NCAA Basketball: Davidson Hosts Rival UNC Greensboro Wednesday Night

SoCon rivals Davidson and UNC Greensboro square off in a key inter-divisional matchup on Wednesday night at Belk Arena. It will mark the second of a three-game stint in five days for the Wildcats, while the Spartans will be closing out a three-game road trip.

Wednesday night's meeting will also mark the 26th meeting in the rivalry between Old North State institutions. Davidson holds a commanding 18-7 all-time series edge. It will be the only regular season meeting between the Spartans and the Wildcats this season.

The Wildcats have owned the Spartans of late with 15 wins in the past 16 meetings, including an eight-game winning streak dating back to a 73-68 loss to UNCG in the 2005 SoCon Tournament semifinals. It was Davidson's only loss to a league opponent that season.

After playing their usually tough non-league slate, the Wildcats enter this evening's contest playing some pretty good basketball over the last half of the 2009-10 season.

Davidson enters Wednesday night's regular-season finale having won 12 of its last 18 games, including triumphs in six of its last nine. Against South Division opponents this season, the Wildcats finished with an impressive 7-3 record.

Davidson also has eight straight wins over the Spartans at Belk Arena dating back to a Jan. 27, 2001, 63-61, win over the Wildcats. That was the season the Spartans topped Chattanooga, 67-66, in the 2001 SoCon Tournament Championship game to garner their only trip as a league member to the NCAA Tournament.

In the last three meetings between the rivals, Davidson's average margin of victory is 24 points.

UNC Greensboro enters this evening's showdown against its intra-state rival coming off perhaps its biggest win of the 2009-10 season, a 59-53 win at The Citadel on Saturday. The Bulldogs came into the game having won six straight.

However, the Spartans were at least able to bring a momentary halt to The Citadel's strong play of late, getting 18 points from senior forward Mikko Koivisto, who turned in his best performance in a string of strong performances. He has averaged 13.6 ppg in his last 10 games.

The Spartans were strong in all areas of the victory over the Bulldogs, especially on the defensive end of the floor, switching in and out of the matchup zone at crucial points in the game, allowing UNCG to come up with the tremendous road win.

The Spartans parlayed that defensive performance into holding the normally sharp-shooting Bulldogs to just 38.5 percent (20-of-52) from the field and just 36.4 percent (8-of-22) from three-point range.

Not to be lost in the triumph was the individual accomplishments of Spartan senior forward Ben Stywall, who became the school's all-time leader in rebounds, surpassing Eric Cuthrell's career mark.

In the process, Stywall, who finished the contest with 14 points and 13 boards, recorded his league-leading 13th double-double of the season. He is now just one double-double shy of matching the school standard in a season, set by Kyle Hines, who had 14 back in the 2007-08 season.

In Davidson's 78-73 loss at Chattanooga on Monday night, the Wildcats were led for the second straight outing by freshman sensation Jake Cohen, who scored 16 points. Four Wildcats scored in double figures in the five-point setback to the Mocs.

The win by Chattanooga snapped a six-game winning streak for the Wildcats against the Mocs. Cohen also led Davidson with seven rebounds in the contest. Brendan McKillop tallied 15 points, five rebounds and three assists, turning in one of his most complete performances of the 2009-10 campaign.

Freshman Nik Cochran continued his strong play of late with 13 points, and senior William Archambault played well in his new role coming off the bench, scoring 10 points.

In the exact reverse fashion of how the Furman game started last Saturday, the Wildcats fell victim to a hot Chattanooga team out of the gate. The Mocs jumped out to a 19-6 lead before the Wildcats responded in strong fashion with a 22-4 run to take a 28-23 lead.

Davidson went to the locker room holding a 35-32 lead, mostly on strong long-range shooting (seven first-half triples). However, they stumbled in the last eight minutes, as the Mocs went on a 9-0 run to take control of a tied game and lead 61-52. From there, the Wildcats were never able to get closer than five down the stretch in the 78-73 loss.

In the second of two meetings between the Spartans and the Wildcats last season at Belk Arena, Davidson dominated the game in getting a 70-49 win over the Spartans. Just like its first win over the Spartans last season (75-54), the margin of victory in the second meeting was 21 points.

Stephen Curry scored 20 points and grabbed 10 boards in the eighth consecutive win for the Wildcats over the Spartans. UNCG was held to just 33 percent shooting from the field and were led by Kendall Toney's 15 points off the bench.

The Wildcats enter this evening's contest ranked fourth in the league in scoring offense (70.9 ppg) and scoring defense (69.0 ppg). As usual, the Wildcats rank as one of the best perimeter shooting clubs in the SoCon—second in the league in triples made per game (8.8) and fifth in three-point field goal percentage (36.3 percent).

Individually, the Wildcats continue to be led by SoCon Freshman of the Year candidate Jake Cohen, who's averaging 13.1 ppg, to rank 10th in the league in scoring. Cohen is second on the team and 13th in the league in rebounding (five a game) and also ranks 13th in the league in field goal percentage (46.3 percent).

Two other Wildcats average in double figures in scoring entering this evening's contest: J.P. Kuhlman (12.2 ppg) and senior William Archambault (11.1 ppg), while Matt McKillop is averaging right on the cusp of double figures at 9.7 ppg.

UNC Greensboro enters this evening's contest ranked fifth in the league in rebounding margin (+0.9) and has the top rebounding presence in the league in senior Stywall, who leads the league with an average of 10.6 rpg.

Stywall needs just 14 rebounds for 300 in his career. He also leads the Spartans and ranks seventh in the league in scoring, averaging 14.4 ppg. He ranks eighth in the league in field goal percentage (48.1 percent).

SoCon All-Freshman candidate Kyle Randall enters this evening's contest averaging 9.2 ppg, and Mikko Koivisto, who's scored a combined 37 points in his last two outings, adds 8.7 points. East Carolina transfer Brandon Evans is also averaging 8.7 ppg this season.

Plenty is at stake for both clubs going into tonight's game. The Wildcats are in a fight with the The Citadel for the third place position in the South Division. UNC Greensboro, which currently sits in sixth in the North Division, stands a realistic shot to finish third in the North.

UNCG played much better on Saturday in their second of a three-game road trip, and I look for that to continue tonight. Davidson, however, will survive a scare from the Spartans and come up with a ninth straight win over the Spartans.

UNC Greensboro (6-21, 5-11 SoCon) at Davidson (14-14, 9-7 SoCon), 7 PM EST.