting good looks from three, while Stetson lacked any sort of offensive rhythm. The Wildcats built a double-digit lead in the opening minutes and gradually stretched it over twenty as the Hatters went the last nine minutes of the half without a field goal. Davidson led 48-24 at the break.

Oskar Michelsen ’18 scored 16 points off the bench. And Nathan Ekwu ’18, who got his first start in place of the injured Belford, chipped in 7 points and 10 rebounds. Belford’s injury is a muscular problem in his left foot which happened during the Charlotte game. But McKillop thinks it will only be a few days before he’s back in the starting lineup.

Davidson’s next game is on the road at Montana Wednesday night before returning home for a contest against Niagara next Saturday evening.


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Davidson Crowned Charlotte’s King of College Basketball

(Written for The Davidsonian in my capacity as sports editor. I will post everything I write on this blog as well as on Davidsonian.com)

Davidson took home the Hornets Nest Trophy for the second straight year by beating UNC-Charlotte 91-86 before a large crowd in what was certainly the best atmosphere at Belk Arena in the young season. Davidson led throughout, and impressively combated a substantial size differential with great post play and fantastic shooting. The game was not as close as the final score, as Charlotte scored a number of points in garbage time.

Charlotte was exactly the test Davidson needed at this point in the season. They presented substantial size up front and a veteran group of players that knows how to win. Mike Thorn Jr. is an NBA-quality center and his frontcourt partner Willie Clayton is one of the best offensive rebounders in the country. For a Davidson team that has struggled to rebound the ball this season, this was a big ask.

Despite an uncharacteristic 18 turnovers, Davidson passed the test with flying colors, shooting 58% on the day while out-rebounding Charlotte 37-31. Davidson’s bigs deserve tremendous credit for their work on the blocks today. They not only out-rebounded the 49ers, but they shut down Thorne Jr, limiting him to 10 points and 5 rebounds. Of the many highlights from today, that may be the most exciting for the future of this team.

“[This win] is huge for us,” Tyler Kalinoski ’15 said after the game, “We made some mistakes, but we kept fighting. The way we fought today shows a lot going forward.”

Davidson looked to attack the interior of the Charlotte defense with a vigor that hasn’t always been there, sending Clayton and two other 49er starters to the bench early in foul trouble. The ‘Cats hit the offensive glass and looked for cutters to beat the 49ers’ zone. Jordan Barham ’16 was especially effective against the zone in the first half, providing a huge spark off the bench for Davidson. Barham, who’d been averaging 9.0 points in just 12.8 minutes per game, hit his first 6 shots and had 13 first half points, finishing with 16 points on 7-8 shooting and 5 rebounds. In addition to his usual high-energy dunks, Barham impressed when he had the ball in his hands, facing up defenders and blowing by them.

Kalinoski caught fire in the second half, hitting five threes and making a wide variety of baskets when Davidson needed them most. All 19 of his points came after the break. The senior captain, who came into the game second in the Atlantic 10 in assist/turnover ratio, had another great overall performance, with 3 rebounds and 4 assists to go along with only 1 turnover.

“Tyler’s the heart of our team,” Coach Bob McKillop said of Kalinoski’s performance after the game, “Without doubt, he’s the one that makes us go. He’s got great courage, he’s got terrific tenacity, he’s a selfless teammate and he’s a winner.”

Davidson caught fire from behind the arc at the start of the second half, sending Charlotte back to man-to-man defense as they made their first 4 threes in the opening minutes to extend the lead up to 12 soon after the break. However, Charlotte found a lot of success getting the ball inside to Clayton as the second half wore on and kept the game close as Davidson’s fouls piled up. But Clayton’s 4th foul, which came with 12:22 left and the 49ers trailing by seven after he’d already scored 10 second half points, saw the Wildcats regain the momentum. A Kalinoski three followed by a Barham three gave Davidson a 75-62 lead with 8:32 to play.

Clayton soon returned only to foul out with more than 5 and a half minutes remaining. That was the final nail in the coffin. Charlotte was unable to get back into the game in the final minutes as Davidson kept making shots. Whenever the 49ers made a basket, Davidson would respond with a big one of their own deep in the shot clock. But to their credit Charlotte never quit, and made a few baskets right at the end to make the score as close as it was.

Davidson needed to play tougher today to combat Charlotte’s size advantage, and they got a boost from Andrew McAuliffe ’17. McAuliffe bodied up the 6-11, 270 pound Thorne Jr on the defensive end to aid Jake Belford ’16, Nathan Ekwu ’18 and Peyton Aldridge ’18, who were all in a lot of foul trouble. McAuliffe, whose action has been limited this year, stepped up in a big way. In addition to his defensive efforts, he also found ways to contribute offensively, tipping in one basket and dunking another, while occupying defenders down low.

That presence inside the arc helped get Brian Sullivan ’16 some better looks behind the arc. Sullivan, Davidson’s marksman who came into the game only 5-30 from three for the year, knocked down a triple on the first possession and made two more before the 10 minute mark of the first half, finishing with 13 first half points and 15 overall. It was a solid response from the captain, and one which will hopefully get his season going.

Davidson had used a 9-0 run to take an early 17-9 lead, but both teams shot the ball incredibly well and traded buckets for much of the first half. However, Davidson took a 45-38 lead into the break. With Clayton and Pierria Henry, the 49ers top perimeter defender, on the bench for much of the first half in foul trouble, Davidson found a way to out-rebound Charlotte 20-12 in the first half. Thorne was limited on the offensive end, more helpful as a means of drawing the Davidson defense into the paint and opening up lanes for Charlotte guards to attack.

Jack Gibbs ’17, coming off the Atlantic 10 player of the week award, chipped in 12 points and 5 assists for the Wildcats. For Charlotte, Clayton led the way with 17 points despite playing only 16 minutes. 5 others finished in double figures for the 49ers.

The annual “Battle for the Hornet’s Nest Trophy” has been contested each of the last 34 years. The Mecklenburg County rivalry has taken on added heat in recent years. Among Charlotte fans, there is a bit of a grudge held as recent conference changes for both schools have seen Davidson take Charlotte’s place in the Atlantic 10. (A year ago, Charlotte moved to Conference USA, a worse basketball conference in recent years, for the betterment of their football program). It must hurt that Davidson has now won two straight.

“Let’s face it, this is a game for the rights in the city,” McKillop said after the game, in which students wore shirts emblazoned with his nickname ‘The Silver Fox’ and his face, “And this is a terrific city, so it’s nice to get the victory this year.”

After lifting the trophy, Davidson’s next game is at home against Stetson at 4 pm on Saturday.


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UNC Too Much for Davidson

Davidson hosted a very talented #6 UNC team at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte, ultimately falling 90-72. The lower bowl was close to full with roughly equal amounts of Davidson and UNC fans, but Davidson fans were making most of the noise in the early going.

However, on the court, it was UNC whose play did the talking. Davidson got off to a fast start, with Peyton Aldridge ’18 hitting a couple triples in the opening minutes, but after the first media timeout, UNC locked down on defense and Davidson had trouble getting shots up, much less good shots.

UNC’s size proved a problem for the Wildcats on both ends of the court as Kennedy Meeks (19 points, 12 rebounds) and Brice Johnson feasted on the size differential, getting easy buckets on the offensive end and altering shots on the other end. Meeks in particular was impressive for the Tar Heels, going 9-13 from the field and also chipping in a pair of  blocks. On the perimeter, UNC’s guards were using their length to close out every Davidson shooter immediately. As a result, Davidson shot a season-low 30% from 3 and were quite limited with what they could do offensively.

The Davidson player who shone the brightest today was Aldridge, the freshman from Leavittsburgh, Ohio, who finished with a career high 25 points (6-10 from deep) and 6 rebounds . He was active on both ends of the floor, but excelled on offense, where he looked to attack from the opening tip. He was remarkably poised for a freshman, and considering the circumstances, his performance today was excellent.

Defensively, Davidson did okay given the quality of opposition. Rebounding wasn’t as big an issue as it could have been, as everybody chipped in to box out the UNC big’s. However, Davidson wasn’t able to disrupt the rhythm of national player of the year candidate Marcus Paige, who was able to create quality shots for his teammates, and for himself when he wanted to.

After Davidson had hung around for the opening quarter of the game, where UNC pulled ahead was when Davidson let them get out on the break midway through the first half.  When the Wildcats were careless with the ball, or took a bad shot, UNC were down the floor in a hurry. Their athleticism was unlike anything Davidson has seen this year, and UNC took advantage of any hesitancy or indecision.

The second half was much of the same for UNC, who looked comfortable throughout. J.P. Tokoto put an exclamation point on the victory with a ridiculous alley-oop in the final minutes, showing off the athleticism that plagued Davidson all day.

UNC’s defense locked in on Brian Sullivan ’16 and Tyler Kalinoski ’15 throughout and didn’t allow them much space to shoot. Because the Tar Heels didn’t double team anyone on the block, they were able to stick on Davidson’s two best scorers and prevent them from getting going. While Sullivan and Kalinoski did take a number of shots, they were rarely clean looks at the basket. The two captains found other ways to contribute today, but without their scoring, Davidson was always going to have a hard time.

From today’s game, it became clear that Davidson needs to focus on developing their inside-out game over the next month of non-conference play. When UNC didn’t have to worry about anyone scoring on the post, or anyone driving the lane, they stuck to Davidson’s shooters like glue as good Atlantic 10 teams will. Sure, the Wildcats didn’t shoot their best from deep, and to an extent, this team will always live and die by the three against teams like UNC. But they missed the 3’s today because they weren’t always good looks. To get those, the Wildcats need to find ways to get the ball inside more effectively. Davidson has the shooters to compete on a high level, but the offense isn’t quite there yet this year.

I spoke with Brice Johnson in the locker room after the game and he spoke quite highly of Aldridge, saying that he thought players like Aldridge would ensure a smooth transition into the Atlantic 10. (Unfortunately, my audio recorder malfunctioned, so that’s why I don’t have direct quotes).

Davidson’s next game is a trip to UCF on Wednesday night.