UNC-Greensboro Basketball

UNC-Greensboro Spartans (4-26, 3-15) at Davidson Wildcats (22-6, 15-2)

Wednesday, Feb. 25, 2009 – 7:00 PM EST

The Davidson Wildcats welcome the UNC-Greensboro Spartans to Belk Arena on Wednesday night as they’ll not only attempt to sweep the season series from the Spartans, but with a win, the Wildcats will clinch a share of the South Division title.

Davidson currently holds a two-game lead over The Citadel. Each school has three conference games remaining.

When these two teams met back earlier this month, Davidson walked away with a 75-54 victory. Stephen Curry was his typical self as he poured in 29 points, grabbed eight boards, and dished out three assists to lead the Wildcats to victory.

Steve Rossiter (14 points, 13 rebounds) and Andrew Lovedale (12 points, 10 rebounds) both notched double-doubles in the win.

While neither team shot the ball particularly well form the floor, the free throw line, or from beyond the arc, this game hinged on two key areas.

First, Davidson crushed the Spartans on the glass. Led by Rossiter and Lovedale’s 23 total boards, the Wildcats out-rebounded Greensboro, 51-34.

To demonstrate just how dominant Davidson was on the back boards, consider that they had had more offensive rebounds than Greensboro had defensive rebounds.

The other area that defined the outcome of the game was in the turnover department. The Spartans committed 20 giveaways, or seven more than Davidson. Of those 20 turnovers, seven of them were steals by Davidson.

One area in which the Spartans performed well was in turning back 10 Davidson shots. Greensboro will need another solid shot blocking effort but it will be crucial to control the blocks and turn them into possessions as they attempt to stay with Davidson offensively.

One area of concern for Davidson will be the health of Stephen Curry. He returned to action last Saturday against Butler after spraining his ankle in a game against Furman. Curry missed a contest versus The Citadel. Without their leader, the Wildcats were blown out by the Bulldogs, 64-46.

In the Butler game, Curry did manage to score 20 points but only managed to hit six of 23 shots, including two of 13 from three.

Current line: Davidson -27.0

UNC-Greensboro is 9-14 overall against the spread with a record of 9-13 as an underdog.

Davidson is 11-14-1 this season against the spread with a record of 9-13 as a favorite.

Unless Davidson lets five scrubs from an intramural team play in its place, they’ll win this game easily. The only question is by how much.

Steve’s pick: UNC-Greensboro +27.0

Davidson Wildcats (19-3, 12-0) at UNC-Greensboro Spartans (3-17, 2-9)

Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009 – 7:00 PM EST

The Davidson Wildcats, fresh off of a 24-point pounding of Western Carolina, venture to Greensboro on Thursday night to tangle with the Spartans.

Davidson, in search of its tenth straight win, is led by All-America candidate Stephen Curry.

The junior leads the team with 28.9 ppg and 6.5 apg while making almost 39 percent of his three-point shots. If that isn’t enough, Curry is automatic from the free throw line where he connects at a rate of 87.2 percent.

Curry’s sidekick is Andrew Lovedale. The 6’8” senior scores 12.3 ppg and is a monster on the glass hauling down nine rebounds per game.

Davidson is coming into this game red-hot—the same can’t be said for UNC-Greensboro.

The Spartans have lost five in a row and endured a 10-game losing streak earlier this season.

UNC-Greensboro only averages 62.7 ppg and shoots under 40 percent from the field while giving up nearly 75 ppg.

Only Ben Stywall (11 ppg) and Mikko Koivisto (12.4 ppg) average double figures and Damian Eargle falls just short at 9.6 ppg.

While they don’t score particularly well, the Spartans do have depth. Ten players average 15 minutes or more per game.

But that depth won’t be much help against Davidson as the Wildcats have only two starters playing more than 30 minutes per game.

Stywall, an undersized forward at 6’5” who averages over nine boards per contest, will need to hold his own inside against Lovedale.

Current line: Davidson -19.0

Davidson is 8-6 this season in games in which they’ve been a double-digit favorite but only 6-6 in conference play. However, with only three wins on the season, the Spartans don’t stand much of a chance against Curry and the Wildcats.

Steve’s pick: Davidson -19.0