By Gregg Doyel
RALEIGH, N.C. -- What did I write Friday about Davidson's Stephen Curry? Whatever it was, run it back. Print it again. The same thing happened Sunday.
Two days after scoring 30 points in the second half to rally Davidson past Gonzaga, Curry scored 25 in the second half Sunday to rally the 10th-seeded Wildcats past No. 2 Georgetown.
Given the discrepancy between the size of the schools, their conference affiliation, tradition and seeding, Davidson's 74-70 victory against Georgetown has to be one of the biggest upsets in recent NCAA tournament history, right up there with George Mason's win in 2006 against Connecticut.
Individually, you'd have to go back a lot further to find a performance that deserves to be included in the same sentence, or paragraph, as the one-man show Curry put on at the RBC Center. What he did to Gonzaga on Friday, when he scored 30 of his 40 points in the second half, was one of the best individual performances by anyone, anywhere, in the NCAA tournament.
What he did Sunday was even better.
It was better because the stakes were higher and because the opponent was stronger and because of what had happened in the first half, when Georgetown allowed Curry to score just five points on 2-for-8 shooting. With less than 14½ minutes to play, Davidson trailed 48-33 and Curry still was stuck on five points. The only thing that had changed was his level of misery. With less than 14:25 remaining, Curry was 2-for-11 from the floor.
And then everything changed. For both teams. Forever.
Curry curled around a screen against pesky Georgetown defender Jeremiah Rivers. Rivers had received tips on slowing Curry from his father -- longtime NBA guard Doc Rivers, who chased Michael Jordan for years -- but there was nothing he or his father or M.J. himself could have done to stop what was about to happen. Curry caught the pass and in a nanosecond released a 23-footer that swished through the net as an official was calling a foul on Rivers. Curry added the free throw for a four-point play, cutting the Georgetown lead to 48-37 and waking up the RBC Center crowd, most of whom were dressed in North Carolina baby blue but were only too happy to support another state school.
Georgetown coach John Thompson III, as good a tactician as there is in college basketball, did little to try to stop Curry from heating up. He didn't switch defenses, only defenders. Soon freshman Austin Freeman was on Curry, but Curry buried a catch-and-shoot 3-pointer on him. Then it was another Georgetown freshman, Chris Wright, who tried to stop Curry. Didn't work. Wright fell for a pump fake and fouled Curry, who made two free throws to bring Davidson within 54-52 with 7:13 left.
Forty seconds later, the Hoyas tried something radical. Nobody guarded Curry after he slipped through the mass of men in the lane and emerged on the wing. Thompson saw what was happening from the bench and shouted, "Hey!" Didn't matter. Curry had been burying shots in taller defenders' faces for an entire season. He wasn't about to miss this open look. Georgetown's lead was 57-55.
At this point, it got plain ridiculous. Curry lost Rivers with a jab step to the outside, cut to the rim and scored in traffic. Add the foul, and it was a three-point play. Davidson now led 60-58.
Next time down, Curry beat three defenders to the rim for a scoop finish. The Hoyas led the country in field-goal defense this season, but Curry was turning them into the Keystone Cops. Add a 3-pointer less than a minute later, and Davidson led 65-60.
Davidson is one of the best teams, in every sense of the word, in the game. It runs intricate offensive sets and shares the basketball like few others, but Davidson was no longer running offense. Curry had become the offense. He finished the Hoyas off by making five free throws in the final 23.6 seconds.
Curry finished with 30 points. He scored 25 in the final 14:24. Wait a minute, let me try that sentence again:
He outscored Georgetown 25-22 in the final 14:24.
Have there been better individual performances in NCAA tournament history? Sure. Notre Dame's Austin Carr scored 61 points in a game in 1970. UCLA's Bill Walton made 21-of-22 shots in the 1973 championship game. Kentucky's Jack Givens had 41 points in the 1978 title game.
Look at the names of those teams: Notre Dame. UCLA. Kentucky.
Curry plays for Davidson. In the Southern Conference.
And Curry has done it two games in a row. Soon he will go for three.
Later this week in Detroit, Wisconsin will try to stop him in the Sweet 16. Wisconsin has one of the best defenses in the country. Three teams this season couldn't break 40 against the Badgers.
Curry might just do it by himself.
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