Rhode Island Hosts Davidson - Forecast is Icy and Hot

Saturday's contest is Davidson's first visit to Kingston and the third meeting between the two teams. URI won last year's game at Davidson. Tip off is 2 p.m.

Davidson College

Davidson is a highly selective, independent liberal arts college of 1,800 students located on a 450-acre campus 20 minutes north of Charlotte in Davidson, N.C. Since its establishment in 1837 by Presbyterians, the college has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars and is consistently regarded as one of the top liberal arts colleges in the country. 

Davidson Athletics

Davidson supports a D-1 program in 19 sports, the majority of which play as members of the Southern Conference. For football, Davidson plays in the non-scholarship Pioneer League, a subset of the D-1 FCS division. The school's nickname is the Wildcats and its school colors are red and black. 

Davidson Basketball

Bob McKillop (Hofstra '72) coaches the Wildcats men's basketball team. McKillop is a NYC guy. He grew up on Long Island.  He was a successful baseball and basketball player at Chaminade High School in the New York City High School Catholic League, where one of his fellow students in homeroom for four years was Bill O'Reilly of The O'Reilly Factor on FOX News.

McKillop is a long-time, successful head coach. He has the longest tenure of any Davidson basketball coach, with more victories than any coach in school history, and more Southern Conference wins — including three undefeated seasons in league play — than any coach in league history.  

Now in his 22nd season at Davidson, McKillop's win-loss record with the Wildcats is 385-250 (.606). While head man at Davidson, McKillop has won 10 Southern Conference division titles, five SoCon tournament championships, and taken his team to five NCAA tournaments and four NITs.

Further, the Davidson basketball has been a McKillop family affair: Coach McKillop's son Matthew, 27, who graduated from Davidson in 2006 after playing for his father for four years, came back in the summer of 2008 to join the Davidson coaching staff as an assistant. His other son Brendan, 21, is a senior on this year's Davidson team.

Last season, in what was considered a rebuilding year following the departure of Stephen Curry, Davidson didn't play in the postseason, having finished 16-15 overall and 11-7 in the Southern Conference, which was only good enough for a third place finish in the South Division.

This season's Davidson team was forecasted to perform better than last, even though the 2010-2011 edition of the Wildcats is a young team with six freshman, four sophomores, four juniors and one senior. 

Compared to last year's team, Davidson has lost two of their top interior players, Will Archambault and Steven Rossiter, to graduation. While much was expected in 2010-2011 from 6-9, 230 pound junior Ben Allison, the big guy has not played yet this season due to injuries. His status for the URI game is doubtful.

The start of Davidson's 2010-11 season has already shown some improvement over last year. After losing their opener to Penn, the Wildcats traveled to San Juan to play in the Honda Puerto Rico Tip Off where they won two of three games, good enough for a fourth place finish. Davidson's record to date is 2-2.

 11/13/10   at Penn                             L      64-69
 11/18/20   *West Virginia              L      70-84
 11/19/20   *Nebraska                      W    70-67
 11/21/20   *Western Kentucky   W    64-51
                                       *Honda Puerto Rico Tip Off

Projected Starters

Player

Pos

Height

Wt

Yr

PPG

Notes

Brendan McKillop

G

6-1

173

Sr

13.5

Averaged 14 ppg in PR tourney

JP Kuhlman

G

6-4

190

So

10.8

SoCon Freshman of the Year

Jake Cohen

F

6-10

220

So

12.0

Averaged 11 ppg last weekend

Tom Droney

F

6-6

194

Fr

4.3

First frosh starter since Curry

Clint Mann

F

6-7

225

So

7.5

12 pts, 7 rebs in debut at Penn

Profiling the Key Players

Last year two freshman, J. P. Kuhlman and Jake Cohen emerged as stars for the Wildcats. The duo is a unique outside-inside scoring combo. Both players won SoCon Freshman-of-the-Year honors, with the media picking Cohen and the coaches selecting Kuhlman.

At 6-4, 190 pounds, Kuhlman is a versatile scorer, creating lots of points from dribble drives off screens, threes, and pull-up jumpers. He is difficult to defend and draws lots of fouls.

Jake Cohen (6-10, 220 lbs.) is more of a double scoring threat, being able to score from the inside and the perimeter. Last year his shooting average was 46 percent overall, with a 31 percent mark from the arc. Cohen also led the team in blocks with 37.

The senior leader on the team is Coach McKillop's son Brendan McKillop. Brendan had a very good junior year last year, showing excellent consistency and durability, as demonstrated by his 124 assists to only 46 turnovers. It is a 2.70 ratio, and in many games he played more than 30 minutes. He is the major 3-point shooter on the team and hit at a 38 percent rate last year. In four games this season, McKillop leads the team in scoring with a 13.5 average, including 11 three-pointers.

A freshman who has cracked the starting five is 6-6 guard Tom Droney, who hails from Pittsburgh's Swickley Academy. Droney is big, and can play the point or the off guard. He handles the ball well, has good court awareness and can shoot. He is also a 3-point threat though he has missed on all 6 attempts so far this season.

An addition to the frontcourt is 6-7, 225 pound Iowa transfer Clint Mann. Mann is both athletic and versatile, and he compliments the other Davidson frontcourt players very well. Despite the rust of not playing for more than two years, Mann has shot very well in the Wildcats' first four games, hitting on 11-of-21 field goals. Mann is also a rebounding force and leads the team with 22.

Six-foot-three Canadian sophomore and guard Nik Cochran comes off the bench, and he has played about 15 minutes per game to date. Cohen and Kuhlman overshadowed Cochran somewhat last year, but Cochran has shown the ability to distribute the ball, find the lanes to the basket and score. Cochran's game so far seems to be tentative and it may reflect some loss of confidence. URI should exploit this when he comes off the bench.

A key newcomer is freshman, 6-7 forward De'Mon Brooks. While a bit undersized, Brooks shows great energy and has strong growth and learning potential. The freshman had an outstanding game in the win over Nebraska, putting in 11 points and snaring nine rebounds in 29 minutes.

Six-foot-five guard Jordan Downing is a former teammate of Brooks at Hopewell High School in Charlotte, NC, and he was the No. 2 scorer on that team. Jordan fits the model of a flashing, scoring guard on the wing. He has good strength and length.

The big question mark on the team is 6-10 junior forward Frank Ben-Eze. Ben-Eze is one of the most heralded recruits ever to join Wildcats basketball. However, due to injuries, Ben-Eze has not had found consistent playing time for the Wildcats. After a spring and summer conditioning, Ben-Eze appears ready. So far, he has averaged 10 minutes per game and has pulled down 17 rebounds, which is exactly his mission.

Summary  

The Saturday afternoon game at the Ryan Center will be one of contrasting styles - the Rams with their chaotic run, dribble and shoot offense, and Davidson's heavily structured approach.

Coach McKillop employs a systematic approach to offense, so expect to see lots of motion and screening and offensive sets from Davidson. That type of offense is innately difficult to stop, so should the Wildcats also shoot the ball well, it could be a very long afternoon for the defense-challenged Rhody Rams.

The Davidson talent level is reasonably balanced in terms of both frontcourt and backcourt personnel.  To date this season, Davidson shooting has been fair at 44 percent on field goals. However, the Wildcats are weaker on 3-point shooting at 28 percent and show only 65 percent shooting at the charity stripe. In comparison in its first 6 games, URI is 47 percent, 37 percent and 73 percent respectively.

Ball handling and protection by Davidson in its four games has been spotty, with the Wildcats recording about 16 turnovers in each game. Rhody, for its part, is not much better, with the Rams showing a markedly higher turnover rate this year versus last. To unsettle the Davidson guards and disrupt Davidson's methodical motion offense, URI needs to make its press and swarming defense work.

Davidson's rebounding has stacked up well versus its opponents, with the effort evenly distributed among several players. In contrast, URI has been out rebounded by wide margins in four of six games. In Rhody's last game versus Drexel, the rebounding gap gave the Dragons a multitude of second chances and points in the paint. Somehow, someway, the Rams need to regroup and attack the glass, especially the offensive board as they did in their excellent rebounding effort versus Charleston.

One way or another, expect an entertaining game – a test between Davidson's icy coolness and Rhody's hot intensity. Should Rhody's defensive pressure rattle Davidson sufficiently, the Rams could offset any rebounding disadvantage by forcing Davidson into frustration and mental lapses.

In particular. Delroy James, Rhode Island's star player, needs to continue to play under control, as he did in the Drexel game, and not allow Kuhlman and others draw him into fouling. As a team, the Rams must close off the lanes to the basket and force Davidson into poor shots from the outside.

Look – The Davidson roster is talented but inexperienced. Both the Rams and the Wildcats are doing well so far this season, but both are still struggling to find their identity. This should be a good win for the hometown team.

GO RHODY!

To talk Rhody hoops, visit the unofficial fan message board here. For results and interviews from Rhody's game vs. Drexel, click . Can't make Saturday afternoon's game? Patch will be there with a running diary, and a game story shortly thereafter.