GREENSBORO -- All the numbers but one added up in Davidson's favor Thursday night at the Greensboro Coliseum.
The Wildcats weren't particularly sharp on offense, but they wound up with a 75-54 victory over UNCG. The Spartans made a close game of it for a while but eventually were ground down by a bigger, stronger team.
The big number that UNCG really wanted materialized with the attendance of 11,687. It was announced as a sellout, with the curtain dropped down in most of the upper deck. A few empty seats were scattered here and there, but the crowd turnout pleased everyone.
Davidson coach Bob McKillop, whose team has played in front of some large crowds on the road this year, called it "a big-time, high-energy atmosphere."
UNCG guard Kendall Toney called playing in the atmosphere "a pleasure. I could definitely get used to playing here."
He'll get that chance next season when the Spartans move their home schedule to the arena. This was the only game scheduled at the Coliseum this season.
Of course, everyone acknowledged that much of the crowd came to watch Davidson's Stephen Curry. The nation's leading scorer didn't have a scintillating night, hitting 10 of 24 shots overall and 4 of 12 from behind the 3-point line. But he finished with 29 points, right on his average of 28.9.
McKillop called Curry the catalyst for the game, pointing out his eight rebounds, three assists, two steals and one turnover in 33 minutes.
"Stephen is magnificent at taking what's there," McKillop said. "He didn't ooh and aah the crowd. The expectations that are put on his shoulders every time he steps on the court are extraordinary. He has now met this experience every place he's gone in this conference. He handles it like a champ, he handles it like a poised veteran."
Curry started slowly and didn't record his first basket -- on his first shot -- until five minutes had elapsed, when he made a 3-pointer. With an array of Spartans guarding him, sometimes two at a time, he was patient and still managed 18 points by halftime.
He just found ways to score -- off an inbounds pass, off a running left-handed hook-flip shot, off a kick-out pass after an offensive rebound by Max Paulhus Gosselin.
He added 11 points in the second half.
"We rotated on him, tried to keep fresh legs on him at all times, give him as tough a time as we could," Toney said. "We did everything we could to try to slow him down and limit his touches. He's smart, his IQ is very high, he makes a lot of great plays, gets his teammates open. You can never fall asleep on him. He's a great player. We did the best we could."
Besides being a prolific scorer with great range, Curry is also the Wildcats' point guard.
"My role is to push the ball up and make plays," he said. "I try to get the defense on its heels. I enjoy making decisions and leading the team. It's a new experience and it's fun."
The win pushed Davidson's record to 20-3, 13-0 in the Southern Conference. The Wildcats have won 43 straight in league play, one short of the record held by West Virginia. It was their seventh straight win over UNCG.
The Spartans dropped to 3-18, 2-10. They bolted to a 7-1 lead, with Davidson looking like the more nervous team. But then UNCG went as cold as the winter night outside, and the Wildcats scored the next 16 points to take a 37-24 halftime lead.
UNCG hung around in the second half, chopping the deficit to 43-37 with a chance to cut the lead to four points. But Daniel Oliver turned the ball over, Curry followed with a jumper to end the threat and the Wildcats drew away from there.
Dement felt his team didn't take advantage of Davidson's cold shooting early. He also felt the Wildcats set the tone with their physical play that included 25 offensive rebounds.
Steve Rossiter supplemented Curry with 14 points and 13 rebounds, and Andrew Lovedale added 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The Spartans shot 29.6 percent in the first half, 37.3 percent for the game and committed 20 turnovers. Ben Stywall's 13 points were tops, and there was a bright spot from freshman Damian Eargle, who had 10 points, seven rebounds and six blocked shots (one off Kyle Hines' school record). Toney added 12 points off the bench.
"Eargle is aggressive and can create his own shot," Dement said. "We don't have a lot of guys who can do that."
DAVIDSON (20-3, 13-0)
FG FT Reb
Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
Rossiter 25 4-6 6-11 8-13 1 3 14
Lovedale 34 6-11 0-0 4-10 1 1 12
P.Gosselin 29 1-3 2-2 1-3 2 2 4
Barr 21 1-5 1-2 0-2 0 0 4
Curry 33 10-24 5-8 2-8 3 2 29
McKillop 13 1-5 0-0 0-0 0 4 2
Archambault 23 2-10 0-0 3-3 3 3 5
Ben-Eze 2 1-1 0-0 1-2 0 0 2
Nelms 7 0-1 1-4 1-2 1 1 1
Allison 13 1-5 0-0 1-3 0 2 2
Totals 200 27-71 15-27 25-51 11 18 75
Percentages: FG .380, FT .556.
3-point goals: 6-27, .222 (Curry 4-12, Barr 1-5, Archambault 1-6, McKillop 0-4).
Team rebounds: 5.
Blocked shots: 3 (Lovedale 2, Rossiter).
Turnovers: 13 (Rossiter 3, Archambault 3, Allison 3, Lovedale 2, Curry, McKillop).
Steals: 11 (Lovedale 6, Curry 2, Rossiter, McKillop, Paulhus Gosselin).
Technical fouls: None.
UNC-GREENSBORO (3-18, 2-10)
FG FT Reb
Min M-A M-A O-T A PF PTS
Stywall 34 5-9 3-7 1-7 0 3 13
Jackson 10 0-3 0-0 1-1 0 3 0
Koivisto 27 2-7 0-0 0-3 0 2 5
Smith 20 1-4 3-4 0-2 2 1 6
Eargle 35 5-16 0-0 3-7 1 2 10
Oliver 19 2-3 2-3 0-3 0 4 6
Hardiman 0 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Toney 28 3-6 4-4 1-1 5 2 12
Bone 8 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 2 0
Spooner 1 0-2 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Brown 18 1-1 0-0 0-1 0 1 2
Totals 200 19-51 12-18 10-34 8 20 54
Percentages: FG .373, FT .667.
3-point goals: 4-11, .364 (Toney 2-4, Smith 1-3, Koivisto 1-3, Oliver 0-1).
Team rebounds: 7.
Blocked shots: 10 (Eargle 6, Stywall 2, Bone, Toney).
Turnovers: 20 (Stywall 7, Oliver 4, Koivisto 3, Brown 2, Eargle 2, Smith, Bone).
Steals: 5 (Stywall 2, Hardiman, Brown, Koivisto).
Technical Fouls: None.
Davidson 37 38 -- 75
UNCG 24 30 -- 54
A--11,687.
Officials_Mike Wood, Bill Covington, Greg Fogleman.
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