Dec. 21, 2010

OMAHA, Neb. - The Samford University basketball team will close out its critical two-game road trip Wednesday at 8:05 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs take their three-game winning streak to Omaha, Neb., for a key non-conference matchup against the Creighton Bluejays. Samford's final game before Christmas will be held at the Qwest Center Omaha (17,260).

Fans unable to attend the game in person can listen live to Samford's radio broadcast on WVSU 91.1 FM or via the Internet at www.samford.edu/wvsu. GameTracker and live video webstreaming will also be available at www.SamfordSports.com.

Samford (8-4) heads into the contest riding a wave of positive momentum after its thrilling come-from-behind 74-73 victory at UTSA on Monday. In their third straight win, the Bulldogs' Josh Davis connected on a last-second heave to tie the score at 73-73 with 4.5 seconds left to play.

Following a UTSA turnover, Samford's Andy King drew a foul near the basket and knocked down the second of two free throws to secure the one-point victory.

Midway through the final period, the Bulldogs used two free throws from Bedwell, a 3-pointer by John Peterson and back-to-back 3-pointers from King to trim UTSA's lead to 52-50 with 10:34 remaining. Samford's game-changing 11-0 run proved to be a part of the Bulldogs' 20-8 stretch that trimmed the Roadrunners' advantage to 57-56 with less than eight minutes to play.

Samford's Bedwell came off the bench to score a game-high 21 points, 15 of which were scored in the second half. With his brilliant shooting performance, Bedwell tied his season high of 21 points.

Davis finished with 17 points and seven rebounds, while King also came off the bench to provide a much-needed second-half spark. King tallied 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting from 3-point range and registered 13 of his points in the final period.

Wednesday's game will determine if Samford can continue its best start to a season since the 2005-06 campaign when the Bulldogs opened the year with a 10-4 record. In both years, Samford opened its respective season with 5-4 records. Samford's 2005-06 team went on to finish with a 20-11 overall mark and advanced to the championship game of the Ohio Valley Conference Tournament.

Creighton (7-4) also enters Wednesday's showdown boasting a three-game winning streak. Since losing at Nebraska 59-54 on Dec. 5, the Bluejays have rattled off consecutive victories against Saint Joseph's 82-75, Idaho State 66-60 and Western Illinois 60-47.

Creighton is in the midst of its first campaign under the direction of new head coach Greg McDermott, who joined the Bluejays in the offseason after spending four seasons at Iowa State. McDermott replaced Dana Altman, who was hired to the same position at the University of Oregon.

Creighton has played its way to a brilliant 7-1 record at home this season and has not lost a game at the Qwest Center Omaha since a 77-65 setback against No. 21-ranked BYU on Dec. 1.

The Bulldogs will square off against the Bluejays for the first time in school history Wednesday. Creighton is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference and has been a perennial participant in the NCAA Tournament. Creighton currently boasts an enrollment of 7,385 students and is located in Omaha, Neb.

A key matchup in Wednesday's game will be Creighton's perimeter defenders against Samford 3-point shooters. Seemingly, the Bulldogs' 3-point shooting is expected to determine the outcome in each of their games this season. Samford owns a 6-0 record when shooting at least 40 percent from beyond the arc in 2010-11 and Creighton is allowing opponents to shoot 39.5 percent from 3-point range this year.

Samford head coach Jimmy Tillette will be coaching in his 400th game at the helm of the Bulldog basketball program Wednesday. Tillette enters the non-conference showdown as Samford's all-time winningest coach with a career record of 214-185. He is in the midst of his 14th season as the Bulldogs' head coach.

Tillette became the first coach in school history to reach the 200-win plateau on Dec. 22 as the Bulldogs defeated Eastern Michigan on the road 58-56. Tillette piloted the Bulldogs to NCAA Tournament appearances in both 1999 and 2000.

On Nov. 14, 2004, Tillette earned the 150th win of his career as Samford posted an 83-59 home victory against Tennessee Temple. Earlier, he reached the 100-win plateau on Nov. 25, 2002, with a 70-61 win at home versus Arkansas State.

Overall, the Bulldogs are ranked No. 6 in the nation in 3-point field goals made per game with an average of 10.5. In road games, Samford is averaging an even better 11.5 3-pointers per contest and is shooting 43 percent from beyond the arc. To put the Bulldogs' shooting on the road in perspective, the nation's overall leader in the category, home and away, is VMI, which is averaging 11.2 3-point field goals made per game.

So far this season, Samford has connected on 128 baskets from 2-point range. As a comparison, the Bulldogs have made 126 field goals from 3-point range. In Monday's 74-73 come-from-behind win at UTSA, Samford tied its season high by making 18 3-point field goals. The Bulldogs only attempted a total of 16 shots from 2-point range in the road victory.

Samford's Josh Bedwell, who wears No. 10 for the Bulldogs, is not the second coming of LSU's "Pistol" Pete Maravich, but he does have some similarities. Both players feature the unassuming demeanor and quiet confidence of a scorer, not to mention the lights-out shooting ability.

Bedwell has proven to be a key scoring threat at the college level. Against UTSA on Monday, Samford's senior guard tallied 21 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and tallied 15 of his points in the second half. He also shot 4-of-5 from the free-throw line in the victory.

Following Wednesday's non-conference showdown at Creighton, the Samford University basketball team will break for the Christmas Holiday before returning home to the Pete Hanna Center for a matchup against the Eastern Michigan Eagles to be played at 2 p.m. (CST) on Dec. 31.

Samford Basketball Game Notes
Live Stats - Samford at Creighton