Gonzaga and Davidson hook up in the seventh annual Battle in Seattle on Saturday.

You can find my unedited game preview below.

The game preview is below and I didn't include too much detail on Steph Curry and his 40-point explosion against the Zags in that NCAA Tournament game in Raleigh because he's in the NBA. But I did ask Steven Gray, who, along with Micah Downs, guarded Curry for much of that game, about Curry's incredible performance.

“What sticks out in my mind that whole first half he’s coming off screens, sprinting off doubles, getting hand-offs. It was awful,” said Gray, who made seven 3s and scored 21 points. “But it was a great experience, to see him now. ... It was unreal to see him go through that tournament, doing the things he did.”

Of Curry's lightning-quick release," Gray said, "If he had a couple inches of space, it was going up. He was so crafty, he'd give a little shot fake."

Now, the advance ...

By Jim Meehan

SEATTLE – It’s been four years since Adam Morrison banked in a 3-point buzzer-beater to lift Gonzaga past Oklahoma State in the 2005 Battle in Seattle. That’s the last time the Zags walked off the KeyArena court with a win.

Gonzaga won the first three Battles in Seattle, but has since gone 0-3, including last year’s 88-83 overtime loss to second-ranked Connecticut. The Bulldogs led by 11 points in the second half before faltering.

The 21^st-ranked Bulldogs (7-2) will try to snap that skid against Davidson today at 4. The Wildcats (2-6) ended Gonzaga’s 2008 season when sweet-shooting guard Stephen Curry made eight 3-pointers and scored 40 points in an 82-76 NCAA Tournament first-round win in Raleigh, N.C.

Curry is with the Golden State Warriors, where he’s averaging 11.1 points as a rookie. Curry’s absence has been felt by the Wildcats, whose dominance of the Southern Conference might have left with the departure of the two-time All-American.

Davidson has won three straight SoCon titles and seven of the last eight. Under coach Bob McKillop, the Wildcats have posted five consecutive 20-win seasons and nine in his 20 seasons. But their only wins this season are against The Citadel and Fredonia State. College of Charleston clipped Davidson’s 43-game SoCon winning streak last Saturday.

“Davidson has been a great program, not just when (it had) Stephen Curry, but before him and now after him,” GU coach Mark Few said. “They’re extremely well coached. They just play so hard.”

Both teams have three players who saw time in the 2008 contest. Davidson is represented by forwards Will Archambault and Steve Rossiter and guard Bryant Barr. Gonzaga’s trio is Robert Sacre, Matt Bouldin and Steven Gray, who spent much of that memorable March afternoon chasing Curry around.

Archambault (12.5 ppg) and Rossiter (5.8 ppg) are starters. Barr (6.4 ppg) has been coming off the bench recently. Jake Cohen, a 6-foot-10 freshman center, leads the team at 13 points per game and McKillop’s son, Brendan, chips in 6.6 points and a team-high 3.5 assists.

“They’ve made their name by being hard-nosed and a defensive (minded) team that likes to out-scrap teams,” Sacre said. “We have to bring that same intensity.”

Bouldin, GU’s leading scorer at 16.8 per game, is expected to start after leaving Wednesday’s game in the first half following a head-to-head collision with an Augustana player.