Davidson Preview: A True Test

The Mocs play their biggest home game of the whole season (or at least the best team they are going to play at home this season) and it happens on the first day of December.

The Mocs are young and inexperienced. Where do they fit into the SoCon race? It's awfully early to really have a true measuring stick game, but this game against Davidson (the SoCon's best) is hard to call anything except for a measuring stick game for the Mocs. The Mocs will not be judged just on whether they win or lose, but how competitive they are in this game.

The names are familiar to people who follow the SoCon. Davidson has Jake Cohen and De'Mon Brooks, who each won one Player of the Year Award a year ago. Cohen has been struggling this year, but looked much better in Orlando in the Old Spice Classic. He is averaging 11.3 points and 5.3 rebounds per game. Cohen is still very good, despite his early season struggles.

Brooks has been even better. He is averaging 17.2 points per game while coming up with 5.7 rebounds per game. He is shooting 47% from the field and nearly 89% from the free throw line. Brooks has become the unquestioned leader on this team. Preseason there was plenty of question about who was better between Cohen and Brooks. Through six games, there is no debate.

JP Kuhlman was injured in the Wisconsin-Milwaukee game with an ankle injury. He played limited minutes against Gonzaga, and did not practice again until later on in the week. It is unclear whether he will play at full capacity against the Mocs.

No matter. Tyler Kalinoski may be even better. He is a better defender, and is averaging 8.2 points per game. Nik Cochran is averaging 7.8 points and 3.5 assists per game.

Of course, you can't talk about Davidson without talking about Chris Czerapowicz at this point. He is shooting nearly 52% from three point range. He is averaging 10.5 points per game. He is the Wildcats most dangerous shooter.

The Mocs have been one of the better rebounding teams in the country so far, ranking in the Top 22 on both ends of the court in rebounding percentage according to Pomeroy. Davidson, on the other hand, ranks below 232 on both ends. The Mocs will need to focus on rebounding, because they do have an edge there on this team.

Also, several of the Mocs, lead by Gee McGhee, have done a good job of breaking down defenses and getting to the basket. Davidson has a weakness in guarding these types of players at times.

The most important thing may be if the Z Men (Z Mason or Drazen Zlovaric) can do what they need to do on the inside. Also, how are the Mocs going to guard Cohen and Brooks? I'm not 100% sure if they have anyone that can match up with either one of those.

An interesting match-up is the Mocs three point percentage defense (which leads the SoCon, and is in the Top 85 in the country) is going against Czerapowicz and the Wildcats three point shooting (which is second in the SoCon and in the Top 80 in the country). Can the Mocs guard the three point line as well as they have been?

LEAD PIPE LOCK PREDICTIONS THAT ARE SURE TO GO WRONG

--The Mocs have not seen a team as physical as Davidson is. They will have to battle against them for everything.
--The Mocs will outrebound Davidson. It will be more challenging than the stats may appear to indicate it will be, but they will outrebound them.
--The Mocs will have to continue their frequent defensive changes to confuse the Wildcats offense. Davidson is very efficient offensively. It will take the Mocs best defensive effort yet.
--Turnovers are always critical. With the way the Mocs have been turning the ball over lately, they will need to force a bunch from Davidson too, which is something the Wildcats have not been doing much of.
--Davidson 73, Mocs 66. The Mocs are going to be up for this one. They are going to be fired up and ready to go out and show what they can do. The Mocs have played their best against the best teams on the schedule so far- at Kansas, and Louisiana Tech at home. Both of those were losses, though. The Kennesaw State win was also a road game. They seem to respond to a challenge. This is a challenge. Make no mistake. Brooks and Czerapowicz will be too much on the offensive end for the Mocs to handle, despite the fact that I expect Mason, Zlovaric, McGhee, Rico White and Farad Cobb to have solid performances for the Mocs.

GO MOCS!