Butler

A year and a month ago at Belk Arena:

Things I liked about Butler: Those kids looked like college kids. They played defense. They won loose balls. They earned “slobber” points ...

Now: the Final Four in their own city.

A game of C-E-N-S-U-S

Wow. This happened.

Prayerful in her place

Claire: ... so I can take the music with me wherever I go.

Evenings at Belk

Davidson 60, UNCG 56

AP:

DAVIDSON -- Brendan McKillop's 3-pointer broke a tie with 27.7 seconds left and Davidson held off North Carolina-Greensboro 60-56 on Wednesday night.

The Wildcats (15-14, 10-7 Southern Conference) led 56-52 with 3:29 left after another McKillop 3-pointer. The Spartans (6-22, 5-12) cut it to 56-54 on a basket by Kendall Toney, then tied it with 56 seconds left after a steal and layup by Kyle Randall.

UNC Greensboro led by seven points, 46-39, with 11:19 left in the second half after an 18-5 run that included seven points by Randall.

DavidsonWildcats.com: Freshman JP Kuhlman scored 14 points to help send the Davidson seniors off with a 60-56 SoCon men's basketball victory over UNC Greensboro on Senior Night at Belk Arena Wednesday. With the win in their final home game, the Wildcat senior class of Will Archambault, Bryant Barr, Dan Nelms and Steve Rossiter has now been a part of 100 career victories at Davidson. McKillop: “I'm thrilled that our seniors were able to finish their career here at Belk Arena with a win.” “Observations.”

Senior night at Belk

And on her blog

Here:

It spreads every year, you know, every day even; this name becomes an image becomes sounds/smells/people becomes meaning. That arena has slammed so much of it together into home for me.

Tonight at Belk.

Davidson 61, Furman 58

Saturday afternoon at Belk:

DAVIDSON -- Jake Cohen scored 14 points and Davidson defeated Furman 61-58 on Saturday.

The Wildcats (14-13, 9-6 Southern Conference) led 57-55 with 1:24 to go, and the Paladins missed a shot and had another blocked by Cohen with 9 seconds left. Cohen was quickly fouled and made both free throws for a 59-55 advantage.

Justin Dehm then hit a 3-pointer with 4 seconds left to pull the Paladins (12-15, 6-10) within 59-58. They then fouled Cohen again, who made both shots for the final margin.

Davidson led 53-41 with 5:50 remaining, but Furman went on a 16-2 run to pull within 57-55 on Bryan Barnes' 3 with 1:24 left.

Will Archambault scored 12 points, and the Wildcats scored 22 points off 19 turnovers.

Observer: Cohen was relieved to make the four late free throws. He’s still bothered by two key foul shots he missed in a loss against Cornell at Madison Square Garden earlier this season, helping the Big Red tie the game in regulation and eventually win in overtime. “That was a bad experience,” said Cohen. “I wanted to make sure I made them when it counted this time.” DavidsonWildcats.com: Archambault and Bryant Barr each became the school’s all-time leader in games played with 131.

‘An odd kind of compliment’

The Observer: It’s taken 21 seasons -- since 1989, when he came aboard -- for a McKillop-coached Wildcats team to lose a Southern Conference game by more than 20 points.

Wofford 73, Davidson 51

AP:

DAVIDSON -- Noah Dahlman scored 19 points to lead Wofford to a 73-51 victory over Davidson to extend the Terriers’ winning streak to seven consecutive games.

Thirteen players scored and 15 played for Wofford (20-8, 12-3 Southern Conference), which has won 16 of its past 18 games and is in second behind the College of Charleston (18-9, 13-3) in the South Division.

It is Wofford’s first 20-win season since moving to Division I and its first since 1993-94.

SHJ: Wofford made it look easy, opening a 25-point lead in the first half. After falling behind 5-0, the Terriers went on a 21-2 run to take command. Davidson (13-13, 8-6) went 18 possessions without a field goal, made just 2 of 19 shots after the early advantage and finished the half just 5-for-24. The Wildcats didn’t reach double figures until making a pair of free throws with 6:03 left in the half. A mock cheer went up in the crowd. DavidsonWildcats.com: The game was the first of five in 11 days for the Wildcats. For Wofford? First win in Davidson in 20 years.

So does Adam

Tripp notices something

Big game at Belk

Game notes for Wofford Wednesday: Davidson has won five of their last six games overall and is 11-5 in its last 16 contests. ... Wofford has won six in a row and 15 of its last 17. The stretch includes an 11-1 record against SoCon teams. ... Wofford allows just 61.6 points a game, and its opponents are shooting a meager 31.8 percent from 3-point range. Spartanburg.

‘No other place’

Claire:

I see more and more faces that I recognize, new students/townspeople/staff, and DCats folks that have -- first virtually, now personally -- welcomed me in.

Let me tell you, it is damn exciting to watch these three freshmen gain those cheers that roar over the announcer's soaring voice, that respect, that taken-in-ness that will last their lives. And it's moving to watch these seniors, my classmates, lead this team. Their determination and focus has started to shine on the court and on the bench, but so has their joy, their appreciation. I catch Will smiling and Bryant hustling on defense, Dan staying on his man, and Steve slapping hands, taking deep breaths, the heart of the huddles in the toughest moments. On Saturday, Will fouled out with ONE FRIGGING POINT to go before he reached 1,000. (one.thousand!) Rob, David, Zach, Carrie, and I had cheered for him unceasingly as he got closer and closer, to the point where I think everyone else in the endzone was turning around to shoot us weird looks, and when that fifth whistle blew it just KILLED us. Even though he'll get it tomorrow, I wanted him to have that moment with us so much. But we all stood and screamed for him, and from the bench he clapped and yelled and grinned. TCC.

Hey. This team is fun. This season is fun.

A treasure trove. “Hi, Claire.”

Makes me want to be there.

Home for Jip

Lake Norman Citizen:

Richards, a pitcher and third baseman for the Vikings, was to sign a national letter of intent with the Wildcats this week to officially follow his father Jim (class of 1980) and late paternal grandfather Dick (class of 1949) as third generation Wildcat baseball players.

“Three generations playing back-to-back-to-back like that is a pretty neat thing,” says Jim, who once served as president of Davidson’s athletic foundation. “That’s happened very few places.”

Congrats to Jip, and Jim, too. When I was a student, my seat on press row was right in front of Jim, and next to Jim, always, was tiny, apple-cheeked Jip.

Painting it red

The Lagos Project.

What it is

Davidson Dad on Cats.com:

Watching my daughter jump up and down all night makes my heart leap.

My favorite piece of a post over there in a good little while.

A note on JP

This year in the two games against Georgia Southern he scored 42 points on 16 shots.

Davidson 84, Ga. Southern 74

AP:

DAVIDSON -- JP Kuhlman scored a career-high 24 points to lead Davidson to an 84-74 victory over Georgia Southern on Saturday night.

Kuhlman was 10-for-14 from the free throw line and Jake Cohen added 18 points as the Wildcats (12-11, 7-4 Southern Conference) won their fourth straight game.

DavidsonWildcats.com: Will Archambault collected 12 points and five rebounds, while Brendan McKillop scored 15 points. Freshman Nik Cochran added nine points off the bench. ... Archambault fouled out in the contest, leaving the senior one point shy of 1,000 for his career. ... Davidson is now 6-2 against SoCon South Division opponents. JP: “We knew coming into this season, that we would have an equal opportunity. That is the way we want to play, and we were able to do it again tonight.” McKillop: “We attacked the pressure. If you let the pressure put the brakes on you, then you’re going to be in trouble, because then you play right into the hands of the press. We will always try to attack the press and take advantage of the floor space that opens up as a result of the pressure.” Highlights.

Tonight at Belk

Game notes: It’s Paint It Red Day, and all fans are encouraged to wear a special red T-shirt. Proceeds from T-shirt sales will go towards Kicks from ‘Cats -- The Lagos Project, an effort to build a school in Lagos, Nigeria. ... The Eagles are 0-13 on the road and 0-5 on the road in SoCon games. ... The Eagles like to press and force 18.2 turnovers a contest. Last time. McKellar.