Welcome back to this year’s edition of Assist Map Mondays. As a reminder, every week we take an in-depth look at the nation’s biggest games by providing assist data. As was the case last year, this data will appear in the form of a graphic showing players who both assisted and received assists in a given game. The graphic is a chord diagram in which the width of the chord corresponds to the number of assists. The thickness of the chord indicates the number of assists between the associated players. Look for the arrows coming out and going into a player’s area. Out arrows indicate an assist and in arrow indicate made shots.
This week, we will examine the Wildcats’ season opener at home against Cleveland State. On Tuesday, November 6th, Davidson defeated the Cleveland State Vikings by a score of 83-63. Davidson had 21 assists in this contest, demonstrating very good ball movement. While their passing did not lead to a great shooting performance in the game (30-72 or 41.7% from the field), the Wildcats nonetheless prevailed because of their dominant performance on the offensive glass as well as their ability to force turnovers. Davidson racked up 21 offensive rebounds, compared to just two for Cleveland State. The Vikings also committed 17 turnovers, while the Wildcats committed 12.
Jon Axel Gudmundsson and KiShawn Pritchett accounted for 12 of the 21 assists for the Wildcats, with seven and five respectively. Of Gudmundssson’s seven assists, three were directed toward Luke Frampton with the rest going to Luka Brajkovic, Carter Collins, Kellan Grady, and Dusan Kovacevic. Jon Axel Gudmundsson and Kellan Grady each received two of Pritchett’s assists, with the fifth going to Nathan Ekwu. Luka Brajkovic, Luke Frampton, and Dusan Kovacevic all contributed two assists as well. The Wildcats will look to continue their strong ball movement in their next game against Wichita State in the Charleston Classic on Friday, November 15.
