Davidson wants Grant Huffman to take command. He keyed the Wildcats’ season-opening win

When Matt McKillop says Grant Huffman is his go-to guy, it doesn’t necessarily means he’s going to be the leading scorer every night.

He feels Huffman, a 6-foot-4 senior guard, just has an understanding of how to be effective in Davidson men’s basketball’s offense. Huffman can make a shot — he averaged 10.3 points last season — and is someone the Wildcats’ second-year head coach always trusts to make the right play.

In Davidson’s season-opening 86-63 victory over Washington and Lee on Monday night, Huffman put up 12 points and was on the court for 28 minutes, the most of any Wildcat. He was relentless, never slowing the ball down and constantly pushing the pace for Davidson’s offense, which trailed for a significant period in the first half.

“It’s about just him having the ball in his hands and being aggressive,” McKillop told The Observer after the game. “Go-to guy doesn’t mean leading scorer. Go-to guys means the guy who you trust is going to make the right decision. So, we knew Grant would be the one we can trust to do that, and after game one, I think it’s pretty obvious that he’s capable and gonna do that well for us.”

The Wildcats’ (1-0) first-half struggles Monday night included shooting just 35.3% from the field. When they headed to the locker room down 38-37 against the Generals (0-1), McKillop had a simple message for the team: Get the ball inside and play through the post.

That game-plan worked, particularly for Huffman.

During the second half’s opening minutes, Huffman charged through contact, laid home a basket and punctuated the three-point play. Huffman’s nifty and-one, which drew a warm reaction from the crowd inside John M. Belk Arena, started a 10-0 run and allowed Davidson to finally start pulling away.

“Just gaining a little bit of momentum after a very stagnant first half was big for us,” Huffman told The Observer. “Anytime you’re playing a Division III team, there’s a lot of tension even when it’s a close game because there’s that mind-set that you have to blow them out. For us, it was taking it step-by-step, winning every round by one, and ultimately coming out with a good win.”

Huffman was one of five players to score in double-figures on Monday for Davidson, which plays in the Asheville Championship this weekend, starting with a matchup against Maryland on Friday.

Redshirt sophomore guard Angelo Brizzi, who transferred from Villanova, was the leading scorer with 15 points. Sophomore forward Reed Bailey added 10 points. Redshirt senior forward David Skogman posted 13 points, as did freshman forward Bobby Durkin.

McKillop said he was impressed with Durkin, who knocked down three straight 3-pointers over two minutes at one point in the first half. He feels his team has a balance of aggressive guards who can drive to the paint and shoot, but just have to defend and rebound a little better.

“Bobby came out 3-for-3 from three, it’s good to see all these guys hitting shots,” Hoffman added. “It’s kind of like a puzzle piece, efficiently getting other guys involved. We have a bunch of good shooters; My role is to get them the ball and find open shots.”