The Davidson Wildcats basketball team is the basketball team that represents

Davidson College Davidson College is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Davidson, North Carolina, United States. It was established in 1837 by the Concord Presbytery and named after American Revolutiona ...

in Davidson,

North Carolina North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...

, in the

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates College athletics in the United States, student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, and Simon Fraser University, 1 in Canada. ...

. The school's team currently competes in the

Atlantic 10 Conference The Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose schools compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. The A-10's member schools are located most ...

. The team last played in the

NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament The NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, branded as March Madness, or The Big Dance, is a single-elimination tournament played in the United States to determine the men's college basketball national champion of the NCAA Division I, Di ...

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

. The Wildcats are currently coached by Matt McKillop, in his third season after succeeding his father Bob after the 2021–22 season. Davidson plays its home games at the Belk Arena in Baker Sports Complex on the school's campus.

Conference affiliations

* 1907–08 to 1935–36: Independent * 1936–37 to 1987–88:

Southern Conference The Southern Conference (SoCon) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I. Southern Conference College football, football teams c ...

* 1988–89 to 1989–90: NCAA Division I independent * 1990–91 to 1991–92:

Big South Conference The Big South Conference is a collegiate athletic conference affiliated with the NCAA's Division I. Originally a non-football conference, the Big South began sponsoring football in 2002 as part of the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS), ...

* 1992–93 to 2013–14:

* 2014–15 to present:

Postseason

NCAA tournament results

The Wildcats have appeared in 15 NCAA Tournaments. Their combined record is 8–16.

2008 NCAA tournament

In 2008, Davidson defeated the

Gonzaga Bulldogs The Gonzaga Bulldogs (), also known unofficially as the Zags, are the intercollegiate athletic teams representing Gonzaga University, located in Spokane, Washington, United States. Gonzaga competes in the National Collegiate Athletic Association ...

, Georgetown Hoyas, and

Wisconsin Badgers The Wisconsin Badgers are the College athletics in the United States, athletic teams representing the University of Wisconsin–Madison. They compete as a member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I ...

to advance to the Elite Eight. The Wildcats nearly made the

Final Four In sports, the final four is the last four teams remaining in a playoffs, playoff tournament. Usually the final four compete in the two games of a single-elimination tournament's semi-final (penultimate) round. Of these teams, the two who win in ...

, but lost to the eventual champion

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools List of college athletic programs in Kansas, in the state of Kansas that participate in ...

59–57. Prior to their Sweet Sixteen matchup, the college's board of trustees supplied students with tickets, transportation and lodging for the Sweet Sixteen and Elite Eight games. Following the tournament, the Wildcats earned a number 9 ranking in the ESPN/USA Today poll.

Stephen Curry Wardell Stephen Curry II ( ; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player and point guard for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Chef Curry", he is widely regarded as the ...

, who has since become a two-time NBA MVP with the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

, was the leading scorer of this team.

NIT results

The Wildcats have appeared in nine

National Invitation Tournament The National Invitation Tournament (NIT) is an annual men's college basketball tournament operated by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Since 2023, all rounds of the tournament are played at various sites across the country whi ...

s. Their combined record is 3–9.

CBI results

The Wildcats have appeared in one College Basketball Invitational. Their record is 1–1.

ESPN basketball ranking

In a system ranked by ESPN, Davidson was listed as the #44 Basketball Program of the last 50 years (1962–2012) based on its on the court accomplishments during that period. (out of 309 Division I programs that qualified) ''"Positives: Under Lefty Driesell, the Wildcats were a powerhouse in the 1960s, racking up seven 20-win seasons in an eight-year span. The ’64–65 team was AP preseason No. 4 and boasted future NBA No. 1 pick Fred Hetzel. Nine combined conference titles (Regular season & Conference Tournaments) since 2005."''

Players

Retired numbers

Per athletic department policy, number and/or jersey retirement is reserved for players who have earned bachelor's degrees at Davidson. While six players have had ''jerseys'' retired, Stephen Curry is the first to have his ''number'' retired. Curry qualified after completing his bachelor's degree in May 2022. During the retirement ceremony held on August 31, 2022, Curry not only had his number retired, but also entered Davidson's athletic hall of fame and physically received his Davidson diploma.

Retired jerseys

Honored, but numbers are still active:

All-Americans

Wildcats in the NBA/ABA

Wildcats playing in international leagues

* Luka Brajkovic (born 1999), Austrian player for Rio Breogan of Liga ACB * Jake Cohen (born 1990), American-Israeli player for Maccabi Tel Aviv and the Israeli national basketball team *

Jón Axel Guðmundsson Jón Axel Guðmundsson (born 27 October 1996) is an Icelandic professional basketball player. He played college basketball for the Davidson Wildcats. He won two national championships with Grindavík in 2012 and 2013 and the Icelandic Basket ...

(born 1996), Icelandic guard for Victoria Libertas Pesaro of the Italian

Lega Basket Serie A The Lega Basket Serie A (LBA) is a professional men's club (sport), club basketball list of basketball leagues, league that has been organised in Italy since 1920. Serie A is organised by Lega Basket, which is regulated by the Italian Basketball ...

* Lee Hyun-jung (born 2000), South Korean player for Illawarra Hawks of the Australian NBL

Players in Davidson Athletics Hall of Fame

* John Belk ’43 * Hobby Cobb ‘56 *

(played 2006–2009; inducted in 2022) * Fred Hetzel ’65 * Rodney Knowles ’68 * Jerry Kroll ‘70 * Doug Cook ‘70 * Mike Maloy (played 1965-1969; inducted 2020) * Derek Rucker ’88 * Richard Snyder ’66 * John Gerdy ’79 * Brandon Williams '96 *Brendan Winters '06