Game #21 - Davidson

On Thursday, January 23, 2014 the Davidson Wildcats will make their final trip to the Ramsey Center as a Southern Conference member.  This game has been designated as a WHITE OUT  game and WCU fans are requested to wear white to the game.

As with Wofford, the Catamounts and Wildcats will only meet once in the regular season.  Fortunately for Catamount faithful, the rotation puts the Davidson SoCon Farewell Tour in the RAC, where Western has won eight straight games.  Western Carolina is 20-40 overall against the Wildcats and are coming off two losses last season to Davidson.  Final scores were 74-79 in Cullowhee and 50-73 at Davidson.

The Wildcats were predicted to finish second in the preseason standings by both the coaches and media, and for the second consecutive season, De'Mon Brooks was voted the Southern Conference Preseason Player of the Year.  Head coach Bob McKillop's Wildcats are 8-11 overall coming into this years game and 4-1 in SoCon play, having lost to Elon at home back on January 16th.   In Division I games, the Wildcats are 1-4 at home, and 5-3 in road games, They are winners of  4 of their last 5 games and are coming off a 11 point road victory in Greensboro over the UNCG Spartans.

Davidson is currently ranked third in scoring offense in the SoCon with 76.4 points per game, WCU is 5th at 72.9 ppg. The Wildcats are last in the conference in scoring defense, giving up 78.5 ppg, while the Catamounts are ranked second behind Wofford, giving up 71.8 ppg.  The Catamounts have an advantage in both offensive and defensive rebounds, as well as in steals, where WCU leads in the league with 8 per game.   Davidson is hitting 69.8% of their free throws, giving the Wildcats a considerable advantage, as the Catamounts lead the league in sending their opponents to the charity stripe.

Davidson currently has four players averaging in double points, led by player of the year candidate senior forward De'Mon Brooks (6-7, 230 lbs) hitting 17.8 ppg, followed by sophomore guard Brian Sullivan (5-11, 175 lbs) with 12.3 ppp, and senior guard Tom Droney (6-6, 200 lbs) with 11.6 ppg, then junior guard Tyler Kalinoski (6-4, 180) with 10.9 ppg.

RealTime RPI projects a Western Carolina win by 6 points,  83-77.

Rankings -
RPI -                                 Sagarin                            Pomeroy                          Massey
Western - 213                    Western - 226                   Western  - 230                  Western   - 215
Davidson - 167                   Davidson - 203                   Davidson - 188                  Davidson  - 195


Davidson Probable Starters
Guard, Brian Sullivan - Sophomore 5-11, 175 lbs
Guard, Tyler Kalinoski - Junior 6-4, 175lbs
Guard, Tom Droney - Senior 6-6, 200 lbs
Forward, De'Mon Brooks - Senior 6-7, 230 lbs
Forward, Chris Czerapowicz - Senior 6-7 200 lbs

Courtesy Daily Catamount

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