Stephen Curry spoke to reporters before Saturday's Bobcats-Warriors game. (Photo by Tim Cowie)

CHARLOTTE - He’s still listed in Davidson College publications as being in the Class of 2010, but Stephen Curry is no longer a college kid hanging out at the union.

He’s a rising star in the NBA now, able to fill a room with reporters for his own personal press conference.

“How’s it feel to be home, Steph?” called out one reporter prior to Saturday’s Warriors v. Bobcats game.

“Great!” Curry answered, dressed in his Golden State team T-shirt, cameras clicking all around him.  Charlotte marked the fourth stop in a five-game road trip for the Warriors, and after all that travel, Curry said it felt good to recognize his surroundings and head to Chick-fil-A for the kind of food he’s missed on the West Coast. “Most of my life has been spent in a 30-mile radius of Charlotte.”

Curry’s guests at the Time Warner Arena game included the Davidson College basketball team and a host of family and friends.  He said the total came to 105 tickets, and “it was about a two-month process” to get everyone accounted for.

Curry said he had hoped to catch his college team playing in the quarterfinals of the Southern Conference tournament Saturday afternoon, but the Wildcats were knocked out of the tournament Friday.  That’s one result of the fact that Curry entered the NBA draft rather than stay in college for his senior year.

“I have six classes left,” he said. “I want to get my degree ASAP to become an official alum.  Each summer I’ll go back to Davidson to try to finish it.”

Though he was named an NBA rookie of the month in January, played in the All-Star rookie challenge game and scored a triple-triple Feb. 10, Curry still calls the 2008 NCAA tournament, when Davidson made it to the Elite Eight, the highlight of his life.

“We did something special at Davidson,” he said. “That’s where it all started.”

Curry said he keeps in mind the advice his former coach Bob McKillop always gave his players: have fun, relax, get better and make every game count.

“That’s something I think about before every game,” Curry said.

Then the press conference was over.  The Warriors star rookie guard headed out of the press room, caught sight of his dad, the NBA-star-turned-Bobcats-announcer Dell Curry, smiled, and headed off to the locker room.  Ready to play.