By jim O’Connell
Associated Press
NEW YORK ó Stephen Curry kept missing. His teammates kept telling him to shoot.
Not a bad idea.
Curry, the nation’s leading scorer and one of the most popular college basketball players of this generation, fought off a terrible shooting start and took over the final 5 minutes to lead No. 23 Davidson to a 68-65 victory over West Virginia on Tuesday night in the Jimmy V Classic.
“I was frustrated but my teammates kept telling me to keep shooting,” said Curry, who missed 12 of his first 13 3-point attempts before making the last three and scoring 13 of the Wildcats’ last 15 points of the game. “I was trying to get some motion, but their defense with their long arms took that away.”
That didn’t matter to Andrew Lovedale, whose 15 points were second to Curry’s 27.
“We knew he had a dry period where he couldn’t make any shots,” Lovedale said, “but I walked up to him at a timeout and said ‘Keep shooting. We’ll get you the ball.”‘
Curry got his teammates the ball as well, finishing with 10 assists, although he did have eight turnovers. He was 9-of-27 from the field, including 4-of-16 from 3-point range, but finished 4.3 points below his average. Curry entered the game shooting 50.4 percent from the field and 40.9 percent from behind the arc.
“It doesn’t happen a lot,” Curry said, when asked about the tough shooting night. “I got a little down on myself early in the second half because I had a fresh start and continued to go bad.”
The last of Curry’s late 3s gave the Wildcats (7-1) the lead for good at 64-62 with 39 seconds to play.
“He made two incredibly hard shots at the end,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “The first one was a really, really hard shot where he was fading and got his feet down and we guarded that well. I hoped our length would bother him and we kept running guys at him so he couldn’t get settled with one guy on him.”
The crowd at Madison Square Garden was oohing on every shot Curry let go, many of them from behind the NBA 3-point line, which is 2 feet, 3 inches deeper than college basketball’s line.
“It’s cool to have that, but I don’t really notice during the game,” Curry said, “but it is special in a place of this magnitude. It’s something I’ll remember.”
No. 6 Texas 67, No. 15 Villanova 58
NEW YORK ó A.J. Abrams had 26 points and Damion James added 16 to lead No. 6 Texas to a 67-58 victory over No. 15 Villanova in the Jimmy V Classic.
Abrams, who had 18 points in the second half, and James, the Longhorns’ two leading scorers, combined to score 16 straight points for Texas (7-1) when it pulled away to a double-digit lead late in the second half.
The game was the first out of the Philadelphia area for the 8-1 Wildcats, who had won all their games by at least 13 points.
OTHERS
MUNCIE, Ind. ó Robbie Hummel had 15 points and nine rebounds to lead Purdue (7-2), after sitting out Saturday’s win over Arkansas-Pine Bluff due to back spasms.
St. Joseph’s 85, Towson 64
TOWSON, Md. ó Ahmad Nivins scored 25 points and had nine rebounds to lead St. Joseph’s to an 85-64 victory over Towson.
Former West Rowan star Junior Hairston led Towson (4-5), which has lost four of its past five games, with 16 points.
Georgia 67, Va. Tech 66
ATHENS, Ga.ó Albert Jackson scored the game-winning basket with 28.3 seconds remaining and grabbed a critical rebound with 0.5 left to help Georgia beat Virginia Tech 67-66.
The Hokies fell to 5-4.