Curry, Wildcats trump expectation

Davidson thrives instead of wilting under the Badgers' vaunted defense.

Nancy Armour | The Associated Press

March 29, 2008

DETROIT - On the red trim at the bottom of his shoes, Stephen Curry has written in black marker, "I can do all things."

Yes, yes he can.

And because of him, Davidson is marching on.

Curry scored more than 30 points for a third consecutive game, and the 10th-seeded Wildcats pulled off another stunner Friday night, rolling past third-seeded Wisconsin 73-56 to advance to the Midwest Regional final.

Curry, the son of former NBA sharpshooter Dell Curry, outscored the Badgers all by himself in the second half, 22-20. He finished with 33 points on 11-of-22 shooting.

Add in his 30-point effort against Maryland in last year's NCAA Tournament, and Curry joins Clyde Lovellette of Kansas, Jerry Chambers of Utah and Glenn Robinson of Purdue as the only players to go over 30 in their first four career NCAA Tournament games.

Davidson (29-6) extended the nation's longest winning streak to 25. The Wildcats will try to make it 26 Sunday when they play top-seeded Kansas for a trip to the Final Four.

This marked the second time in three tournaments that a double-digit seed got this far. In 2006, 11th-seeded George Mason reached the Final Four. It's the furthest Davidson has gotten since 1969, when Lefty Driesell's squad got to the East Regionals before losing to North Carolina.

"Words can't describe it, but at the same time, we believe in ourselves and what we can do," Andrew Lovedale said. "We are happy but not totally content."

When the final buzzer sounded, the Davidson fans bounced up and down and a few chanted, "Rock, chalk, Jayhawk!" in reference to Kansas. This is exactly what Davidson's happy band of travelers was hoping when it boarded all those buses. The Board of Trustees paid the way for students who wanted to make the 11-hour ride from North Carolina, and a few hundred took them up on the offer.

Wisconsin (31-5) was supposed to be different. Badgers defensive specialist Michael Flowers has made many a perimeter player ineffective, and Wisconsin was holding opponents to 53.9 points.

Instead of being intimidated, Davidson played with such ease and attitude, it may as well have been in its cozy little gym back home. The Wildcats shot 49 percent from the floor and were 12-of-24 from 3-point range.

Flowers led the Badgers with 12 points, and three others finished in double figures, but the Badgers never found their rhythm offensively. And the defense that was so fearsome all year never materialized.