- (Sports Network) - Stephen Curry leads his 21st-ranked Davidson Wildcats into tonight's NIT Season Tip-Off clash with the James Madison Dukes. The winner and loser of this game will take on either Mississippi Valley State or the host team, Oklahoma, on Tuesday. This contest marks the season opener for James Madison, which went from seven wins in 2006-07 to 13 wins in '07-'08. The Dukes have not had a winning season since 1999-2000, but there are a couple of talented seniors in place who may be able to break the streak.

As for Davidson, it posted a 107-83 decision over Guilford to open the season on Friday. Over the past two seasons, coach Bob McKillop's Davidson squad has been a dominating force in the SoCon, winning 37 of their last 38 league games, in addition to the last three conference tournaments. Last season, the Wildcats made a run all the way to the Sweet 16 before falling to eventual NCAA Champion Kansas. Although three starters from last year's Cinderella team are gone, the aforementioned Curry is back as one of the nation's premier players.

Davidson won its only previous meeting with James Madison back in 1997.

James Madison seniors Abdulai Jalloh (15.5 ppg, 5.5 rpg) and Juwann James (12.8 ppg, 5.8 rpg) form one of the better duos in the Colonial Athletic Association. Jalloh was selected to the preseason All-CAA Second Team, while James (1,117 career points) was an honorable mention choice. Other returning starters include junior Pierre Curtis (10.0 ppg, 4.2 apg) and senior Kyle Swanston (9.4 ppg). Curtis actually had a down year after averaging 11.4 ppg as a freshman. This group will be playing its first game tonight under Matt Brady, who took over the head coaching position in March. Expect James and Jalloh to draw plenty of defensive attention from Davidson tonight.

Not only did Curry score 25.9 ppg last season, he proved in the NCAA Tournament that no stage was too big. Arguably the nation's best pure shooter, Curry is deadly from three-point range. In the opener against Guilford, the star guard posted 29 points and 10 assists with nine steals, narrowly missing a triple-double. Andrew Lovedale added 16 points, and Brendan McKillop posted 14 points off the bench. The fourth and final double-digit scorer for the Wildcats was Bryant Barr with 11 points. Davidson connected on 51.3 percent of its field goal attempts and forced a staggering total of 39 turnovers. On a down note, the Wildcats were outrebounded by a 39-31 margin and permitted their little known opponents to connect on 51.9 percent of their field goal attempts, including 12-of-23 from three-point range.





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