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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team will play at home for the first time in five games and 12 days Monday as the Bulldogs welcome the Jacksonville University Dolphins to the Pete Hanna Center for a pivotal non-conference contest slated to begin at 7 p.m. (CST). The game will be broadcast to a national audience on ESPN3.
 
Samford (2-5) heads into the matchup looking to snap a two-game losing streak. After cruising to a key 64-55 victory against Missouri-Kansas City on Nov. 23, the Bulldogs have dropped back-to-back road tests at Kennesaw State and Louisiana Tech.
 
Against Louisiana Tech, the defending Conference USA champions and National Invitational Tournament (NIT) quarterfinalists from a year ago, Samford battled hard and nearly challenged for a huge early-season upset Friday at the Thomas Assembly Hall.
 
Leading by seven at the half, 34-27, Louisiana Tech shot a torrid 58.3 percent from the field in the final period and eventually pulled away for a 77-64 victory over Samford.
 
Down the stretch, despite trailing for a majority of the second half, the Bulldogs never stopped hustling and eventually trimmed Louisiana Tech's lead to 77-64 at the buzzer.
 
Samford's leading scorer in the game proved to be Darius Jones-Gibson with 16 points on 7-of-17 shooting from the field. He also grabbed seven rebounds, recorded three steals and added two assists. Christen Cunningham tallied 11 points on 4-of-8 shooting and accumulated two rebounds.
 
The Bulldogs' Cunningham is averaging 11.6 points and 3.6 assists in his last five games and is ranked No. 74 in the nation with 26 assists.
 
In Friday's game at Louisiana Tech, Samford's Alex Peters turned in the best game of his young,
up-and-coming career as the Bulldogs' true freshman logged 25 minutes of playing time and earned personal-bests in points (10), rebounds (8), field goals (5) and blocked shots (2).
 
Samford will be playing its second home game of the season Monday. On Nov. 19, the Bulldogs earned a thrilling 68-67 triumph over Austin Peay in its 2014-15 Pete Hanna Center opener.
 
Jacksonville (2-5) enters the game with hopes of rebounding from a 79-65 loss at USF on Saturday.
 
The Dolphins, under the direction of first-year Head Coach Tony Jasick, have earned victories against Florida National, 72-61, and Trinity Baptist College, 69-57, this season. Both of JU's wins this year have occurred at home in Jacksonville, Fla.
 
Jasick came to Jacksonville from Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne (IPFW) where he was the head coach for the last three seasons.
 
The Dolphins' leading scorer in 2014-15 is Andris Misters with 12.7 points per game. He is also averaging 3.7 rebounds per contest and is shooting 80 percent (20-of-25) from the free-throw line.
 
Samford and Jacksonville, which were former rivals in the Trans-Atlantic Athletic Conference (later named the Atlantic Sun Conference) from 1999-2003, will be meeting for the 18th time Monday.
 
The Bulldogs slightly trail the Dolphins in the all-time series, 9-8, but earned a significant 75-58 victory on the road last season.
 
Samford is returning 21.2 points per game from last year's squad that averaged 70.5 points per outing. Additionally, the Bulldogs are returning an average of 10.9 rebounds per game out of a total of 32.1 from the 2013-14 campaign.
 
In percentages, Samford is returning 30.1 percent of its scoring production from last season; mainly from its top three offensive returners in Tyler Hood (7.9), Brandon Roberts (4.0) and Michael Bradley (3.5).
 
On the boards, the Bulldogs are returning 32.1 percent of its rebounding from the 2013-14 campaign. Bradley is Samford's top returning rebounder with an average of 3.6 per game last season, while Hood added 3.1 and Brandon Hayman followed with 1.2 rebounds per outing.
 
Samford fans can expect a much faster paced offense this season.
 
With plenty of depth and a roster chalk-full of talented guards, the Bulldogs look to get up and down the court in 2014-15 and create easy buckets in transition. For the last two seasons, under previous coach Bennie Seltzer, Samford would tend to use the shot clock and walk the ball up the floor on its offensive possessions.
 
Following Monday's ESPN3 game against Jacksonville, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin Southern Conference play at home against the VMI Keydets in a crucial early-league contest to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.

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