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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- Following a seven-day hiatus for final exams, the Samford University basketball team will return to play in its non-conference schedule Sunday at 5 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs resume their three-game road swing against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons in a key ESPN3 matchup to be held at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum (14,665).
 
Samford (3-7) heads into the contest with hopes of snapping its current two-game losing streak. Since topping Jacksonville in a thrilling overtime home victory on Dec. 1, the Bulldogs have dropped back-to-back Southern Conference matchups against VMI, 88-66, and Furman, 74-64.
 
Despite trailing by 14 early in the second half at Furman, Samford charged back to within three points at 48-45 with 10:03 remaining on Dec. 6, but the Paladins rode a season-high 33-point performance from Stephen Croone to hold on for the 74-64 victory at Timmons Arena.
 
Samford only shot 35.6 percent from the field, but found itself directly in the game halfway through the final period with Furman clinging to a three-point advantage. The Bulldogs used a 13-2 run early in the second half to trim the Paladins' lead down to three.
 
During Samford's comeback, Brandon Roberts drained a pair of 3-pointers and added a driving layup, while Jamal Shabazz knocked down a 3 of his own and Marcus Johnson scored on a jumper in the lane. Samford's critical, score-inducing flurry included three of the team's five 3-point buckets made throughout the course of the game.
 
Trailing by just three points, 48-45, Samford fouled the Paladins' Croone on a 3-point basket with 9:22 remaining and the Paladins' All-SoCon junior from Covington, Georgia, connected on all three attempts to move the lead back to 51-45.
 
Down the stretch, Furman's advantage hovered around the five-to-eight point mark as it held off Samford's late charge and earned the 74-64 win.
 
Wake Forest (4-5) will also enter the contest with aspirations of ending a current losing streak. Since Nov. 28, the Demon Deacons have dropped three straight games against Delaware State, 72-65, Minnesota, 84-69, and NC State, 78-65.
 
Wake Forest enters Sunday's game ranked first in the Atlantic Coast Conference in both free throw attempts and free throws made. The Demon Deacons have already attempted 254 free throws this season, which ranks No. 9 in the nation.
 
Additionally, Wake Forest has connected on a total of 169 of its free throws for a No. 11 national ranking. Junior guard Codi Miller-McIntyre currently leads the Demon Deacons with 12.3 points per game, while 6-foot-9 junior forward Devin Thomas follows with 10.7 points and a team-high 9.4 rebounds per contest this season.
 
The Bulldogs will square off against Wake Forest on the hardwood for just the second time in school history Sunday.
 
The first meeting between the teams occurred Jan. 6, 1992, as the Demon Deacons earned a 74-45 home victory held in Winston-Salem. Since their first meeting, it has been exactly 8,377 days since Samford played against Wake Forest.
 
Samford head coach Scott Padgett and Wake Forest's Danny Manning were teammates with the Utah Jazz in 2000-01. During that season, the Jazz compiled a stellar 53-29 overall record and finished with the second best record in the Midwest Division of the Western Conference.
 
The Jazz eventually came up short against the Dallas Mavericks, 3-2, in the first round of the 2001 NBA Playoffs.
 
The Bulldogs have made at least one 3-point field goal in 700-consecutive games. The last time that Samford did not make a 3-point basket was on Jan. 19, 1991, against UTSA.
 
The Bulldogs' streak of having made at least two 3-pointers in a game was snapped on Dec. 13, 2008, against Saint Louis when Samford turned in a dismal 1-for-14 performance from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs' streak of 476-straight games with two 3-pointers began Feb. 8, 1992.
 
UNLV is the national leader in consecutive games with a 3-point field goal as the Running Rebels have made a 3-point basket in 921-straight games dating back to the 1986-87 season. Vanderbilt (917) and Kentucky (911) are the only other two schools that have made at least one 3-point basket since the rule was adopted prior to the 1986 campaign.
 
Already this season, the Bulldogs have had 10 different players score in double figures.
 
Christen Cunningham, Tyler Hood and Darius Jones-Gibson all lead Samford with five double-figure scoring performances this season, while Roberts follows with four and both Michael Bradley and Nnamdi Enechionyia have added two apiece.
 
Additionally, the Bulldogs' Johnson, Alex Peters, Shabazz and Evan Taylor have all scored in double figures once this season.
 
Samford's Jones-Gibson has led the Bulldogs in scoring in each of their last four games and is averaging 15.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.3 steals per contest since Nov. 28. During that time, Jones-Gibson is shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 83.3 percent (20-24) from the free-throw line.
 
Samford fans are enjoying a much faster paced offense this season. With plenty of depth and a roster chalk-full of talented guards, the Bulldogs have been able to get up and down the court in 2014-15 and create easy buckets in transition.
 
One of Padgett's top themes this season is #PlayFast. Samford's first-year skipper looks to have his team press full-court for 40 minutes and then push the ball up the court on the offensive attack.
 
"The thing that's going to get us playing fast offensively is going to be our defense," said Padgett. "We're going to be a defensive team. There are going to be a lot of times when we score a lot of points, but those points are going to be directly related to playing great defense and getting the rebound. Once we get a defensive rebound, we will be pushing to get a layup every time down the court, or at least a wide-open shot.
 
"We're going to be in attack-mode all game long. We teach our guys that we want to dictate what the offense does when we're on defense, and we also want to dictate what their defense does when we are on the offensive side of the ball. There will be times when teams try to slow us down, but we're going to keep the game going 90 miles per hour all the time."
 
So far this season, Samford has been shooting the ball significantly better at home in the friendly confines of the Pete Hanna Center.
 
The Bulldogs are shooting 44.3 percent from the field at home this year, but only 32.0 percent from the floor when playing on the road. Additionally, Samford is shooting 7.0 percentage points better at home from 3-point range; 31.3 at home versus 24.3 on the road.
 
Following Sunday's key road test at Wake Forest, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Tuesday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs conclude their three-game road swing against the Presbyterian College Blue Hose in a non-conference contest to be held at the Templeton Center in Clinton, South Carolina.

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