Nov. 21, 2011

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford University basketball team will continue its early-season, pre-conference schedule Tuesday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs welcome the Georgia State Panthers to the Pete Hanna Center (5,000) for a key nonconference matchup.

Samford (0-2) heads into the contest looking to rebound from a pair of hard-fought losses against Youngstown State and Jacksonville. In their most recent outing, the Bulldogs dropped a 70-57 decision on the road at Jacksonville on Friday.

Senior Jeffrey Merritt scored a career-high 22 points against Jacksonville and turned in a 9-of-14 shooting performance from the field. He also knocked down three 3-point baskets, pulled down four rebounds and tallied a blocked shot in 34 minutes of playing time.

Merritt capped off his career-high performance Friday with a resounding fast-break dunk in the final minutes, but the Dolphins used layups from Chris Davis and Glenn Powell to hang on for the 13-point home victory.

3-point shooting played a key role in Friday's outcome as Jacksonville shot 47.4 percent from downtown. Samford knocked down seven 3-point baskets, but only turned in a 25.9 shooting percentage from long range. Merritt led the Bulldogs with three 3-points field goals, while sophomore Will Cook followed with two.

Georgia State (1-3) enters tonight's matchup with a full head of steam after earning a 69-50 home victory against McNeese State on Friday. The Panthers' dominant win ended their three-game losing streak to open the 2011-12 campaign. Georgia State started the season with consecutive setbacks against Washington, Portland and Florida Atlanta.

Georgia State is being paced offensively this season by sophomore guard Devonta White and senior forward Eric Buckner. White, the Panthers' elusive native of Alpharetta, Ga., is averaging a team-high 13 points per game this season, while Buckner is scoring 10.8 points per contest. Buckner, a 6-foot-8 native of Ehrhardt, S.C., has already blocked 13 shots this season.

Against McNeese State on Friday, Georgia State's Devonta White scored a career-high 23 points and the Panthers used a dominating second half to defeat McNeese State, 69-50, Friday at the GSU Sports Arena for the first victory under new head coach Ron Hunter. The Panthers outscored McNeese State 45-28 after the intermission to improve to 1-3 on the season.

Georgia State's Josh Micheaux contributed a double-double with 16 points and a career-high 10 rebounds for the Panthers. Jihad Ali also had a career best with 14 rebounds, while James Vincent also reached double figures with 10 boards, along with eight points.

Hunter, the Panthers' first-year head coach, owns a 2-0 all-time record against Samford. During his successful tenure at IUPUI, Hunter registered wins of 60-58 and 64-50 over the Bulldogs during the 2004-05 campaign.

In Samford's eighth most frequent rivalry in school history, the Bulldogs and Panthers will square off tonight for the 48th time since Feb. 14, 1977. Samford barely trails Georgia State in the all-time series by a count of 24-23, but is coming off a thrilling come-from-behind 70-61 overtime victory against the Panthers last season in Atlanta, Ga.

Despite trailing by as many as 11 points and down 50-42 with 1:14 remaining, Samford rallied back to earn a thrilling nine-point triumph last season against the Georgia State Panthers in a nonconference matchup held at the Georgia State Sports Arena.

The Bulldogs scored 14 points in the final 1:14 of play, including a deep 3-point basket from Andy King with 9.1 in regulation to send the game into overtime. In overtime, Samford outscored Georgia State 14-5 to earn the nine-point victory.

Johnson led Samford in scoring with a career-high 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field. He went 3-for-4 from 3-point range in the victory and knocked down five key free throws. He also grabbed five rebounds from his guard position.

The Bulldogs' 2011-12 roster boasts four experienced seniors in Merritt, Matthew Friday, Johnson and John Peterson, but nine of the remaining 10 Samford players this season are underclassmen. Gregg Wooten, the Bulldogs' lone junior on the roster, was penciled in to start at the point guard position this season, but suffered a leg injury in October and will be forced to take a medical redshirt year.

Along with Samford's four seniors, the Bulldogs's roster will also include four sophomores, redshirt freshman Tyler Hood and four true freshmen. Samford's 2011-12 seniors have combined to play in 311 total games, with 113 starts between the four of them. The remaining nine healthy Bulldogs this season have combined to play in a total of 72 games, with 38 starts.

The Bulldogs have made at least one 3-point field goal in 597-consecutive games. The last time that Samford did not make a 3-point basket was on Jan. 19, 1991, against Texas-San Antonio.

The Bulldogs' streak of having made at least two 3-pointers in a game was snapped on Dec. 13, 2008, against Saint Louis when Samford turned in a dismal 1-for-14 performance from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs' streak of 476-straight games with two 3-pointers began Feb. 8, 1992.

UNLV is the national leader in consecutive games with a 3-point field goal as the Running Rebels have made a 3-point basket in 783-straight games dating back to the 1986-87 season. Vanderbilt (779) and Kentucky (775) are the only other two schools that have made at least one 3-point basket since the rule was adopted prior to the 1986 campaign.

Following Tuesday's home game against Georgia State, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs face off against the UT Arlington Mavericks in a nonconference showdown to be held at Texas Hall (3,600) in Arlington, Texas.

GameTracker - Samford vs. Georgia State
Samford Basketball Game Notes