Stephen Curry guards a Samford player on Saturday. How will he fare against Duke and the Cameron Crazies? (Tim Cowie photo)
Davidson’s men’s basketball team travels to Durham tonight to face No. 2 ranked Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium. The game starts at 7 and airs on cable channel ESPN. At the college, fans will gather to watch the game on a big-screen TV at the Alvarez College Union 900 Room.
The Wildcats gave Duke a scare last year, losing 79-73 when the teams met in an early-season game at Time Warner Cable Arena in Charlotte. Will Davidson challenge Duke again this time around? That could depend on how Wildcat Stephen Curry – the nation’s leading scorer averaging 29 points a game – performs against the Blue Devils.
And it will depend how he and his teammates deal with the Cameron Crazies – as Duke’s fans are called.
In an interview with the Associated Press Tuesday, Duke guard Nolan Smith predicted the Crazies will be a factor for Mr. Curry.
“He probably isn’t thinking just about what kind of defense we’re going to throw at them,” Mr. Smith said. “I’m sure he’s thinking, ‘What are the Crazies going to say to me? How can I get them quiet?’ That’s an advantage already.”
Mr. Curry admits playing at Cameron won’t be easy. In an interview with ESPN’s Andy Katz Tuesday, he said: “It’s a challenge for us to come in to a hostile environment and try to get a win. I think we’ve been there my freshman year, and things didn’t turn out too well for us. A lot of us have that on our minds and just want to come back in there and compete and play hard and just have fun in that kind of an basketball environment.”
Duke is 12-1 this year so far. Davidson comes into the game with a 10-2 record. Its only losses so far this year have come in its only other games against top 25 teams – Oklahoma and Purdue.
Davidson was in the top 25 at the start of the season, but fell out of the rankings after the loss to Purdue.
LINKS
Game preview on DavidsonWildcats.com
Jan. 6, 2009, Associated Press, via InternationalHeraldTribune.com, “Davidson’s Curry: Ready for Cameron’s Crazies.”
Jan. 6, 2009, WFAE.org, “Davidson’s Curry a humble star,” including an audio interview with Stephen Curry by reporter Scott Graf.
Jan. 6, 2009, ESPN.com, “Andy Kats talks with Stephen Curry,” an interview with Stephen Curry in advance of the Duke game.
