Davidson men’s basketball still working out bugs, squashes outmanned William Peace

Those anxious to see if the Davidson men’s basketball program has corrected its relative futility in close games a year ago, well, that answer will have to wait for another day.

Monday night at John M. Belk Arena offered a peak of what the Wildcats might look like this season but it certainly didn’t offer much in the way of drama.

Davidson used a 34-4 run in the first half to bury outmatched William Peace of the Division III USA South Athletic Conference and cruised to a 88-47 victory in front of a crowd of 2,222.

Last season, the Wildcats were just 4-11 in games decided by five points or fewer en route to a 15-17 campaign. Improving on that is just one of several objectives for coach Matt McKillop this season.

“The goal tonight was to get better,” McKillop said. “We talk about getting fighting to win every possession and I think we had to figure out what that really felt like with the lights on.”

In addition to succeeding in crunch time, McKillop and company seek to improve what was a scuffling offense throughout most of 2023-2024 without sacrificing a stingy and dependable defense that the ‘Cats often hung their hats on.

On Monday, there were glimpses and stretches, particularly an 8 for 13 shooting start, setting the tone for a 51.4% clip (36 for 70) for the game. Connor Kochera led four double-digit scorers for Davidson, scoring 19 points on 7 of 10 shooting. Bobby Durkin was next in line with 15 markers including a 3 for 5 mark from 3-point range with Zach Laput chipping in 13 points and Reed Bailey 11.

But within those scoring woes from a year ago in which Davidson finished as the worst scoring offense in the Atlantic 10 Conference (70.1 points per game), was a dreadful 31.4% mark from 3-point range, good enough for 302nd in the country. With Steph Curry’s jersey and shadow hanging over the floor at Bob McKillop Court, struggles of that magnitude and of that variety can ill be tolerated.

While the team went just 5 of 20 from 3-point range on Monday, McKillop and Kochera both pointed to working inside out as a solution, using forwards Bailey and Sean Logan among others to collapse defenses and free up the perimeter.

“We’re extremely confident,” Kochera said. “A lot of it is the work that everyone has been putting in. You can see that our bigs are just transformed this year. We’re really focusing on playing through (Bailey and Logan) and that’s opening up stuff for everyone.

“They’ve done a phenomenal job of taking up the responsibility of us playing through them and it really just opens up everything on the floor. We’re knocking down shots, we’re getting easy looks … I think that’s going to be a key for us this year.”

As for the defense, it should only be helped by some added length. The Wildcats boast eight players listed at 6-foot-6 or taller and mixed man-to-man and zone looks on Monday, as well as a bevy of halfcourt and full-court pressures, to stifle the Pacers. Davidson forced 22 turnovers, piled up 14 steals and held William Peace to 31.4% (16 for 51) shooting.

Certainly, that kind of defensive athleticism and versatility can only help the cause with Monday offering McKillop the perfect opportunity to experiment.

“The only way we’re going to get good at it is if we see what’s good about this and what’s bad about this,” McKillop said of the team’s zone looks. “First possession Logan got a deflection just by being in his position … Sean intimidates people just with his size. Reed does the exact same thing.

“I think we have some physicality, I think we have some size and some length that allows us to be in gaps, allows us to get deflections, allows us to impact the ball. They had 22 turnovers. That’s not an Atlantic 10 team but I think we have defensive instincts that can allow us to be really good.”

Davidson assisted on 23 of 36 field goals. Kochera, who played his first career minutes at point guard according to McKillop, was one of four players with four helpers apiece (Durkin, Mike Loughnane and Riccardo Ghedini).

Connor Kochera on what drives Davidson

Kochera on the team’s motivation after a disappointing season last year:

“We come into every game with the mantra of, ‘Take what’s ours.’ Especially on our home floor to open up the season. This is setting the tone for how the rest of the season is going. So, we’ve got to keep our foot on the gas, push to the next game — we were focused on this game today, we’re already on to the next one — we’re not focused on last year, we’re not focused on the past, we’re focused on the future and we’re all very excited to see where this team can go.”

▪ While the 3-point shot is still a work in progress, Davidson dominated around the rim, outscoring the Pacers 60-6 in the paint.

▪ The Wildcats will hit the road to visit Bowling Green out of the Mid-American Conference. Tip is set for 7 p.m. on Friday.

This story was originally published November 4, 2024 at 10:36 PM.