Game Notes

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team will continue play in its three-game homestand Wednesday as the Bulldogs welcome the Florida Gulf Coast Eagles to the Pete Hanna Center (4,500) for an early-season non-conference matchup set to begin at 7 p.m. (CST).
 
Fans unable to attend the game in person can follow along via Samford's free Live-stream. The contest will also be broadcast locally on 97.3 FM The Zone and Live Stats will be provided on SamfordSports.com.
 
Samford (1-6) opened its three-game home slate Saturday against the UT Arlington Mavericks and suffered a 65-58 loss. The Bulldogs finished the contest with three players scoring in double figures and were led offensively by Raijon Kelly's 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.
 
Samford's true freshman forward Tim Williams nearly registered his third double-double of the season with 14 points and nine rebounds against UT Arlington, while guard Connor Miller added 11 points, three rebounds and a trio of assists. The Bulldogs' Kelly and Williams have both scored in double figures in all seven games this season.
 
Kelly, Samford's native of St. Paul, Minn., turned in a trio of great performances last week as he extended his streak of double-digit scoring games to seven straight. The Bulldogs' sophomore point guard averaged 17 points, 3.7 assists and 3.3 rebounds per contest in games against Toledo, Alcorn State and UT Arlington.
 
Kelly, who averaged 37.7 minutes per game last week, scored a season-high 20 points versus UT Arlington on Saturday. In Samford's first home game in nearly two weeks, Kelly turned in a stellar 4-of-5 performance from beyond the arc.
 
Last week, the Bulldogs also participated in the 2012 Atlantis on the Mainland Tournament as Kelly finished with 17 points against Toledo and 14 versus Alcorn State.
 
Florida Gulf Coast (4-3) played at St. John's on Saturday and snapped its two-game winning streak with a 79-68 road setback. The Eagles' loss put an end to their winning stretch which featured home victories against Alcorn State, 50-48, and Toledo, 72-66.
 
Florida Gulf Coast currently boasts two players averaging double figures in scoring this season. The Eagles are being paced offensively by sophomore guard Bernard Thompson's 14.7 points per game this year, while Sherwood Brown follows closely with 14.4 points per contest.
 
Brown, Florida Gulf Coast's senior guard from Orlando, Fla., is also averaging a team-high 32.7 minutes played per game in 2012-13.
 
The Bulldogs will square off against Florida Gulf Coast for the first time in school history Wednesday. Last week, Samford played a pair of games at Florida Gulf Coast University's Alico Arena, but didn't meet the Eagles in the Atlantis on the Mainland Tournament.
 
Florida Gulf Coast was founded in 1997 and the 13,468-student university competes athletically as a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference.
 
Samford's 2012-13 roster is not only one of the youngest in the Southern Conference, but one of the youngest in the nation as well. A total of nine of the Bulldogs' 14 players are underclassmen this season, and Samford is just one of two teams in the SoCon that doesn't have a single senior on its roster.
 
The 2012-13 Bulldogs are comprised of five juniors:  Levi Barnes (C), Will Cook (G), Gregg Wooten (G), Hamilton Bailey (G) and Tony Thompson (G). Samford boasts a talented sophomore class this season in Brandon Hayman (G), Miller (G), Kelly (G) and Tyler Hood (F).
 
Last season, Samford's Kelly and Hood were both named to the prestigious SoCon All-Freshman Team. Despite last year's successful freshman class, the Bulldogs' 2012-13 incoming freshman class might be just as good, if not better. This year's talented freshman class includes Russell Wilson (PG), Clide Geffrard, Jr. (F), Mike Fitzpatrick (G), Jaylen Beckham (PG) and Williams (F).
 
The Bulldogs have made at least one 3-point field goal in 632-consecutive games. The last time that Samford did not make a 3-point basket was on Jan. 19, 1991, against UTSA.
 
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 850-straight games dating back to the 1986-87 season. Vanderbilt (842) and Kentucky (835) 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.
 
Head coach Bennie Seltzer returned home to his birthplace of Birmingham, Ala., on April 5, 2012, as he was named Samford's 27th men's basketball coach in school history. Seltzer played at Parker High School and went on to star collegiately at Washington State. Throughout his coaching career, he has been a key assistant at Indiana, Marquette and Oklahoma.
 
Following Wednesday's non-conference showdown with Florida Gulf Coast, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at noon (CST) as the Bulldogs begin play in their critical SoCon schedule at home against the Georgia Southern Eagles. The contest will be held at the Pete Hanna Center.

Game Notes