DAVIDSON, N.C. — Ignore the records. There are a lot of reasons why the University of Rhode Island-Davidson game Saturday at the Belk Center figures to be an interesting matchup.

The 2 o’clock game will be only the second meeting between the state university from the north and the small (1,800 students), private liberal arts school from the south. Davidson easily won the first, 95-65, in the 1966 NCAA Tournament.

Still, the programs do have plenty of similarities.

Both have enjoyed more than their share of success. Both know how hard it is to crack the big time, but both have done it. Both have come within one game of the Final Four — URI in 1998, Davidson in 2008.

Last season, the two had a contender for best pure shooter in all of college basketball — Stephen Curry for the Wildcats and Jimmy Baron for the Rams. This season, both teams are working hard to re-do their squads after losing their star shooter to the pros.

URI has had the better success thus far, going 3-0. Davidson, after winning 85 games in the last three seasons, is just 1-4, with the one victory coming against Division III Fredonia, N.Y., State. But the Wildcats will have the homecourt advantage Saturday. They have won 20 of their last 21 nonconference games in the Belk Center.

Then, there are the family ties. Rhode Island fans know that coach Jim Baron had one son, Jimmy, playing for him for the last four years and will have a second son, Billy, joining his team next season.

Davidson’s Bob McKillop, the winningest coach in Southern Conference history, with 368, is ahead of Baron. He had one son, Matt, play for him. Matt McKillop now is an assistant on his father’s staff. Another son, Brendan, is now a junior and the starting point guard for the Wildcats.

A few years ago, when he was beginning to coach his son, URI coach Jim Baron sought advice from Bob McKillop.

“He and I talked about having your son play for you,” Baron said. “He’s given me some real good advice on how to handle it. He’s a guy I look up to. He’s a terrific coach and a great person. I’ve gone on trips with him and his wife. They’re great people.”

Baron and McKillop go back a long way.

“He’s from New York, I’m from New York. I’ve known him since Holy Trinity High,” Baron said. “He’s the best. He’s done an outstanding job with that program.”

Baron thinks so much of McKillop that a year ago, when Billy Baron, who is now at Worcester Academy, decided he wanted to investigate the possibility of playing for another coach, Davidson was one of the few schools he visited.

McKillop is dealing with a huge rebuilding job this season. He lost Andrew Lovedale, his top rebounder, and Max Paulhus Gosselin, the Southern Conference’s defensive player of the year. Still, the Wildcats have enough talent that they are expected to be SoCon contenders again. The conference preseason vote picked them third in their division, behind Wofford and the College of Charleston.

“They’ve been right there with everyone they’ve played so far,” Baron said. “They’re good.”

Part of the test for URI is to see how it can handle the road. The game will be the Rams’ first outside of Rhode Island. The Rams have been drawing energy from the crowd with their fullcourt pressure. The press has been effective and has helped URI get all three games played so far at the high-speed pace the Rams want. Doing that is tougher on the road, and the Rams will get to see how effective they are in that respect when they take on the Wildcats.