Jan. 30, 2009

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford basketball team will play in front of a sold-out crowd for the first time in the short two-year existence of the 5,000-seat Pete Hanna Center on Saturday at 2 p.m. (CST), as the Bulldogs host the first-place Davidson Wildcats in a marquee Southern Conference contest.

The highly-anticipated matchup will be televised live on SportSouth and the action will be called by play-by-play announcer Tom Werme and color analyst Daymeon Fishback. The game will also be broadcast live on the radio by Kevin Henslee (WVSU 91.1 FM) and via the Internet at www.samford.edu/groups/wvsu.

The Samford Athletic Department announced Wednesday that all the sellable tickets for the game have been pre-sold for the Pete Hanna Center.

The tickets that have been set aside for students and employees will be distributed on a first-come, first-serve basis at 12:30 p.m. The game is scheduled to tip off at 2 p.m.

The sellout is the first in the history of Pete Hanna Center, which opened in 2007.

Saturday's crowd is expected to be the largest in school history. On Feb. 1, 2001, a current record-crowd of 4,240 fans packed Seibert Hall to see the Bulldogs square off against Georgia State.

Samford (11-9, 6-5 SoCon) heads into the game having won five of its previous six contests, including a 69-46 victory over Georgia Southern on Thursday. With their most recent win, the Bulldogs improved to 8-2 at home this season.

Samford boasts the best defensive unit in the SoCon this year and is only allowing 61.5 points per game.

Not only are the Bulldogs ranked first in the SoCon in scoring defense, but they are also ranked among the top-five teams in the league in an additional nine categories. Samford is also the second-ranked squad in field-goal percentage (46.0).

Davidson (17-3, 10-0 SoCon) enters the showdown as the only undefeated squad left in conference play.

The Wildcats have won 40-consecutive SoCon matchups and are in the midst of a 10-game conference winning streak this season. Davidson's last defeat was at No. 1-ranked Duke 79-67 on Jan. 7. The Wildcats' All-American guard, Stephen Curry, is the nation's leading scorer and is averaging 29.5 points per game.

Davidson heads into Saturday's game as the top-ranked team in the conference in nearly every statistical category.

At the midway mark in the SoCon season, the Wildcats own an unblemished 10-0 record and are ranked first in nine of the league's 19 statistical categories. Davidson boasts the conference's top scoring offense with an average of 81.8 points per game.

The Bulldogs will square off against the Wildcats for only the fourth time in school history Saturday. Davidson enters the matchup with a 3-0 all-time record in the series and earlier this season earned a 76-55 victory against Samford at home on Jan. 3.

In the first meeting between the teams, the Bulldogs held Curry below his season scoring average, but he still finished with a game-high 21 points. Davidson's 6-foot-3 junior was 7-of-14 from the floor and 5-of-6 from 3-point range. During the first half of play, Curry reached the 2,000-point plateau in his career.

On Jan. 3, Samford got off to a slow start against the three-time defending SoCon Tournament champs and trailed 7-0 just a few minutes into the game. Despite their early deficit, the Bulldogs fought back to trim Davidson's lead to 13-12 with 10:31 to play in the first half.

During the Bulldogs' rally, Andy King, Jeffrey Merritt, Josh Bedwell and Curtis West all knocked down 3-pointers.

Samford's Bryan Friday scored a team-high 10 points and finished 4-of-11 from the field. Merritt, the Bulldogs' highly-touted freshman from Oklahoma City, Okla., added a career-high eight points and turned in a 3-for-5 outing from the floor. He was 2-for-3 from 3-point range and added four rebounds and three assists.

Sophomore Josh Davis also scored eight points for Samford, all of which came in the second half. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-4 guard was 2-for-5 from beyond the arc and 2-for-2 from the free-throw line.

The Bulldogs are 0-1 against the Wildcats when playing in Birmingham. In the first all-time meeting between the teams, Samford dropped a 61-59 loss in Seibert Hall on Jan. 28, 1992.

So far this season, Samford owns an impressive 8-2 record in the friendly confines of the Pete Hanna Center.

At home, the Bulldogs are averaging 65.3 points per game and are shooting 49.5 percent from the field (36.4 from 3-point range). On the road, Samford is 3-7 this season and is scoring an average of 55.6 points per road contest. The Bulldogs are shooting at a clip of 42.6 percent from the floor (34.3 from 3-point range) when playing away from home.

In Samford's last seven contests against SoCon opponents College of Charleston, Western Carolina, Appalachian State, Elon, UNC Greensboro, The Citadel and Georgia Southern, the Bulldogs have scored an average of 66.1 points per game.

Prior to its last seven games, Samford was only averaging 57.4 points per outing. During the stretch, the Bulldogs are scoring at an average of 8.7 more points per game.

Samford's junior guard Trey Montgomery has played a large role in the Bulldogs' recent scoring surge. Prior to the previous seven games, Montgomery was only averaging 9.0 points and 6.5 field-goal attempts per game. Since then, Samford's high-flying native of Destrehan, La., has been scoring 15.3 points per contest and is averaging 10.3 field-goal attempts per game.

In order to alleviate any possible parking congestion for Saturday's game; fans are encouraged to arrive early. The Samford Athletic Department will also be providing a campus-wide shuttle service to help transport people to the Pete Hanna Center.

Saturday's game will be Samford's first "White Out" in school history. Fans are encouraged to "Wear White" and "Inspire Fright". Special game day tee-shirts will also be sold at the arena for $5.

Samford Basketball Game Notes