To win 4 at the SCT?

Chattanooga Times Free Press: The College of Charleston came close last year only to run out of air against the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in the men's championship game in McKenzie Arena. Elon won three games the year before and lost in the fourth. Furman had the same fortune in 2002.

(More) last night at Belk

A couple things

Here are the third and fourth paragraphs of the Observer’s game story off last night.

“When you’re having fun, it’s the result of the brain sending signals to the rest of your body,” McKillop said. “It’s emitting chemicals to allow your body to be relaxed. I talk to my guys about stuff like that.”

Of course he does. The question is whether that’s true. Really? Having fun makes your brain send signals which then allow your body to emit chemicals that make you more relaxed? I kind of hope it’s true. It’s time for some Googlin’.

It’s been a season of some fun and some, well, unease for the Wildcats (10-11, 5-4 Southern), who won for a second straight time and are still struggling to find themselves as they enter the second half of the conference season. They avenged an early season loss against North Division leader Charleston, which dropped to 10-11, 8-2.

Charleston is the leader of the South Division. And those guys aren’t 10-11. They’re 13-8. Mistakes are made. The good news, though, is that in the Internet era, or whatever you want to call it, they don’t have to stay there, and shouldn’t.

Last night at Belk

Davidson 86, Charleston 71

AP:

DAVIDSON -- Will Archambault scored 24 points, freshman JP Kuhlman matched a career-high with 19 and Davidson rallied to beat College of Charleston 86-71 on Thursday night to send the Southern Conference-leading Cougars to their second straight loss.

Charleston’s seven-game winning streak, which included its stunning victory over North Carolina, was snapped Monday at Western Carolina. Despite 22 points apiece from backcourt mates Andrew Goudelock and Tony White Jr., the Cougars (13-8, 8-2) faded down the stretch as they played without center Jeremy Simmons (knee) for a third straight game.

After trailing 23-9 early and by five points early in the second half, Davidson (10-11, 5-4) broke up a close game with an 8-1 spurt behind Archambault. His bucket with 2:56 left put the Wildcats ahead 78-71 and his 3-pointer with 1:22 left made it 82-71.

Jake Cohen added 15 points for the Wildcats.

DavidsonWildcats.com: Archambault scored a season-high 24 points for Davidson (10-11, 5-4 SoCon) on 8-of-9 shooting from the field, including 4-of-5 3-point attempts and 4-of-5 free throw attempts, while adding five rebounds, three assists and a block. Freshman JP Kuhlman matched his career-best scoring total of 19 points by going 8-for-14 from the field and 3-of-5 from behind the arc, while adding three rebounds and three assists. McKillop: “This is one game. The challenge that any teams have in college basketball is endurance and consistency.” More: “This was a team that lost Stephen Curry, Andrew Lovedale, Max Paulhus-Gosselin, and a team that no longer had any of the majors players in that Elite 8 run. For us to think that we could stay with Big Ten and A-10 and Big East teams, I thought that was a good statement for where we were headed. But it really impacted our confidence.” Cremins: “They’re tough. Stephen Curry may be in the NBA, but they’re still a good basketball team.” Live 5. Highlights. After the game.

Charleston this year

Charleston last year

The Observer asks ...

This question:

Curry’s absence good for the Southern Conference?

Says Cremins: “Our conference is more balanced now.”

Says McKillop: “With Stephen last year, we had ESPN and Dick Vitale doing the game. That quite clearly was something that was good for college basketball, the Davidson community and our conference as a whole. There are two sides of that coin. You can have balance and parity, but also a team that’s the king of the hill. There’s an argument for both sides.”

Tomorrow night at Belk

Game notes: The Wildcats open a three-game homestand with a 7 p.m. contest against South Division leader College of Charleston Thursday. ... The concept behind BlackOut Belk is to flood Belk Arena with black T-shirts, showing a unified home crowd and also Davidson’s commitment to the community as proceeds from the event are donated to a local charity each year. ... The Cougars own a 4-6 road record and a 5-7 mark in games away from home. Last season in Charleston. Last season in Davidson. Last season in Chattanooga. Earlier this season.

The Lobster writes

In the Davidsonian:

Hello student body!

The Wildcats have their spurts where they ball outrageously.

BlackOut Belk

A week from Thursday with Charleston in the village.

Good for the SoCon

Matt on Charleston’s big win: “When our teams win or are competitive in games like that, it’s going to help us. Wins like that will maybe allow our champion -- instead of being a 14 seed to be a 13 or a 12 seed in the NCAA tournament, heaven forbid maybe a 10 or 11.”

Sink on Cats.com

Here: Some perspective -- today was our first conference road loss since 2/21/2006. That’s right, GSU lost twice as many conference road games this weekend as Davidson has lost in nearly 1400 days. That’s crazy.

Coverage from Charleston

AP:

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Jeremy Simmons and Donavan Monroe scored 16 points each to lead College of Charleston to a 67-55 victory over Davidson on Saturday.

Casaan Breeden added 11 points for the Cougars (3-3, 2-0 Southern Conference), who maintained their 11-point halftime lead by shooting 50 percent from the field (14-for-28) in the second half.

The College of Charleston jumped out to an 18-6 lead on Monroe’s dunk with 9:04 remaining in the first half. Simmons tipped in Breeden's miss for a 20-6 advantage with 8:37 left.

Early P&C: The 12-point margin was Charleston’s largest ever over the Wildcats and was the Cougars’ third straight win over Davidson. McKillop: “When you make shots, everything feels good. You defend better, you run better, you cut better, you screen better, you talk better. We missed shots today. And our misses, we let that linger on the court.” Davidson: The loss broke a 30-game Southern Conference regular-season road win streak ... Live 5.

Talking to McKillop

After the game, in the hallway, phrases and words: Patience on offense. Had it Thursday. Not so much today. Guarded differently. “When you make shots, you feel better defensively.” Haven’t experienced grinding one out. Sometimes Jake’s going to have off nights on offense. Can’t carry over to other things. JP too. “Our cuts were not sharp. Our screens were nonexistent.” Second game of a road trip in the league. Legs. Fatigue. “Constant learning process.” Exams start Thursday.

Charleston 67, Davidson 55

1. At about the 13-minute mark of the second half Jake threw a pass off the backboard. It had no chance. About 10 seconds later JP threw a pass to Steve on the block. It had no chance. What? You thought Thursday night was going to happen over and over and again and again all the way until the day those two walk across that stage in front of Chambers? They’re good, they’re promising, they’re going to be a part of a lot of Davidson wins. In the meantime: some ups and downs.

2. One of the things I like about this team right now is that there are no cool points. None. There is no show.

3. This game, at Charleston, is arguably the toughest game in the Southern Conference right now, and it happened for this team -- this team -- on Dec. 5. It’s Dec. 5. It’s 20 days before Christmas. It’s three months before March.

4. Why do you watch?

At the half at Carolina First

1. They’re shooting 18.8 percent from the floor, 16.7 percent from three and 60 percent from the line -- and they’re down by 11. I guess it depends on whether you’re more half-empty or more half-full.

2. They’ve missed some bad shots -- Charleston’s had a bunch to do with that -- but they’ve also missed some good shots. Some rushes. Also just some unlucky rim-outs. Everything looks better when the ball’s going in (Thursday night), and everything looks worse when it’s not (so far today) -- it’s never that good, and it’s never that bad.

3. That’s one half. Now comes another.

Wearing black

First time in a long time.

Reading the game notes

1. Brendan’s eight assists the other night at The Citadel were a career high.

2. As of Dec. 4, the combined record of the teams Davidson has lost to this season is 26-8.

3. The Wildcats played their first four games away from home. It’s the first time they’ve started a season with four road games since 2000-01.

How people talk

About this program: Southern Conference “... known for Davidson and College of Charleston ...”