Davidson Drops CofC for NCAA Bid

Davidson 74, College of Charleston 55
Top Performers:
De'Mon Brooks 24 points, 8 rebounds
Andrew Lawrence 19 points, 4 rebounds

Things didn't turn out the way the Cougars would have liked in their final Southern Conference game. As much as it pains CofC fans to admit, the better league representative won last night. We all knew it was going to take an exceptional game from the Cougs to pull the upset and the shots just didn't fall. The Cougars attempted more field goals than the Wildcats, but they hit less than 30% (including a 1-10 mark from three) and never got within striking distance. Others will argue the opposite but this game didn't come down to a lack of effort, it came down to lack of execution. The Cougars outrebounded Davidson on the offensive end 12-5. Despite the Wildcats hitting 54% of their shots, the Cougars only lost the rebounding margin 34-30. One thing that plagued us all year, turnovers, were also essentially a non-issue. Charleston had just 6 to the Wildcats 7.

It was a night where the Cougars had to be firing on all cylinders and they sputtered on one very important facet of the game. Davidson played great defense, but the Cougs got open looks from three and from under the basket that, had they converted, could have kept them within a possession or two. You know it's bad when Matt Sundberg is electing to drive the ball to the hoop because his threes aren't falling. Whether these misses were due to tired legs, nerves, or the voodoo curse placed on CofC by SoCon commissioner John Iamarino...we'll never be quite sure.

One thing that gave the Cougars fits all night long was the inside play of De'Mon Brooks and Jake Cohen. Every team in Asheville so far has elected to play Davidson differently. Georgia Southern packed the paint with bodies and made Davidson beat them from outside. App State doubled whoever got the ball inside and used their team's speed and athleticism to pester the rest of the Wildcats. App State has the personnel for such a strategy, CofC does not.

The Cougars chose for the most part to play Brooks and Cohen one-on-one and take their chances. Remember that in both meetings with Davidson this year, Brooks has gotten himself into foul trouble and not been much of a factor. He made up for it last night. I don't disagree with Wojcik's decision to play those two straight up. Anybody on Davidson's roster can hurt you and Cohen especially proved himself in the App game when he stopped trying to pass out of the double team and instead went straight at the basket before his defenders got there. CofC has the unique SoCon advantage of a three-big man rotation that is at least capable of bothering Brooks-Cohen. It backfired last night when Baru, Hall and Wiedeman all picked up fouls trying to stop the Wildcats from getting easy baskets inside.

Once the refs neutered each of those three, the Cougars had to go for broke. The final minutes saw a huge bloom in the Davidson lead as the Cougars tried to do what they could to gut out a comeback-all of which came up short.

Andrew Lawrence was the one bright spot offensively for the Cougars as he fought tooth-and-nail to pull out a win in his last chance at the Big Dance. Our two x-factors: Hall and Thomas, both couldn't make it three straight stellar games. Hall was the first Cougar to the bench with foul trouble. Thomas didn't have the same shot from three he had had in Asheville prior and with Cohen and Brooks inside he couldn't slash all the way to the basket; settling for fadeaways instead. But it was an offensive struggle for everyone. Stitt, Wiedeman and Baru were all missing shots you can normally count on them to hit.

Even though the NCAA and NIT tournaments are out of the picture, word on the streets of Asheville is that the Cougars would accept an invitation to a lesser tournament like the CBI. It's by no means glamorous, but it would give the guys some valuable playing time. Trent could use more reps on his ankles and Stitt needs as much game experience as possible before taking over for Lawrence next year. It's the end of SoCon basketball for CofC but hopefully not the end of the season.