Saturday, November 27
Kingston, R.I.
2:00 pm
Davidson College
at
Rhode Island
'Cats Finish Road Swing at Rhode Island
11/25/2010 9:47:22 AM | Men's Basketball
Davidson Wildcats (2-2) vs. Rhode Island Rams (3-2)
Dates: Nov. 27, 2010Site: Ryan Center (7,657 capacity) - Kingston, R.I.
Audio: John Kilgo calls the action on the Davidson Radio Network (1450 AM, 1350 AM and online at DavidsonWildcats.com)
Video: Live on Cox Sports Online (cox-sports.com)
Web sites: Davidson (DavidsonWildcats.com), Rhode Island (GoRhody.com)
Layup Line
• Davidson caps a five-game road trip to open the season with a contest at Rhode Island.
• The game can be seen online on Cox Sports (cox-sports.com). It can also be heard on the Davidson Radio Network (1450 AM, 1350 AM, and online at DavidsonWildcats.com) with John Kilgo and Ken Hall calling the action.
• The Wildcats are coming off a 2-1 long weekend at the Honda Puerto Rico Tip-Off, where Davidson wound up fourth behind Minnesota, West Virginia and Vanderbilt.
• The Wildcats are in the midst of a stretch where they play their first five and 10 of their first 13 games away from home. It's the most games away from home to start a season in coach Bob McKillop's 22 years at Davidson.
• Davidson returns eight lettermen and three starters from last year's squad, which posted a 16-15 record and an 11-7 mark in the Southern Conference South Division, good for third place. Four of the Wildcats' top six scorers are back.
• The Wildcats have 10 underclassman on the team (six freshman, four sophomores) and feature just one senior and four juniors.
• Davidson's last outing saw the Wildcats come away with a 64-51 win over Western Kentucky in Puerto Rico last Sunday.
• Davidson was picked to finish third in the SoCon South Division again this season, while Rhode Island, which won 26 games and advanced to the NIT semifinals last season, was picked fifth in the Atlantic 10.
• The Runnin' Rams are coming off a 74-68 setback to Illinois-Chicago last Sunday.
• Preseason second-team All-A-10 selection, Delray James leads the Rams in scoring, averaging 19 points to go along with 6.6 rebounds a game.
• Davidson coach Bob McKillop is 15 wins shy of his 400th career victory.
Series History
• The series is tied 1-1, thanks to a 75-65 Rams' victory last season in Belk Arena.
• Prior to that meeting, the Wildcats and Rams had not met since the 1966 NCAA Tournament, when Davidson posted a 95-65 victory in the first round of the East Regional.
• That was Davidson's first appearance and first victory in the NCAA Tournament in school history.
• Keith Cothran netted 19 points to lead Rhode Island last season. Lamonte Ulmer tallied 12 points and seven rebounds, and Akeem Richmond scored 11 off the bench.
• Jake Cohen led the Wildcats with 16 points to go along with seven rebounds, while Brendan McKillop and JP Kuhlman each scored 12 points.
• The Wildcats, who entered the game shooting 77 percent from the free-throw line, got to the charity stripe a season-high 28 times but only converted half of the opportunities. The Rams' pressing, trapping defense also forced 18 turnovers, and Davidson shot 39 percent from the field.
• Cohen helped chip into a nine-point Ram lead early in the second half by scoring six straight points to cut the margin to 39-36.
• After Cothran hit two free throws to make the score 41-36 with 15:24 remaining, the 'Cats got stops on four of five defensive possessions but went 1-for-6 from the free-throw line after drawing fouls on the offensive end.
Leftovers from Western Kentucky
• McKillop needs one triple to move into 10th on Davidson's career 3-pointer chart.
• It was the first time Davidson and Western Kentucky have played since 1978.
• Davidson improved to 54-69 all-time in in-season tournaments.
Youth Movement
• Davidson features 10 underclassmen (four sophomores, six freshman) on its roster.
• The team's lone senior is Brendan McKillop, and two of the juniors are walk-ons (Will Reigel, AJ Atkinson).
• The Wildcats have just 11 total years of Division I experience in their rotation. Only 25 teams in the country have less experience than Davidson.
• One senior, three sophomores and a freshman are slated to start today's game.
Freshman Starters
• Freshman Tom Droney started the season opener at Penn, becoming just the ninth rookie to start the season opener during Bob McKillop's tenure and the first since Stephen Curry in 2006.
• The list includes current assistant coach Landry Kosmalski, who started the 1996-97 opener at Fairleigh Dickinson.
• Fellow frosh Jason Zimmerman and Scott Alford started the 1990-91 opener against Central Connecticut State.
• Other freshman starters in season openers: Detlef Musch at Wake Forest in 1989; Jeff Anderson vs. St. Joseph's (Maine) in 1992; Wayne Bernard at Siena in 1999; Jouni Eho vs. South Florida in 2000.
Milestone Watch
• Brendan McKillop is 418 points away from 1,000 for his career. He also needs one 3-pointer to move into the career top-10 at Davidson.
• Jake Cohen needs 21 blocked shots to move into the career top-10 at Davidson. Frank Ben-Eze needs 28.
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