No. 17 Kansas vs Davidson: Get to Know the Wildcats

The Kansas Jayhawks (9-3) are set to play their final non-conference game of the 2025-26 season as they welcome the Davidson Wildcats (8-3) to Allen Fieldhouse on Monday night.

KU is coming off an impressive 73-49 win over Towson in Lawrence last week. The Jayhawks are 4-1 at home this year, with the only loss coming at the hands of No. 5 UConn earlier this month.

Here are some things to know about the Davidson Wildcats heading into the game on Monday night.

History

Kansas leads the all-time series against Davidson 2-1.

The two teams first met in March 2008 in the Elite Eight during KU’s magical run to the 2008 NCAA Championship. The No. 10 seed Wildcats, led by future Hall of Fame guard Steph Curry, were the Cinderella of the tournament until the No. 1 seed Jayhawks narrowly ended their improbable run 59-57.

The two teams have met twice since then, with the second matchup resulting in an 80-74 win for the Wildcats over No. 11 Kansas inside the Sprint Center (now T-Mobile Arena) in Kansas City, Missouri, during the 2011-12 season as part of the annual M&I Bank Kansas City Shootout.

The third matchup came in December 2016, again inside the Sprint Center, where No. 3 Kansas defeated the Wildcats handily 89-71 in the Jayhawk Shootout presented by Shawnee Mission Health.

Davidson is based in Davidson, North Carolina, and play in the Atlantic 10 (A-10) Conference.

Record

Davidson enters the game on Monday night sitting at 8-3 on the season. The Wildcats opened the 2025-26 season on a five-game winning streak with wins against DeSales, Washington State, Charlotte, Bowling Green, and Boston College.

Their first loss came against Utah State before bouncing back with a pair of wins against North Carolina A&T and The Citadel. The Wildcats then lost to St. Mary’s before beating Mercyhurst and then suffering a five-point loss to Temple.

KU is the last remaining non-conference game for the Wildcats before they begin A-10 play versus Duquesne next week.

Key players

The Wildcats are led in scoring and rebounding by junior wing Josh Scovens who averages 10.5 points and 4.2 rebounds per game. He averages nearly 50% shooting from the field and 33.3% from 3-point range.

Sophomore guard Roberts Blums, redshirt freshman guard Nick Coval, and redshirt junior guard Hunter Adam all average a little over nine points and two rebounds per game.

Coaching

Davidson is led by head coach Matt McKillop – son of long-time Davidson head coach Bob McKillop who coached the Wildcats for 33 years from 1989 to 2022.

The younger McKillop played for his father from 2002 to 2006 and then served as an assistant at Davidson from 2008 to 2022 before taking over as head coach.

He owns a 56-51 (.523) record as head coach of the Wildcats.