After uneven nonconference season, Davidson ready for Atlantic 10 play
Davidson’s basketball team doesn’t much resemble the one coach Bob McKillop figured he’d have entering Atlantic 10 play at Duquesne on Sunday.
The Wildcats are entering the league season on the heels of a 6-6 nonconference record — not close to what was expected of a team that had its top six players returning from a 24-victory team in 2018-19.
It has been a rocky time for the Wildcats, who had a three-game winning streak snapped Monday at Vanderbilt. They’re without two starters — sophomore guard Luke Frampton is out for the year after taking a personal leave of absence, and senior guard KiShawn Pritchett isn’t yet ready to return from a nagging knee injury that has prevented him from playing so far.
So McKillop has continued to give young players more prominent roles and see others make adjustments they wouldn’t have had to make had Frampton and Pritchett been in the lineup.
“It’s been a challenge since opening day,” McKillop said. “One of our objectives had been to use our bench more, and we’ve done that more out of necessity than by design. So we’re giving some experience to some young guys and they’re getting better.”
McKillop has been happy with the play of true freshman wing Hyunjung Lee, as well as junior center Bates Jones, sophomore forward Nelson Boachie-Yiadom and senior guard Malcolm Wynter.
And, remember, McKillop also has three of the A-10’s top players in his starting lineup — senior guard Jon Axel Gudmundsson, junior guard Kellan Grady and sophomore Luka Brajkovic.
Grady is averaging 16.1 points, fifth in the league, on 46.5 percent shooting.
“Kellan’s really growing up,” McKillop said. “He wants it so badly, works for it so badly. He’s really showing a lot of maturity in terms of balancing his expectations.”
Gudmundsson still hasn’t matched his level of last season, when he was the A-10’s Player of the Year. Earlier this season, McKillop said Gudmundsson wasn’t playing with “joy” and that the pressure of performing up to expectations was weighing on him.
“He’s fighting like the dickens,” McKillop said of Gudmundsson. “But I’m pleased with the leadership he’s showing. He’s fighting despite the fact that we’re 6-6. He’s really coming in every day to make the team better.”
The Wildcats have played one home game since Nov. 19 and don’t return to Belk Arena until Jan. 11 against Saint Joseph’s. After Sunday’s game at Duquesne, Davidson travels to Rhode Island next Wednesday.
And if the on-court performance of his team has been uneven, McKillop has something else of which he can be proud. First-semester grades came out Friday and he said the team’s combined GPA was the highest of any in his 31 seasons at Davidson.