Davidson dancing after beating Rhode Island
Bubble teams across the land were keeping an eye on the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament final and Davidson, a school seeking its first victory in the NCAA Tournament since a guy by the name of Stephen Curry was leading the way.
The Wildcats were all too happy to disappoint those other folks whose hopes hinged on their result Sunday.
Freshman Kellan Grady’s go-ahead baseline floater with 74 seconds left ended a nearly 13-minute drought without a field goal for Davidson, which defeated No. 25 Rhode Island 58-57 for the A-10 title in Washington.
“I would say, ‘I’m sorry,’ but I’m not,” said smiling senior Rusty Reigel, who was a freshman the last time Davidson participated in March Madness.
“We won and we’re going dancin’, and I couldn’t be happier for my guys and for everybody,” said Reigel, fiddling with a piece of the net he’d just helped cut down. “I just can’t wait to get there next week.”
Davidson (21-11) would not have gotten to join in the fun with a loss Sunday.
Top-seeded Rhode Island (25-7), though, will be in the bracket despite coming up short in its try for a second conference tourney title in a row.
That means the Rams took a bid from someone.
“I know some of the teams on the bubble probably aren’t that happy with us right now, but we’re playing for something,” said Grady, who led Davidson with 17 points. “Our goal is to be playing our best in March, and we’re really confident. Not only did we get there, but we think we can win in the Tournament.”
The Wildcats haven’t done that since Curry took the 2008 squad to victories over Gonzaga, Georgetown and Wisconsin before bowing out against Kansas in the Elite Eight.
This time, Davidson beat Rhode Island despite a 0-for-11 stretch that was closed by Grady’s winning basket. After he made that, Rhode Island had its chances to retake the lead.
Among them: A baseline jumper by Stanford Robinson missed, but Grady stepped out of bounds with 10.8 seconds remaining while grabbing the rebound.
“Your heart kind of drops for a second,” Grady said. “You realize you’ve got to guard for 10 more seconds. But we did another unbelievable job.”