Nothing Could Stop Curry “I Approach Every Game the Same Way, So This Is by STEVE BERGUM Nothing Different for Staff Writer Me
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The Spokesman-Review March 22, 2008 G Saturday G Page C5 NCAA TOURNAMENT NCAA TOURNAMENT: DAVIDSON 82, GU 76 BY THE NUMBERS “It was like an ation on his second foul shot. 15 GONZAGA Curry made 3 of 4 free throws in Continued from C1 opening-night the final 14.5 seconds to seal it. The combined number of turnovers Gonzaga (25-8) said goodbye Gray led GU with a season- committed by Gonzaga’s starting after the first round of the NCAAs performance on Broadway high 21 points as the Bulldogs fin- backcourt of Jeremy Pargo (6), Matt for the second straight season. ished 50.9 percent of its field-goal Bouldin (5) and Steven Gray (4). GU led by as many as 11 in each and he (Curry) was the attempts. Richards supported half, but Curry brought the Wild- Curry with 15 points and nine as- cats back. He scored 22 of his star.” sists. Lovedale added a double- team’s first 26 points in the se- Bob McKillop double (12 points, 13 boards). 6 cond half. Davidson coach In the closing seconds, Curry “It was like an opening-night chucked the ball high into the air The previous single-game NCAA performance on Broadway and and celebrated with Richards in record for 3-pointers made in a he was the star,” said Davidson made the majority of hustle plays the backcourt. first-round tournament game, prior to coach Bob McKillop, a New York in the last 10 minutes, several of “He reminds me of (ex-Zag Friday when Davidson’s Stephen Curry native. “But he had a great cast which generated crucial points. Dan) Dickau,” Bulldogs coach made eight and Gonzaga’s Steven with him.” Davidson caught up at 62-all on – Mark Few said. “He has a very Gray made seven. Gonzaga, spurred by seven 3- what else? – a long 3-pointer by simple shot. He doesn’t need pointers by freshman guard Ste- Curry and took its first lead, 66- space or time to get it off.” ven Gray, had the upper hand for 65, with 8:25 left on a putback by It was a disappointing con- roughly 30 minutes. Gray’s shots Stephen Rossiter. clusion for the Bulldogs, who barely grazed the rim, if at all, and “We got the 50-50 balls, the dropped their last two games. 28 his fourth and fifth 3s came on loose balls at the start of the se- “Any time you lead for 90 per- The most points Gonzaga had given consecutive possessions to give cond half,” Bulldogs senior for- cent of the game, it’s tough to let a up to an opposing player this season, the Bulldogs their biggest lead at ward Abdullahi Kuso said, “but team come back on you and take which are 12 fewer than they allowed 28-17 with 8:07 left. they just turned it around on us the lead,” Pargo said. “We made Stephen Curry. Gonzaga could have widened down the stretch.” some bonehead plays later in the the gap, but 12 first-half turnovers Pargo scored eight of GU’s last DAN PELLE The Spokesman-Review game, including me probably got in the way, including turn- 11points, but he misfired on a long Davidson’s Andrew Lovedale was a handful for Gonzaga more than others. We had great overs on five straight possessions 3-pointer that prompted a dis- underneath, including Zags Steven Gray and David Pendergraft. contributions from Josh (Hety- that allowed the Wildcats to close cussion with Few near the bench velt, 12 points, eight rebounds) within 28-24. The Bulldogs, who after David Pendergraft was “I was pretty much there with of 13 from the floor, missed a 3- and Steven. We just gave up too THEY SAID IT led 41-36 at half, were the ag- whistled for a foul on the re- the ball (on the rebound) and pointer and Lovedale’s two free many things. … It’s very disap- gressors for most of the first 30 bound. basically got stripped,” Pargo throws bumped Davidson’s lead pointing. The sky was the limit minutes, running down loose Another Lovedale offensive re- said. to 79-74. Gray was short on a 3- for us, especially seeing what we balls and dominating the boards. bound led to Curry’s back-break- Gonzaga freshman forward pointer. Daye then missed a free had coming down the road. It just But it was the Wildcats who ing 3-pointer and a 77-74 lead. Austin Daye, who finished just 3 throw and GU committed a viol- hurts right now.” Nothing could stop Curry “I approach every game the same way, so this is BY STEVE BERGUM nothing different for Staff writer me. I warm up the RALEIGH, N.C. – Select teams for a schoolyard pick-up game – without watch- same way and shoot the ing each other warm up – and Stephen Cur- ry might well be the last player chosen. same way, so I don’t get Standing 6-foot-3, weighing a mere 185 pounds, and sporting a boyish grin that caught up in this big would prompt most ticket takers to ban him from an R-rated movie, Davidson Col- atmosphere and lege’s sophomore shooting guard is far people-are-watching from physically imposing. But on Friday afternoon, in front of a na- kind of mind-set.” tional television audience, Curry’s shoot- ing led the 10th-seeded Wildcats to an 82- Stephen Curry 76 win over seventh-seeded Gonzaga in the Davidson guard on his 40-point opening round of the NCAA tournament. performance Curry, who came into the game averag- ing 25.1 points per game, lit up the Bulldogs for 40 points in an entertaining game that played out in front of a large, appreciative crowd in the RBC Center. Using a quick release that sometimes re- sembles a volleyball set and seemingly un- limited range, the Southern Conference’s player of the year knocked down one tough shot after another in handing GU its se- cond straight first-round tournament de- feat. He made 8 of 10 3-pointers and picked up several big buckets in scramble situations “Myself included, we to impress his teammates and the Gonzaga players charged with trying to defend him. made some big “He never ceases to amaze us with the crazy shots he hits,” Wildcats backup for- mistakes and it cost us ward Stephen Rossiter said of Curry. “He’s the game. Any time you been doing it since he got here and he just keeps getting better, which is the best have 19 turnovers in a part.” The Bulldogs used nearly every defens- game, it usually turns ive plan imaginable to slow down David- son’s hot hand, but they failed. out bad for you.” Freshman Steven Gray did most of the Jeremy Pargo heavy lifting against Curry when the Zags On GU’s 19 turnovers were playing man, but juniors Jeremy Par- go and Micah Downs also got their chanc- es, only to watch well-defended, hand-in- your-face shots float just out of their reach “I know there were a and into the net. DAN PELLE The Spokesman-Review Even the Curry-conscious zone and tri- Davidson’s Stephen Curry played a little defense, too, here stealing a pass intended for Gonzaga’s Matt Bouldin. couple I could have angle-and-two GU employed at times dur- ing the game did little to rein him in. “As just a pure shooter, he’s unbeliev- points despite spending so much energy Curry’s performance reminded him of made, which is why I “He reminds me of like a (Dan) Dickau,” able,” Pendergraft said. “His shot, he’s trying to track down Curry, said he did all those the Zags used to get from former feel a little bit worse Bulldogs coach Mark Few said of Curry, shooting it from 24 feet way, but it seems he could to make each shot a challenge. teammate Adam Morrison. whose point total was 12 more than the like he’s shooting from 5 because of how But the way Curry’s teammates were so “Whenever Adam wanted to put the ball about this loss. I didn’t Zags had previously allowed an opponent soft it is. It’s still a set shot, but he gets it off willing to set screens and look for him on in the hoop, he did,” Heytvelt said. “And to score this season. “He has a nice, high so quick and it’s just so soft. the perimeter whenever he was open, that’s kind of what Curry did to us today – do everything I could.” pocket, very simple shot and doesn’t need “Steven (Gray) was draped all over him made that difficult. and he didn’t even look like he was working Josh Heytvelt space or time to get it off.” all game long, and he still gets 40. Even if he “Personally, I don’t know if I (ever) ran too hard to do it. GU’s senior forward David Pendergraft misses a little bit right or left, the ball stays off that many screens trying to defend “We tried to pressure him, bump him, On GU’s lack of hustle also had plenty of praise for the guy who al- on the rim and usually falls in, just because someone,” Gray said. “He sets them up very get in his face and do all that stuff the entire most single-handedly dropped the curtain of how soft he shoots it.” well.