Live Stats
Live Audio
Game Notes
SoCon Release

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn. -- The Samford University basketball team will begin play in the 2013 First Bank and Trust Company Roundball Showcase on Thursday at 6 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs travel for a fourth-consecutive game to face the East Tennessee State Buccaneers at the ETSU/MSHA Athletic Center.
 
Samford (1-3) heads into the contest looking to earn its first road victory of the 2013-14 season. Since defeating Martin Methodist at home on Nov. 8, the Bulldogs have dropped consecutive road games at UT Arlington, 88-75, No. 23 Indiana, 105-59, and ULM, 86-52.
 
Against ULM on Monday, Samford committed 15 turnovers and finished 1-of-15 from
3-point range as the Bulldogs suffered the road defeat held at Fant-Ewing Coliseum in Monroe, La. The Bulldogs were outscored in points off turnovers, 23-7, and in fast-break points, 14-0. Samford also suffered a 56-36 discrepancy in points in the paint.
 
ULM shot a sizzling 50.7 percent from the field and out-rebounded the Bulldogs, 42-32. The Warhawks' Amos Olatayo scored a game-high 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the floor and added four rebounds in 25 minutes of action.
 
Samford led by as many as four points in the opening half Monday, but ULM used a 17-4 run midway through the period to take a 19-10 advantage with 8:55 to play until the intermission.  The Warhawks took a 44:27 lead into halftime and led by as many as 41 points with 3:01 remaining in the game.
 
The Bulldogs' Tim Williams finished Monday's contest with a team-high 14 points, while Tyler Hood added 12 points and six rebounds. True freshman Isaiah Williams registered five points, a team-high four assists, three steals and a pair of rebounds.
 
East Tennessee State (0-4) lost at home against Winthrop on Tuesday, 76-66, and is looking for its first win of the season. Unfortunately for Head Coach Murry Bartow, his Buccaneers were once again unable to deliver a consistent effort versus Winthrop.
 
Despite a 15-0 offensive run that turned around a 48-34 deficit and gave the Bucs a 49-48 lead with 12:43 left in the game, Winthrop responded with its own 14-2 burst to pull back ahead and never relinquished that advantage in a 76-66 victory.
 
East Tennessee State's senior forwards Hunter Harris and Kinard Gadsden-Gilliard led the way with 18 points and 16 points, respectively, while junior guard Jalen Riley collected 12.
 
In looking at the final statistics, the Buccaneers' inconsistency was obvious, as the team shot just 29.2 percent from the floor in the first half, but was an impressive 64 percent from the field in the second half. East Tennessee State also scored just 25 points in the first half, compared to 41 in the second half.
 
The Buccaneers enter Thursday's contest boasting two players averaging double figures in scoring this season. Gadsden-Gilliard leads the team with a 13.3 points per game average, while junior guard Rashawn Rembert follows at 12.8 points per outing.
 
A.J. Merriweather, the Buccaneers' 6-foot-2 freshman guard from Jackson, Tenn., is leading the team with 7.3 rebounds per game.
 
On Thursday, Samford and East Tennessee State will meet on the hardwood for only the third time in history. The all-time series between the teams started Jan. 29, 1979, as the Buccaneers rallied for a 64-63 win held in Birmingham, Ala. In the most recent meeting between the teams, ETSU tallied an 86-78 victory on Feb. 2, 1980, in Johnson City.
 
Last season, in Head Coach Bennie Seltzer's first season at the helm of the Bulldogs, Samford played a rotation of seven, possibly eight players. This year, Seltzer will have an abundance of talent at his disposal as he boasts 16 highly-touted players on the Bulldogs' roster.
 
Samford's 2013-14 roster is comprised of eight newcomers, six true freshmen, three sophomores and five juniors. The Bulldogs' lone seniors on the team this season are walk-ons Hamilton Bailey and Tony Thompson. Seltzer has quickly changed the makeup of Samford's roster and nine of the team's extremely talented 16 players are underclassmen.
 
A year ago, the Bulldogs' Raijon Kelly and Tim Williams became part of some elite company as they joined the school's 400-point club. As a sophomore and true freshman, respectively, both Kelly (451) and Williams (454) reached the 400-point plateau, making them the 31st and 32nd players in Samford's illustrative 112-year history to achieve the prestigious feat.
 
Kelly, Samford's 6-foot-4 junior guard from St. Paul, Minn., registered 451 points and 151 assists last season, making him the first Bulldog since Ervin Terry in 1976-77 to reach both the 400-point and 100-assist plateaus in the same year.
 
Samford's Williams officially became a member of the 400-point, 200-rebound club on Feb. 23, 2013, in a 75-71 victory against UNCG. The Bulldogs' native of Chicago, Ill., was the first player to achieve the feat since former Samford-great Marc Salyers accumulated 537 points and 232 assists in 1999-2000.
 
Following Thursday's game at East Tennessee State, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue their six-game road stretch in Bowling Green, Ky., with another key contest against the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers to be held at E.A. Diddle Arena.

Live Stats
Live Audio
Game Notes
SoCon Release