AMHERST - When it became clear that the move of Ricky Harris to point guard was permanent, the University of Massachusetts senior called someone who had been there before.

After gaining national acclaim during his freshman and sophomore year, Stephen Curry of Davidson made the move from shooting guard to his team's primary ball-handler for the 2008-09 season. His improved ball-handling helped him move up in the NBA draft where he was selected seventh by Golden State in June.

Harris met Curry at Chris Paul's Summer Camp in 2008. The two remain in contact by phone, email, Facebook and Twitter and Harris sought his advice on changing positions.

"I'm good friends with him. I talk to him a lot. I asked him for a few pointers," Harris said. "He said, #Stay a scorer, but try to get everybody else involved.' It looked like a lot easier for him than it's been for me."

Harris will continue to use that advice tonight against Curry's alma mater as the Minutemen (6-6) play Davidson in North Carolina at 7 p.m.

Lately, the position transition has not affected Harris as much as his ankle injury. Harris missed the Dec. 11 game against Grambling State at the Mullins Center, and has played through the injury in the last two games against Memphis and Boston College when he has struggled shooting. He said the time off for Christmas came at a good time both physically and mentally.

"Being able to go home, get some rest and not practice helped me a lot," Harris said. "It's still bothering me, but it's not as bad as it was,"

He needs just three points to move into a tie with Harper Williams (1,534) for eighth on the UMass career scoring list.

"It was good to get away see my family and friends and get away from basketball for a little bit," Harris said. "Playing on this sore ankle has been kind of stressful.

Now he's ready to get back on the court. "I'm excited - I can't wait to start playing again," he said. "I just want to get back to 100 percent so I can be even better."

Davidson has had growing pains without Curry and opened the season with four straight losses to Butler, South Florida, La Salle and Penn State.

But things have come together of late. While the Wildcats are 5-8, they have won three of their last four games. The lone defeat was a 91-88 overtime loss to Cornell, which beat the Minutemen 74-61 on Nov. 18.

Freshman big man Jake Cohen leads Davidson in scoring (14.7 points per game) and is second in rebounding (5.1 rebounds per game).

The Wildcats have considerable size for a mid-major. In addition to the 6-foot-10 Cohen, Davidson has three other players at 6-foot-9.

They will likely match up with Minuteman sophomore Sean Carter, who likely will have some friends in the crowd.

Davidson, which is near Charlotte, is three hours away from Fayetteville, N.C., where Carter grew up. But it's much closer than anywhere else the Minutemen play this season and Carter is expecting several friends and family members in the crowd at Belk Arena.

"A lot of people will be able to come out and see me play that haven't been able to see me play in a while," Carter said.

While tonight's game might be a homecoming of-sorts for Carter, it is a road game for the rest of the Minutemen who have struggled on their opponents' courts this season.

The lone win for UMass as the visiting team came Dec. 5 against Holy Cross at the DCU Center in Worcester, where there were as many Minuteman fans as Crusader supporters.

"It's a big test for us. Anytime you go on the road in college basketball it's difficult," Minuteman coach Derek Kellogg said. "Davidson is playing its best basketball of the season. It's a difficult game."

Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. For more UMass coverage, including a UMass sports blog, go to http://www.gazettenet.com/category/sports/umass-sports.