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Samford Game Notes
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team will compete in its first home game in exactly three weeks Friday as the Bulldogs conclude play in the 2013 First Bank and Trust Company Roundball Showcase at 7 p.m. (CST) against the Campbellsville University Tigers. The matchup will be held at the Pete Hanna Center.
Samford (1-6) heads into Friday's contest looking to bounce back from an arduous six-game road trip. The Bulldogs' recent exhaustive stretch included six games in 15 days and encompassed five different states as well as 5,050 miles of travel. The road streak proved to be Samford's longest since Feb. 8, 1988, and the Bulldogs finished the trip with an 0-6 record.
In Samford's most recent outing, true freshmen guards
Brandon Roberts and
Isaiah Williams combined to score 34 points Tuesday, but the Bulldogs dropped a 98-78 decision on the road against the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks.
Roberts, Samford's explosive native of Decatur, Ala., scored a career-high 20 points on 7-of-13 shooting from the field and knocked down a trio of 3-point baskets. Roberts led four Bulldogs in double-figure scoring as junior
Connor Miller added a season-high 16, while
Isaiah Williams and
Tim Williams finished with 14 and 11, respectively.
Isaiah Williams, who made the third start of his budding collegiate career Tuesday, scored 10 points on a 4-of-4 shooting performance in the first half.
Jordan Capps, Samford's talented junior from Suwanee, Ga., registered six points and six rebounds as 43 of the team's 78 points were scored by true freshmen.
The Bulldogs' 2013-14 roster is comprised of eight newcomers, six true freshmen, three sophomores and five juniors.
Samford's lone seniors on the team this season are walk-ons
Hamilton Bailey and
Tony Thompson. Second-year head coach Bennie Seltzer has quickly changed the makeup of the Bulldogs' roster and nine of the team's extremely talented 16 players are underclassmen.
Campbellsville (2-2) enters Friday's game having already faced three Division I opponents this season. The Tigers opened the 2013-14 campaign at No. 5-ranked Oklahoma State and only lost by 10 points, 80-70, in front of 5,500 fans in Stillwater, Okla.
Campbellsville has since been defeated in road games at Western Kentucky, 87-73, and UNC Wilmington on Tuesday, 72-55.
Offensively, the Tigers have been paced by three players averaging double-figure scoring. Miles Rice is currently leading Campbellsville with 11.8 points per game this season, while Eric Gaines and A'Darius Pegues are both scoring 10.5 points per contest.
The Bulldogs will meet Campbellsville on the hardwood for just the fourth time in school history Friday. Samford owns an undefeated 3-0 record against the Tigers and most recently defeated Campbellsville, 73-54, on Nov. 20, 2008. The Bulldogs have also recorded home wins over the Tigers on Dec. 17, 1975, 87-71, and Jan. 29, 2005, 91-56.
Samford fans will notice a much faster paced offense this season. With plenty of depth and a roster chalk-full of talented guards, the Bulldogs will look to get up and down the court in 2013-14 and create easy buckets in transition.
Last season, with only seven or eight players in its rotation, Samford was forced to use the shot clock and walk the ball up the floor on its offensive possessions.
In mid-October, the Southern Conference released its annual preseason rankings and Samford was projected to finish fourth in the conference by both the league's head coaches and media. Elon was tabbed as the preseason favorite to win the SoCon title in 2013-14.
Samford's fourth-place preseason ranking proved to be its best since joining the SoCon and its highest tally since 2006-07 when the Bulldogs were predicted to win the Ohio Valley Conference.
Samford and Appalachian State tied for fourth place in the preseason poll with 67 points apiece. The Bulldogs return four starters from last season's team that registered a 9-9 mark in SoCon play. In just Seltzer's second year at the helm, Samford's fourth-place preseason ranking is its highest in SoCon history.
Following Friday's matchup with Campbellsville, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Sunday at 2 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue their four-game homestand against the Kentucky State Thorobreds in a non-conference contest to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.
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Samford Game Notes
