Box Score

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- The Samford University basketball team opened its 2014-15 season on the road against the Purdue Boilermakers on Friday and dropped an 80-40 decision in the first game of The Padgett Era held at Mackey Arena.
 
Friday's contest marked the inaugural game for Samford head coach Scott Padgett. Padgett took the reins to the Bulldogs' basketball program on June 8.
 
"I was really pleased with our effort, but our execution wasn't great tonight," said Padgett. "We didn't do a really good job of getting into the paint and then making the extra pass. I also thought our guys weren't really used to playing against Purdue's height and that really affected the way they drove and shot the ball around the rim."
 
Samford (0-1) was limited to 22.7-percent shooting from the field Friday and a 3-of-20 performance from 3-point range. The Bulldogs forced Purdue (1-0) into 16 turnovers and were led in scoring by true freshman Christen Cunningham.
 
"We turned over a Big Ten team 16 times and we only turned it over 12 times, but I'm pretty upset with our assist number and I'm sure that's due to all of our missed shots," Padgett said. "We didn't shoot the ball well at all and we had some other issues, but they are all things that we can correct and do better. I think we got caught up in the moment a little bit and the nerves were there for the guys in playing in front of 10,000 people."
 
Cunningham, Samford's feisty 6-foot-2 point guard from Georgetown, Kentucky, tallied 10 points on 4-of-10 shooting from the floor and pulled down five rebounds. He also finished a perfect 2-of-2 from the charity stripe and only committed two turnovers in his first collegiate game.
 
"Christen is a big-time player and he's going to have a great career for us," Padgett said. "Quite honestly, he played well tonight, but he will actually do much better down the road. He'll tell you the same thing. This was a bad night for him, and it's not that he's played bad, but just that he's already played much better than that for us. When you play at this level, you can't have just good or fine effort, it has to be extraordinary."
 
Early in Friday's matchup, Samford's Tyler Hood drained a deep 3-point basket from the left wing to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 lead, but then Purdue responded at the 11-minute mark with a 24-3 run to put the game out of reach.
 
"During that stretch, I thought we took good shots, we just missed four point-blank layups and three wide-open threes, and sometimes it's just not your night," said Padgett. "We know you're not going to make every shot, but maybe I built up the game a little too much for them; because I know we're a much better team than what we showed out there tonight."
 
The Boilermakers opened the stretch midway through the first half with a 19-0 run before eventually taking a 40-14 lead with 1:34 left to play in the period.
 
Purdue's Kendall Stephens paced all scorers with nine points in the first half as the Boilermakers boasted a 43-16 advantage at the intermission. Stephens, who scored all nine of his points from beyond the arc in the opening stanza, was followed in scoring by teammates Vince Edwards (7), Dakota Mathias (6), Bryson Scott (5) and Isaac Haas (5).
 
In the second half, Samford scored 24 of its 40 points and turned in a slightly better 25-percent shooting performance from the floor. At one point, the Bulldogs trimmed Purdue's lead to 29, but then the Boilermakers used a quick 8-0 run to extend their advantage to 37.
 
Purdue will continue its early-season, non-conference schedule Sunday at home against IUPUI.
 
The Boilermakers finished its 2014-15 opener with four players scoring in doubles figures. Raphael Davis and Edwards led the way with 13 points apiece, while Haas came off the bench to score 11 and Stephens finished with 10.
 
Cunningham proved to be Samford's lone double-digit performer Friday. He scored 10 points as Hood dropped in seven and Jamal Shabazz registered seven as well for the Bulldogs.
 
Senior Michael Bradley finished with six points against Purdue, while Nnamdi Enechionyia chipped in with five, Alex Peters scored three and Evan Taylor rounded out the scoring with two. Taylor, the Bulldogs' lithe 6-foot-4 freshman guard from Cincinnati, Ohio, also grabbed a team-high six rebounds.
 
All 12 of Samford's players that received playing time Friday logged at least 10 minutes of action.
 
Purdue only topped Samford in second-chance points by one, 12-11, but recorded a 32-10 advantage in points in the paint. Additionally, the Boilermakers' bench outscored the Bulldogs' reserves, 35-17.
 
The Samford University basketball team will next be in action Sunday at noon (CST) as the Bulldogs conclude their four-day, two-game road trip in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, against the Pitt Panthers. Sunday's game will be regionally-broadcast by Fox Sports South in Birmingham, Alabama.

Box Score