After finishing fourth and third in the SoCon's South Division the past two years, the Wildcats (12-4 overall) are 6-0 in SoCon play heading into Thursday's home game with the College of Charleston.
Wildcats coach Bob McKillop has seen a lot that he likes from his team that most recently beat Western Carolina (88-67 on Jan. 12) and Appalachian State (83-79 on Jan. 14). And following the home win over Western, McKillop touched on three key ingredients to Davidson's winning formula, which has the Wildcats two games ahead of everyone else in the SoCon through six of 18 league games.
• Unselfishness: Davidson's players are clearly playing for the team rather than for themselves, and a prime example of that came in the win over Western. Jake Cohen became the offensive focal point that night — the Catamounts just had no answer for the 6-foot-10 forward who shot 4-of-4 from beyond the arc — answering the call by scoring 26 points. In the process, he surpassed the 1,000-point mark for his career. In fact, he scored Davidson's first 13 points and reached the milestone by the first media timeout. The offense was coming to Cohen, and the Wildcats took advantage.
Cohen's good friend and teammate, guard JP Kuhlman, also entered the game on the brink of the career scoring milestone. While Cohen needed 13 points to get to 1,000, Kuhlman needed 15.
With more than eight minutes to play in the blowout victory, Kuhlman had 12 points, and with Davidson having such a lead in hand, he could have easily taken a possession or two to target his personal goal. But he did not even realize until the post-game press conference that he was just three points away from the milestone.
"When you win games like this, there's a tendency and a temptation to start looking for yourself, and our guys are not," said McKillop. "... That's a credit to the chemistry they have and the feelings they have towards each other. I think that's a very big factor in why we are (as successful) as we are."
Kuhlman surpassed 1,000 points with a six-point effort against Appalachian two days later.
• Versatility: Five Wildcats are averaging in double figures, including De'Mon Brooks (15.6), Cohen (13.8), Kuhlman and Nik Cochran (11.7) and Chris Czerapowicz (10.1), and all have posted at least one 20-point game. That means that one night, Cohen — the SoCon Player of the Week for a third time — may be the go-to guy, while another night it may be Brooks, Cochran, Kuhlman, Czerapowicz — or even someone else.
The idea is that the opposition can't possibly guard all of Davidson's weapons. Someone will be open and will make the play. The Wildcats find the open man and make their opponents adjust.
• Playing to win: As one Davidson fan recently remarked, people keep returning to Belk Arena because they know they will see the Wildcats play hard, night in and night out. They'll see aggressive defense and lots of ball movement and sharp cuts on offense.
McKillop said his team must stay aggressive in order to continue getting the same positive results.
"We're playing to win, and playing to win is a very vital ingredient to being successful," said McKillop. "Because sometimes when you win, expectations grow, expectations get you tight, and as a result, you play not to lose. That's something that we address all the time, play to win."
McKillop then said playing to win doesn't guarantee that a team will win. It does, however, seem to be giving Davidson a good chance.
So far, the Wildcats are cashing in.
