Yahoo Finance Davidson Wildcats basketball team has a lot riding on regular-season A-10 finale
A potential tournament double-bye will be on the line Saturday when Davidson closes out its men’s basketball regular season at home against VCU.
The Wildcats (11-7, 6-4 Atlantic 10) and Rams (17-5, 10-3) will meet at 2 p.m. in Belk Gymnasium.
Davidson lost a pair of games last week to A-10 foe St. Bonaventure after a four-week program pause due to COVID-19 protocols.
Those setbacks left the Wildcats battling Richmond and Massachusetts (each 6-3) for the third and fourth seeds in the conference tournament, which begins Wednesday in Richmond. The top four seeds get a bye through the first two rounds.
That sort of break could be crucial for the Wildcats, who are trying to regain their stamina after the long pause.
The team’s confidence also would get a boost if Davidson were to knock off VCU on Saturday. Davidson coach Bob McKillop said he has seen his team play its best after difficult times this season.
“This team has showed tremendous resiliency and fight,” he said, citing an early-January overtime loss to Dayton that was followed by a four-game winning streak. “This team has been knocked to the ground before, and we got up.”
McKillop said he saw stamina issues last Sunday at St. Bonaventure, but he also said the team looked much sharper in Wednesday’s 56-53 loss to the Bonnies. Davidson rallied from a 14-point deficit before falling in the closing minute.
“If I were assigning grades, I’d give us a D for Sunday, and then a B for this game,” McKillop said after Wednesday’s contest. We’ve gotten better in the time since Sunday’s game, and now we’ll have to get better before we face the best team in the Atlantic 10.”
Making progress
One sign of progress Wednesday was the shooting of 6-3 senior guard Carter Collins, who was 0-for-5 Sunday but 6-of-9 Wednesday for 16 points.
“When he came out of the COVID pause, it wasn’t clear for four or five days if he could shoot the ball,” McKillop said. “But he was outstanding this time.”
Two other key players pivotal to the Davidson offense, guards Kellan Grady and Hyunyung Lee, had the opposite happen: They were sharp Sunday against St. Bonaventure, but did not shoot well Wednesday.
McKillop acknowledged that it will take more than the starters down the stretch.
“It will be critical to use our bench,” he said.
VCU and St. Bonaventure, each 10-3 in the A-10, have the inside track for the tournament’s top two seeds. Richmond and Massachusetts each have games remaining against a dangerous Saint Louis club.
A Davidson victory Saturday would position the Wildcats for a third- or fourth-place finish.
Steve Lyttle on Twitter: @slyttle
