Alllllright. Coming at you live (and a little bit tardy) from Davidson, North Carolina where the Wildcats are hosting the UNCG(reensboro) Spartans, live on Why you presumably might not care: It's the Southern Conference.
Why you should care, and you're foolish if you don't: This game features Stephen Curry and Kyle Hines, the two best college basketball players in the country that you probably/might not have heard of.
I should also at this point mention that while he is not doing a live blog tonight, if you enjoy the Davidson Wildcats and Southern Conference coverage, swing by Will Bryan's Blog, the aptly named Will's World.
18:00 - The Davidson crowd is coming in late but ESPN2 is on hand so they've got the gym's sound system miked up to full capacity and the place is slowly filling with a slew of rowdy college kids.
16:10 - Davidson holding a strong lead and playing a ton of tight defense, looking a lot like the first game, only the other way around. Curry's starting to get warm too, which, um, is what I kind of expected.
14:07 - First official timeout and the Spartans are hanging on here despite an obvious emotional advantage for the Wildcats. 12- 6 Davidson.
12:39 - Okay, so I'm settled into press row here, a little set back of where'd I'd like and awkwardly close to the WWL lady who's making nasty eyes at my "live blog" title. Curry's sitting at five , and Kyle Hines is doing what he does. Now might be a decent time to mention he only needed seven boards to be the something like 15th player in NCAA history with 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 300 blocks.
11:45: The Davidson band is shredding through a solid rendition of "Smoke on the Water". I use to rock that so hard in my parents' basement last week. Er, when I was little. Bloggers don't live with their parents. 19-12 Davidson.
11:00 - Mikko Koivisto answers a quick Davidson run with a big three to bring the Spartans to 21-15 - this is probably going to sound really dumb and obvious, but people other than Hines have to carry the load for the Spartans to hang in this one. Davidson will double team the mess out of him and force everyone else to hit shots.
10:19 - Hines comes back in for the Spartans as Oliver hits a pair of threes (yes, I'll provide rosters in a minute) to bring the Spartans back within 21-17.
8:46 - Sweet mercy. "Steph" as they're calling him behind me, is everywhere ... rebounding, hitting "stutter step" backdoor layups. You know, balling on national television. Standard fare. Rim out three for Curry has the Spartans down 23-19.
8:28 - You'll never believe this, but Curry just hit another three. I know, shocking, eh? Koivisto is doing his best to answer him, but you can tell the Spartans are pretty rattled and are coughing the ball up left and right.
7:02 - The timeout didn't do much for the Spartans as they looked to regroup but Davidson just keeps attacking from the inside. Kendall Toney hits a monster three to bring the Spartans back within five before Andrew Lovedale buries another shot. I think we've found our random-national-television-monster-night-of-the-evening. 33-26 Davidson.
5:35 - Curry draws a charge and honestly, the Spartans look reasonably unnerved by the idea that they're playing on national television. Say what you want for Davidson's early season schedule not reaping any wins but they're as cool as the other side of the ... can I say that? Is that trademarked? Maybe I should ask Doug Gottlieb who is kicking it about three chairs down. Slip in somewhere in between asking about how his college experience convinced him to get into college announcing or something. 33-26 Wildcats.
3:30 - Davidson's cooled significantly since a hot start, and if the Spartans can knock down a couple of threes it should be able to spread the floor for Hines to work do ... well. There you go, Koivisto's third three of the first half bring its to 34-29.
2:00 - Good-gahd. ESPN conveniently doesn't have steals on their box score and I'm not getting the box score love from the D-cats right now, but I'm guessing that the Wildcats have roughly 42 steals. Maybe 43. Still only 38-29 though, so not totally out of control quite yet. Spartans need a big two minutes to make sure this doesn't get out of hand.
1:28 - Curry goes backdoor (again) and Davidson is up 11. But Lovedale draws his second foul with a buck twenty three to go and they wisely pull him out. Man. UNCG is handing out points left and freaking right, folks. Timeout Wildcats with a buck 0-two left in the first.
00 - Wow. Were it not for a shot clock violation with 00.2 seconds left, UNCG would be down sixteen at the half. Instead ... it's only 14 following a Curry --> screen --> trey. This could get ugly before it gets pretty.
Halftime things you should know about:
- Stephen Curry = witness. Or something. He's a stud.
- Kyle Hines = Also legit, but he's getting held down by the fact that the shooters can't get going. And the fact that he's forcing too many shots. I expect a largo second half from him.
Aiiiiiight. We be back. And an immediate turnover by the Spartans! There might still be two minutes left on the halftime clock. (Just kidding: 19:35)
18:23 - No home cookin' as the Spartans get a freebie on the outof bounds and then cough it right back up on a five second call. Coach D might want to emphasize the whole turnover thing.
17:30 - Not exactly a "barnburner" in the second half. And not really any of that "scoring" I've been hearing about either. Just a sloppy slew of turnovers.
17:17 - Hines gets called for a charge and it's his second foul of the night as we continue an amazing streak of nearly four three (I'm an English major) straight minutes without a bucket by either team!!!! Kyle Hines now only needs two boards for 1,000 for his career. Annnnnnnd another charge. This is just a big awkward, painful mess.
16:12 - Finally! Curry buries a deep three ... and another one from the corner with 15 and a half to go and it's 49-29 Wildcats. It's such a blowout that the fans are harassing Gottlieb. Good times!
15:35 - Whew. Did anything happen while I was offline? No. Hum. Interesting. The "public" internet at the DU only lasts for one hour at a time. In other words the Spartans haven't scored between my two logins.
14:25 - You know ... these Davidson fans are shockingly rowdy as Dwayne Johnson and Kevin Oleksiak with back to back layins! Suddenly it's 51-36 Wildcats and not totally hopeless....
13:14 - Kyle Hines!!! Now you know why he's the all time southern Conference leader in blocked shots. DJ! These Spartans will not go quietly something-something. Sorry, getting a little subjective there. Just want a good game. 51-39 Wildcats.
12:42 - Is this ref's name "Tom"? Because that's what the Davidson fans are calling him as Kyle Hines takes a layup to the whole for an and-one. 51-41 Wildcats. WOW! Some kid in the stands is holding up a sign that says "We Want Memphis!" Settle down big fella.
12:35 - Kyle Hines is for a free throw and it appears that with that last rebound (did anyone else see it?) Hines just eclipsed 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 300 blocks for his career. The list of guys with those numbers includes Alonzo Mourning, Patrick Ewing and David Robinson if I recall correctly. And it is not a long list.
12:02 - More importantly though, the Spartans get an and one from Hines (again) to bring it to 53-45 Wildcats.
11:26 - Hines again! From Stywall. Suddenly it's a six point game and it is not what you'd call "loud" in here. Official timeout and the ball going to the Spartans.
11:11 - The Davidson student section is suddenly revived and going nuts again!! It must be ... up. No. Just an ESPN2 camera. Full court press by Davidson.
10:43 - Stephen Curry is quite good. 'Nuff said. You can hear the crowd going berzerker right now. 58-47 Wildcats and the Spartans are gopher balling up the momentum right now as Curry hits another monster three and that huge freaking wildcat goes storming past my face... sheebus.
9:33 - Hey, folks! Don't forget to watch Wednesday night basketball brought to you by Chevy (or something) Ouuuuuur country. NC State - Carolina. I really want to steal that little card that the girl keeps handing Gottlieb. And some fan behind me is calling "NBA" for Hines. How right you are sir.
8:27 - That same fan is now yelling "scoreboard", possibly at me after Koivisto hits a monster three. 61-52 Wildcats.
7:44 - It is freaking loud in here in case you can't tell. Six point run on turnovers by the Wildcats has them smelling blood and up 67-52. These, by the way, are the two best teams in the conference.
6:40 - A three by Toney has the Spartans thinking until Curry gets back quickly to the hole. OH. MY. They're blasting a techno version of "Sweet Caroline" and all the fans are singing along and clapping. If the liveblog doesn't pick back up, it's because I've impaled myself on an ESPN monitor.
5:04 - Oleksiak with a sick spin move to bring the game to 71-59 but you get the feeling it's out of hand when the Davidson big men are pump faking three pointers. Oliver picks up a quick two though and with four and a half to play it's 73-61.
4:24 - It would be nice to think the Spartans could make a comeback here, but let's be perfectly honest ... every run they've made has been while Curry has quasi-disappeared from the floor. And as soon as the Spartans get within 10 points he fires out a couple of threes to push them back a little further.
3:16 - In crazy six degrees of separation, according to a UNCG source, Kyle Hines joins Jerry West (WVA) in the 2,000-1,000 club tonight while passing him on the scoring list. This is the same Jerry West that the Wildcats are chasing for longest consecutive Southern Conference winning streak. (Or something like that. It's bizarre) 75-63 Wildcats.
2:51 - A Hines free throw cuts it to 75-64 and it's going to have to be a spicy two minutes for the Spartans to get anything here... although ... a big three here ...
2:10 - Davidson doesn't seem to think so, as they're pulling their starters.
1:12 - Ohhhhh. Almost a little too early. And things are getting a little ugly here. Scrambling and what not.
38.3 - Wow. The Davidson fans are inexplicably booing someone. And the fans/band rolling with "Na-na-na-na" ! Bringing out all the stops for national television!!
27.7 - Curry on the line for a one and one as we wrap this thing up and he misses. Alright the ESPN producer looked over, pointed at himself and laughed when Curry missed that free throw because he flashed a graphic about January 30th being his last miss. That made my month. Maybe year.
Davidson 75, Greensboro 66 Final. Alright kids/old people/fans of mid-major basketball. Thanks for hanging out and watching the game on the deuce while simultaneously reading along. Peacetrain.
