The Official Athletic Website Of Davidson College

Date: March 4, 2011 - 2 p.m.
Site: The McKenzie Arena (10,928 capacity) - Chattanooga, Tenn.
Audio: John Kilgo calls the action on the Davidson Radio Network (95.7 FM, 1450 AM, 1350 AM and online at DavidsonWildcats.com)
Video: Live on SoCon TV
Web sites: Davidson (DavidsonWildcats.com), UNCG (UNCGSpartans.com)

Full game notes

Layup Line
• Davidson opens play in its 56th Southern Conference Tournament against No. 5N UNCG Friday at 2 p.m.
• Davidson and UNCG split the season series with each winning on its home court. The Wildcats posted a 78-67 win in the most recent meeting, last Saturday in Belk Arena. It was the 400th career victory for head coach Bob McKillop.
• The winner between the Wildcats and Spartans advances to take on No. 1N Western Carolina Saturday at 2 p.m.
• In the opening round of the tournament, Davidson has faced a team it played in the last game of the regular season on four occasions during Bob McKillop's tenure. The 'Cats are 2-2 in those contests, posting wins over VMI in 1994 and Georgia Southern in 1998 and falling to VMI in 2003 and Elon last season.
• The 'Cats are the fourth seed in the South and are playing a first-round game in the tournament for the second time since 2001.
• Davidson has won nine of its last 10 games. The Wildcats are 3-1 on neutral floors this season and 8-10 in games away from home. Davidson went 4-4 against teams from the SoCon North Division.
• Davidson owns a 7-15 all-time mark in The McKenzie Arena, including a 2-2 record in the SoCon Tourney. The Wildcats went 1-1 the last time the tourney was in Chattanooga in 2009, defeating Appalachian State 84-68 and losing to College of Charleston 59-52.
• UNCG is 1-4 in its last five and 3-7 in its last 10. The Spartans are 3-11 on the road, and this will be their first contest on a neutral floor.
• Brandon Evans leads UNCG in scoring, averaging 11.9 points a game, and Trevis Simpson, who averaged 25.5 in two games against the Wildcats this year, averages 11.4 points. Seven different players have scored 23 or more in a game for UNCG this year.
• UNCG forced 35 turnovers in two games against Davidson this season.
• The Spartans have played the 11th-toughest non-conference schedule in the country, according to KenPom.com. That slate includes games against ACC schools Florida State, Virginia Tech, Clemson, Maryland, Wake Forest, Duke and Miami.

Series History
• Davidson leads the all-time series 21-8 and has won 10 of the last 11, but the Spartans posted a 77-69 victory in the season's first meeting.
• The series began with a 69-68 Wildcat road win in 1998.
• The 'Cats are 2-2 against the Spartans in the SoCon Tourney, and all 29 games in the series have come during Bob McKillop's tenure.
• Davidson posted an 82-52 win in the last meeting between the teams in the SoCon Tournament, a semifinal game in 2008.
• Jake Cohen scored a career-high 27 points, and senior Brendan McKillop, playing in his final home game, netted 17 to lead Davidson to a 78-67 win in the last meeting overall, Feb. 26.
• Cohen was 11-of-14 from the floor, 3-for-4 from 3-point land and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line for the Wildcats. McKillop took all 10 of his shots from downtown and made five while adding four assists and a steal.
• Nik Cochran posted nine points and four rebounds off the bench, and De'Mon Brooks collected eight points and five boards.
• Trevis Simpson and Brandon Evans each scored 18 points to lead UNCG.
• Davidson led by as many as 14 points in the first half, but the Wildcats found themselves trailing 54-52 with 8:50 to go after two free throws by Aaron Brackett. McKillop and Cohen took over, sparking an 18-2 run to take control of the game.
• Cohen started the run with a layup, and McKillop and Brooks connected on three straight triples. Cohen and Brooks capped the run with consecutive layups to put the 'Cats ahead 70-56 with 2:57 left and put the game out of reach.
• Simpson scored 33 points off the bench, and UNCG shot 59 percent in the second half in the first meeting this year.
• JP Kuhlman scored 19 points to lead the Wildcats, and Cohen posted 16 points and eight rebounds. Cochran scored 10 points off the bench.
• Simpson was 12-for-15 from the floor, 4-of-6 from 3-point land and 5-for-5 from the free-throw line for the Spartans. Brackett finished with 11 points and eight boards.
• The Spartans forced 19 turnovers, scoring 12 points off them in the second half, and had eight blocked shots in the game. UNCG also held the 'Cats to 39 percent shooting in the contest while shooting 48 percent, including 16-for-27 in the second frame.
• The Wildcats led 35-28 at halftime and had a 10-point cushion early in the second half. Trailing by seven, the Spartans erupted for a 20-4 run to open a 58-49 advantage with 9:50 remaining. Simpson scored nine points, while Davidson committed five turnovers during the stretch.
• The margin ballooned to 13 points before Davidson made a run late in the contest. A 6-2 run, capped by a Tom Droney layup, made the score 73-67 with 39 seconds left. But the Spartans broke out of the 'Cats' press, and Brendan McKillop was whistled for an intentional foul trying to take away the easy layup.
• Brackett made 1-of-2 from the line and was fouled again on the Spartans' ensuing possession. He hit 1-of-2, making the margin eight points with 34 seconds left and putting the game away.

A Historically Tough Task
• Since the SoCon Tournament went to its current format in 1993, no team has won four games in four days to win the title. Three teams have reached the championship game - Elon in 2008, Charleston in 2009 and Furman in 2002 (Elon and Furman lost to Davidson).
• The SoCon Tourney has had many different formats since its beginning in 1921. The last team to win four games in four days when other teams had first-round byes was Clemson in 1939 (defeated North Carolina, Wake Forest, Davidson and Maryland).
• Georgia won four games in four days to win the title in 1932 but there were no first-round byes.

Claw Marks
• Davidson went 3-7 in January but was 7-1 in February.
• Davidson is shooting 52 percent from the floor, 39 percent from 3-point range and averaging 78.8 points in the last four games.
• The Wildcats won at least one game against every SoCon opponent they played twice.
• Davidson has used just three different starting lineups this season.
• Tom Droney is the first freshman to start every game in his rookie season during Bob McKillop's tenure.
• The Wildcats posted double-digit conference wins for the 17th time under McKillop, including the last 10 seasons.
• Davidson has been within six points or less (two possessions) of its opponents in the last five minutes in eight of its 13 losses this season, including four of the last five. The 'Cats have been within three points or less (one possession) in the last five minutes of five of their losses.
• The Davidson bench has outscored its opponent by an average of 6.4 points a game.
• Jake Cohen was named to the MSG?Holiday Festival All-Tournament Team after averaging 15.5 points, seven rebounds and two blocked shots in two games.
• Davidson has held its opponents to under 40 percent shooting in eight games and won all eight.
• Davidson began the season by playing 10 of its first 13 games on the road. The 'Cats home opener was the sixth game of the year, the latest during the 22-year tenure of head coach Bob McKillop.
• Davidson won its home opener for the 19th consecutive season.
• The Wildcats opened SoCon play with two games in Charleston for the second-straight campaign.
• Davidson's 83-56 win over Georgia Southern Feb. 16 was its largest margin of victory in a league win since the 'Cats topped the Eagles 99-56 at home Feb. 28, 2009.
• The Wildcats' 80-52 loss at No. 24 Vanderbilt Jan. 2, was their worst loss since a 75-47 setback at then eighth-ranked Duke in 2006.

Milestone Watch
• Brendan McKillop is 201 points away from 1,000 for his career. He also needs 17 3-pointers to pass his older brother, current assistant coach Matt McKillop, to move into third place on the career list at Davidson. The game against Furman Jan. 12, was his 100th career contest.
• Jake Cohen has 79 career blocked shots, placing him eighth on Davidson's career list, six away from seventh. Frank Ben-Eze needs 18 to crack the top-10.
• Cohen needs 226 points for 1,000, and Kuhlman needs 228.

Get Better Every Day
• One of the Wildcats' philosophies is to get better every day, and Davidson has seen the fruits of that labor at the end of the last few seasons.
• Since the 2003-04 campaign, the Wildcats own a 50-10 record in the month of February.

Rarefied Air
• Nik Cochran netted a career-high 29 points in Davidson's home win over Elon Feb. 24.
• It's the most points for a Davidson player other than Stephen Curry since Jason Richards scored 32 at Georgia Southern Jan. 23, 2007.