Chattanooga: Davidson’s Stephen Curry ready to rock McKenzie Arena at SoCon tournament

A security guard walked next to Stephen Curry as the Davidson College basketball star made his way through all of the high-fives and half-hugs of the postgame handshake line with the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga players.

Then a ball boy in a white T-shirt hanging to his knees appeared with a Sharpie.

Curry grabbed the pen and scribbled his signature on the youngster’s back before the guard shooed away other little autograph-seekers.

Cher, Bruce Pearl, Kenny Chesney and the Atlanta Hawks have had an easier time avoiding adoring fans and exiting stage right in McKenzie Arena than Curry did getting to his dressing room on Jan. 28.

“He goes into any kind of locale — whether it’s a restaurant here in town, a restaurant in Charlotte, the airport, getting off the bus, in the hotel lobby — and the attention given to him is extraordinary,” Davidson coach Bob McKillop said. “He has to have a sense of balance about thinking, ‘Geez, I must be special,’ or having the humility to know that he’s been given a gift and he’s using it to make people happy, and if they want an autograph, give it to them.

“When you’re constantly faced with that dilemma, it can wear on you, and he has been able to balance the humility and still have the confidence.”

Curry plays basketball better than most, the equivalent of Wynton Marsalis on the trumpet or Yo-Yo Ma on the cello. He’s a finalist for a handful of national player of the year awards, including the Oscar Robertson Trophy.

In the same moment he can be an artist and an assassin. With a picturesque shooting stroke, his long-range swishes can be daggers to opponents. College of Charleston coach Bobby Cremins compared Curry to Mark Price. Former North Carolina State coach Les Robinson compared Curry to a late friend of his, “Pistol” Pete Maravich, the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer with 3,667 points.

“Not in his antics, but his ability to shoot from long range and make shots remind me of Maravich,” said Robinson, who played for Maravich’s father, Press, at N.C. State. “Not in showmanship, but his body build, his range and his fundamentals.”

Curry and the Wildcats sell out the smaller gyms and force the big arenas to pull back their curtains so more fans can witness his sweet shot and precise passing. He has 2,514 career points and averages 28.4 points per game this year. If he returned for his senior year and averages 33 points for the next 35 games of his career, he would surpass Maravich as the NCAA’s leading scorer.

In every Southern Conference away game Davidson played this year, the host school set some sort of attendance record.

Curry is the closest thing college basketball has to a rock star since he lifted Davidson from national obscurity to the Elite Eight of the 2008 NCAA tournament and within one 3-pointer of the elusive Final Four. For him and the Wildcats to have a shot at repeating their Cinderella run, they’ll likely need to win the Southern Conference basketball tournament this weekend in McKenzie Arena.

SoCon coaches admire Curry, and they enjoy watching him play — for his skill, his smarts, his passion and the anticipation of his next unbelievable move, pass or shot. But when Davidson shows up next on their schedule, they become fearful and lose sleep for a night or two pondering how to slow the star.

“He’s a lot of fun to watch unless you’re playing him,” UNC Greensboro coach Mike Dement said. “He continues to do things a step or two ahead of everyone. He has a feel for what’s coming and making the right play.”

Full-court pressure? Full-court trap? Get the ball out of his hands, that’s a must. Box-and-one? Man-to-man? Triangle-and-two? What about doubling the ball-screens, or at least pushing him out?

A zone defense won’t work because he can shoot from beyond the NBA line. He learned that skill from his NBA father, Dell Curry.

“He was obviously taught at a very early age how to shoot, and he only got better,” Robinson said. “Steph plays within the framework of the team. He’s a very important part of the framework, but he plays within it.”

In times of desperation, a full-court defense may not work against him. Curry hit a 75-footer just before the halftime buzzer against UTC that has drawn about 20,000 views on YouTube.

“I had a good look, and sometimes I get lucky,” Curry said after his longest eye-popping achievement. “I threw it up and it went in.”

McKillop was just as lucky to land Curry at his small liberal arts college 30 minutes north of Charlotte. Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg offered Curry a spot as a walk-on at the school where his parents met. But he had the motivation to prove that he deserved a scholarship.

The ramifications of Curry’s success have reverberated through the Southern Conference. UTC coach John Shulman landed Vanderbilt transfer Keegan Bell with a simple pitch, a fastball down the heart of the plate.

“We can make you the next Curry,” is how Shulman summarized his recruitment of Bell. “Everybody knows who Curry is. If Curry goes to Virginia Tech he’d still be a great player, but he wouldn’t get the shots.

“So this is a great level, and one guy can make that big of a difference.”