Davenport seeks consistency

Coach Mark Schmidt sees the talent Michael Davenport harbors and the energy he infuses in the men's basketball team's performance with his presence on the court. After playing him 11.8 minutes per game off the bench last season, Schmidt doubled the guard's playing time as a sophomore, placed him in the starting lineup and ran him into the front line of his press defense."Most of the time, he gives great energy, and that's what we need," Schmidt said. "Enthusiasm and emotion are a part of the game that he brings, most of the time, aggressively.

"He has to bring that all the time."

As the Bonnies (9-11, 2-5 A-10) continue their march through conference play, Schmidt said he wants Davenport to play with more consistency. This season, Davenport ranks fourth on the team with 8.5 points per game, but he's scored six points or fewer nine times. After scoring a career-high 19 points in the season opener against Cleveland State Nov. 13, Davenport only managed six points four days later against St. John's. He followed up his first career double-double, 16 points and 10 rebounds at Massachusetts Jan. 20, with a five-point, four-rebound performance in the team's loss to Duquesne Jan. 23.

"He's got to be consistent," Schmidt said. "I'd rather have him get 10 points and eight rebounds every night than one night get 20 points and 10 rebounds and the next night get five and one."

Davenport has only put up numbers within two points and within one rebound of his season averages (8.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg) in the same game three times this season.

Schmidt says Davenport's aggressiveness in going to the glass on offense indicates how well he's playing.

"If you watch Mike, when he goes to the offensive boards, and gets offensive rebounds, he's playing really, really well," Schmidt said. "When he doesn't, that's when he has his bad games."

Davenport needs to drive to the basket with more intensity and utilize his athleticism, Schmidt said.

"Usually a guy who's really athletic wants to get to the ball to the rim and dunk and show off his athletic ability," he said. "Sometimes Mike is not as aggressive as he needs to be, and he takes that pull-up jump shot.

"When he has a pull-up game, that athleticism is neutralized. He needs to maximize it."

If Davenport maximizes his athleticism, Schmidt said he could draw 50-60 fouls a season. After Wednesday's 67-65 loss at Saint Louis, Davenport has only taken 20 shots from the free-throw line.

Despite Schmidt's desire to draw more production from his second-year guard out of Cincinnati, the coach has noticed an improvement in his play this season. He said Davenport has caught up to the speed of the game at the Division I level.

"He's had a year's experience," Schmidt said. "He feels more comfortable playing in this type of environment with this type of speed."

This season, Davenport's points per minute (0.34), offensive rebounds per minute (0.15), field-goal percentage (44.2), assists (47) and steals (13) all improved from his freshman campaign. He's playing 25.2 minutes per game compared to the 11.8 he saw coming off the bench last year. He said his inexperience, coupled with his concern over playing time, affected his performance.

"Every time the horn would go off, I would always look over my shoulder to see if it was me coming out (of the game)," he said.

Jonathan Hall, then a junior transfer, pulled Davenport aside and talked to him about having fun on the court and the confidence needed to rebound from mistakes.

"At first, he was getting into my ear," Davenport said. "I was just more excited doing my own thing."

His 'own thing' turned into accepting his teammate's advice and following an example, one for repeating shooting mechanics, working in the gym and watching film.

Davenport said he has noticed a difference in his shot after focusing on it in practice.

"When you have a wide-open jump shot, and you know you haven't worked on it, you kind of say to yourself, 'is it going to go in?' or when it goes in, it kind of surprises you," he said.

"(Now) you know it's going down before it leaves your hand. That's just being more confident. Every time I touch the ball, every time I shoot the ball, something good is going to happen."

Other than the work involved, Davenport said the intensity, the focus and the emphasis on play in every possession at this level surprised and intimidated him, and Schmidt said Davenport possessed the only remedy.

"As a coach, you try to be positive with him. The only way you gain confidence is by doing it," Schmidt said. "A coach can tell you, 'You're doing great. You're doing great. You're doing great.' But if you know down deeply that you're not, it doesn't matter what the coach says."

Davenport said he learned how to accept his coaches' comments, both positive and negative.

"Don't take (negative comments) as a setback," he said. "Don't take it like, 'I can't play this game.'"

Davenport learned how to handle the criticisms, the inexperience and the intimidation as a bench player his freshman year, and he looks to pass what he's learned on to younger players, like Demetrius Conger and Marquise Simmons, facing similar situations.

"You may have a good week in practice, and you still might not get the minutes you think you want, and with that, you just got to show that you have another good week, and another good week after that," he said. "You need to show Coach Schmidt and the rest of the coaches that you can be consistent. Being consistent also builds up trust. Then you'll get your opportunity."

e-mail: grossts@sbu.edu