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RUSTON, La. -- The Samford University basketball team will play its fourth road game in seven days Friday as the Bulldogs square off against the Louisiana Tech Bulldogs at 7 p.m. (CST) in a key early-season, non-conference showdown to be held at the Thomas Assembly Center (8,000).
 
Samford (2-4) heads into the contest with aspirations of bouncing back from a disappointing 84-71 road loss at Kennesaw State on Wednesday. The Bulldogs forced 22 turnovers in the game, but only shot 33.3 percent from the field while allowing the Owls to shoot a blistering 60 percent from the floor.
 
Samford, which played its fifth road game out of six total contests this season Wednesday, got off to a slow start against Kennesaw State. The Owls knocked down their first three 3-point baskets of the game and jumped out to a quick 9-1 lead.
 
Despite falling behind early, Samford battled back throughout the first half and eventually took the lead, 26-25, following a pair of free throws from Brandon Roberts. Roberts finished the game with 13 points on 5-of-13 shooting from the field in 17 minutes of playing time.
 
Down the stretch, Samford cut Kennesaw State's lead to 67-56 at the 4:30 mark, but then the Owls were able to hold off the Bulldogs' late charge and earn an 84-71 victory in their home opener.
 
Louisiana Tech (4-1) enters the matchup riding the positive momentum of a three-game winning streak. Since losing at Temple on Nov. 17, 82-75, the Bulldogs have rattled off consecutive victories against Morehead State, 73-64, American, 63-44, and Presbyterian, 76-48.
 
Louisiana Tech is coming off an extremely successful 2013-14 campaign in which the Bulldogs compiled a 29-8 overall record and advanced to the quarterfinal round of the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) where they nearly won at Florida State, 78-75.
 
Last season, Louisiana Tech also finished tied for first place in its inaugural campaign in the Conference USA with a sterling 13-3 league record.
 
This year, Raheem Appleby is leading Louisiana Tech with 15.8 points per game in a team-high 30.6 minutes per game. Erik McCree follows with an average of 14 points and 5.4 rebounds.
 
Samford will face Louisiana Tech for the seventh time in school history Friday, with the most recent meeting occurring Dec. 18, 2008, in a return game from the previous season's BracketBusters Classic. Samford owns a 4-2 advantage in the all-time series and won both games in the 2008 series (73-70 in Ruston and 71-58 in Birmingham).
 
Eight of the Bulldogs' 15 players are in the midst of their first season at Samford University, and only two (Brandon Hayman and Tyler Hood) have been on the roster longer than two years.
 
Two of the Bulldogs' probable starters, Christen Cunningham and Darius Jones-Gibson, are in their inaugural seasons at Samford. Cunningham is a highly-touted true freshman point guard from Georgetown, Ky., while Jones-Gibson, a native of Lexington, Ky., transferred in the summer from Barton County Community College.
 
Nine of the Bulldogs' 15 members of the 2014-15 roster are underclassmen.
 
Samford boasts four true freshmen this season in Cunningham, Alex Peters, Gerald Smith and Evan Taylor, while Eric Adams, Ryan Dickey, Nnamdi Enechionyia, Emeka Ikezu and Roberts comprise the Bulldogs' talented sophomore class.
 
With such a young team this season, the Bulldogs' senior class comprised of Michael Bradley, Hayman and Hood will all need to take key leadership roles, both on and off the court.
 
In a majority of Samford's games this season, all three of the Bulldogs' seniors have been listed in the starting lineup. Hayman has started at the No. 3 guard position, while Hood has been the team's lone forward and Bradley has been starting at center.
 
Since taking over as head coach in June, Samford's Scott Padgett has coined the phrase "FOE" as his biggest mantra of the Bulldogs' basketball program. FOE stands for Family Over Everything and has truly resonated with Samford's players ... old and new.
 
"I don't really invent a lot of things, but I've worked under a lot of great coaches and have been around a lot of great people," said Padgett. "My former teammate and boss, Steve Masiello, came up with the saying Team Over Everything, and I kind of liked it, but at Kentucky it was all about Family. So, I kind of combined those two concepts and now we have Family Over Everything (#FOE). I really believe that this team is a family and that goes with everybody's extended families, as well as the staff and everybody involved with Samford basketball."
 
Following Friday's key early-season matchup at Louisiana Tech on Friday, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Monday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs return home to the Pete Hanna Center for a date with the Jacksonville University Dolphins. Next week's contest will be broadcast to a national audience live on ESPN3.

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