Five-seed Kentucky takes on 12-seed Davidson on Thursday at 7 p.m. in a South Region first round game in Boise, Idaho.
Here are 10 things to know about the Wildcats of the Atlantic 10 before that game.
Atlantic 10 tournament champions.
Davidson entered the A10 tournament in Washington D.C. as the league's three-seed, so it's not as though they were the little guys at the Verizon Center. But with Rhode Island dominating so much of the publicity afforded to the league this season, Davidson wasn't a favorite, either. The Wildcats knocked off the top-seeded Rams 58-57 on Sunday, earning an automatic bid and knocking Notre Dame off the bubble.
Davidson easily dispatched No. 6 seed Saint Louis 78-60 on Friday and rolled past No. 2 seed St. Bonaventure 82-70 on Saturday, leading up to the A10 championship game.
Peyton Aldridge leads the way.
Senior Davidson forward Peyton Aldridge, of Leavittsburg, Ohio, is one of the top scorers in college basketball. His 21.8 points and 7.8 rebounds per game make him one of the most valuable players in all of college basketball.
At 6-foot-8, 225 pounds, Aldridge has legitimate range. He has 76 made threes (39.6-percent) on the season, as well as the potential to take over any game. In a late regular season triple overtime loss at St. Bonaventure, Aldridge scored 45 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. Two games later, in the first round of the A10 tourn ament, he had 35 points on 13-of-19 shooting.
Aldridge was a successful quarterback in high school but it seems like he picked the right sport to pursue.
But the Wildcats really have a 'Big Three'
Aldridge is the team's leading scorer and the Wildcat that everyone will be talking about this week, but Davidson really has a trio that they lean heavily on. Aldridge commands the doubles and dominates a coaching staff's attention during the game planning, but freshman guard Kellan Grady (18.1 PPG) and sophomore guard Jon Axel Gudmundsson (13.1 PPG) are good enough to make defenses pay when they're given opportunities. Those two and KiShawn Pritchett are three-fifths of Davidson's starting lineup and they all could be considered point guards.
A familiar position but not for current players.
While it's been a long time since the days of Steph Curry and the 2008 Elite Eight, by far the program's deepest run ever, Davidson's players shouldn't be overwhelmed by just the fact of being in the tournament. However, the players on the current roster don't have much NCAA tournament experience. The Wildcats lost in the first round of the 2014-15 tournament and haven't been back to the tournament since. This is Davidson's sixth appearance in the tournament since the 2004-05 season.
Statistical Glance: Davidson
Davidson is 43rd in KenPom's adjusted efficiency ratings with the No. 18 offense and the No. 115 defense. Their tempo: Slow (335th).
In spite of playing at a slow pace, Davidson averages 76.4 points per game (hence the strong offensive efficiency rating). As you might imagine with a team that scores a lot playing at a slow pace, Davidson rarely turns the ball over. Just 14.3-percent of their offensive possessions end with a turnover (8th).
They rank 25th in field goal percentage (48.3), 27th in 3-point percentage (39.1) and fourth in free throw percentage (79.7). Davidson ranks on the high ends of teams nationally when it comes to three-point attempts per game.
What Davidson really does not do well is offensive rebound. They're one of the worst offensive rebounding teams in the country. However, they're in the top 20 in defensive rebounding percentage so they do a good job of eliminating second chance points.
Defensively, Davidson isn't nearly as good as they are when they have the ball. Opponents shoot 44-percent against the Wildcats on the year, including 35-percent from deep.
