Lessons learned, Davidson takes care of La Salle in Atlantic 10 rout
The last time Davidson was in this position was a week ago, when the Wildcats had 19-point halftime lead at Saint Joseph’s.
The last time Davidson was in this position, the Wildcats inexplicably let that lead evaporate in a one-point loss to the Hawks.
This time, Davidson held another big halftime advantage — 16 points against La Salle at Belk Arena. But this time, the Wildcats took care of business in the second half on the way to a 74-59 victory against the Explorers.
The difference, this time, was in the little things that keep an opponent at bay.
“We call them lifelines,” said Wildcats coach Bob McKillop after his team won for a fourth time in five games. “We needed to come out in the first four minutes of the second half and give them no lifelines. You give them lifelines by giving them offensive rebounds, a defensive discipline problem, a careless turnover because of a poor decision. We did a pretty good job in the first four minutes of limiting their lifelines.”
Led by backcourt mates Kellan Grady and Jon Axel Gudmundsson, Davidson (15-12, 9-6 Atlantic 10) jumped on La Salle (13-14, 4-11) early. And after building that impressive halftime lead, the Wildcats kept it going in the second half.
“It started with our defensive identity,” said Grady, who scored 22 points, had five rebounds, two assists and two steals. “On offense, our big thing was we wanted to make them defend us. When we use a lot of shot clock, take our time, make the extra pass, attack the close outs and take the right 3s, we’re going to be successful.”
The Wildcats limited the Explorers to 38 percent shooting and 2 of 16 shooting from 3-point range. Davidson, led by junior guard Carter Collins’ seven, outrebounded La Salle 39-24.
“That’s our new identity,” said Gudmundsson (14 points, four assists, two steals). “You play defense to win games. We have played offense to play defense, but we needed to change that mentality. It’s harder to play defense when you’re missing shots, too. But it helps when your shots are going in. Then it seems like everybody wants to play defense, too.”
Save for the second half against Saint Joseph’s, the Wildcats have indeed seemed to have found something as the regular season winds down. Four of Davidson’s five victories in February have come by an average of 30 points. The other victory came in overtime against Rhode Island, the A-10’s second-place team.
Next up for Davidson is perhaps the biggest challenge of the season, at fourth-ranked Dayton on Friday. Are the Wildcats ready for the Flyers?
“Oh, hell yeah,” said Gudmundsson. “It’s always fun to go play the top team in your division. We’ll come out hungry. We have a lot to show.”
The atmosphere in University of Dayton Arena is among the best in college basketball. The game will be on ESPN2.
“They’re talented and deep, but ultimately so are we,” said Grady. “We’ve gone through some growing pains this year, but we’re playing our best basketball right now. We get a chance to play in front of (13,000) people on ESPN against a top-five team in the country. That’s what you play for. We’re going in thinking we can win.”
This story was originally published February 25, 2020 at 10:31 PM.