Live Stats
Live Audio
ESPN3 Broadcast
Samford Game Notes

ASHEVILLE, N.C. -- The Samford University basketball team will square off against a familiar foe Friday at
10 a.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs meet the Appalachian State Mountaineers for a third time in just 23 days in the opening game of the 2014 Southern Conference Tournament.
 
Samford (12-19) heads into the contest with a full head of steam after the Bulldogs scored a Bennie Seltzer Era-best 93 points en route to a 93-86 triumph over Western Carolina on Saturday in the teams' regular-season finale held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
Tim Williams scored a career-high 32 points on 10-of-11 shooting from the field Saturday and also went a near-perfect 12-of-13 from the charity stripe. The Bulldogs' dynamic 6-foot-8 forward from Chicago, Ill., also pulled down six rebounds and handed out three assists.
 
Western Carolina's only lead of the game occurred just 49 seconds into the contest, 1-0.  Following a thunderous two-handed dunk from Williams at the 18:34 mark, Samford garnered a 2-1 advantage and would never trail again.
 
The Bulldogs kept extending their lead throughout the game and eventually built an 11-point advantage, 92-81, with just 24 seconds remaining. In the waning seconds of the contest, Seltzer inserted Samford's two senior walk-ons Hamilton Bailey and Tony Thompson into the game on their Senior Night.
 
Samford's front line dominated the contest.
 
Along with Williams' 32 points and six rebounds, the Bulldogs' Michael Bradley added a career-high 15 points and seven boards. Bradley, Samford's 6-foot-10 junior from Chattanooga, Tenn., finished 5-of-8 from the floor and 5-of-6 from the free-throw line. He also handed out an assist in 23 minutes of playing time.
 
Last week alone, Bradley combined to score 24 points and grab 18 rebounds.
 
Samford will boast two of the best players in the SoCon Friday as Isaiah Williams was recently named the league's Freshman of the Year and Tim Williams garnered All-SoCon accolades.
 
Isaiah Williams proved to be Samford's second-consecutive Freshman of the Year honoree Tuesday after sophomore forward Tim Williams garnered the award last season. The Bulldogs' Tim Williams and Isaiah Williams are the only players in school history to be named SoCon Freshman of the Year.
 
Samford's true freshman floor general, Isaiah Williams, is the Bulldogs' second-leading scorer with 12.4 points per game this season. He is currently ranked fifth in the SoCon with 3.6 assists per game and was 10th in the league in free-throw shooting percentage at 75.8.
 
In addition to earning the Freshman of the Year award, Isaiah Williams was named to the all-freshman team, where he was joined by Brian White (The Citadel), William Gates Jr. (Furman), Tevon Saddler (UNCG) and Eric Garcia (Wofford).
 
Samford's Tim Williams earned All-SoCon honors in the coaches' poll Tuesday. The Bulldogs' 6-foot-8 sophomore forward from Chicago, Ill., is the reigning SoCon Player of the Week and just needs nine points to become the first sophomore in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
 
Williams is also on pace to set the school's single-season record in field-goal percentage. He is currently shooting a stellar 61.1 percent from the floor, while former Bulldog-great Randy Morgan's school-record total of 60.5 was set 39 years ago in 1974-75.
 
Heading into Friday's SoCon Tournament-opener, Samford's Tim Williams is leading the team in both scoring (17.9 ppg) and rebounding (7.3 rpg) this season. He is also ranked first in the league in field-goal shooting percentage (61.1), fourth in blocked shots (1.5 bpg), fifth in rebounding and sixth in the SoCon in scoring.
 
The Bulldogs will face Appalachian State (9-20) for a third time in 23 days Friday as the teams open the 2014 SoCon Tournament with a first-round matchup.
 
The Mountaineers swept the regular-season's home-and-home series this year by tallying a 74-68 win in Boone and then notching a 63-57 victory in Birmingham, Ala. Appalachian State?leads the all-time series, 8-4.
 
Appalachian State enters Friday's contest ranked No. 32 in the nation in offensive rebounds per game.  The Mountaineers are averaging 13.2 offensive rebounds per outing this season, as well as 36.5 total rebounds per game in 2013-14.
 
Offensively, Appalachian State's Tab Hamilton is scoring a team-high 12.8 points per contest, while Tommy Spagnolo adds 8.4 points per game. Against the Bulldogs this season, Spagnolo averaged 20.5 points and 10 rebounds per outing.
 
Samford is in the midst of its sixth season as a member of the SoCon and the Bulldogs have played a total of seven games in the SoCon Tournament. On Friday, Samford will meet Appalachian State for the first time in SoCon Tournament history.
 
In each of the Bulldogs' last three appearances, Samford was defeated by Furman in opening-round play (2013, 2012 and 2011). Including last season's loss to the Paladins, 55-51, the Bulldogs have played Furman in four of their seven all-time SoCon Tournament games.
 
Samford owns a 2-5 all-time record in the SoCon Tournament and is 1-3 against Furman. Since defeating the Paladins in the first round in 2009, 57-52, the Bulldogs have dropped consecutive SoCon Tournament-opening contests to The Citadel in 2010 (55-43), Furman in 2011 (61-48) and Furman again in 2012 (75-66).
 
In five postseasons as a member of the SoCon, Samford has compiled a 1-3 record against Furman, a 1-1 mark with The Citadel and an 0-1 record versus Chattanooga. Friday's meeting with Appalachian State will be the Bulldogs' first against the Mountaineers in SoCon Tournament play.
 
Through 31 games this season, Samford owns a perfect 7-0 record when out-rebounding its opponent. Conversely, the Bulldogs are just 5-18 when getting out-rebounded by the opposition.
 
Additionally, Samford boasts an 12-7 record when holding its opponent to under 50-percent shooting from the field. The Bulldogs are 0-12 when the opposition shoots 50-percent or above from the floor. When leading with five minutes left to play, Samford is 12-4. When trailing at the five-minute mark, Samford is 0-15.
 
The Bulldogs' Tim Williams is averaging 17.9 points per game this season and has already surpassed his team-leading total of 454 from 2012-13.
 
Just a sophomore, Samford's Williams has accumulated 537 points in 31 games this season and recently became just the 16th member of the school's prestigious 500-point club. The last Bulldog to score 500 points in a season was Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year Randall Gulina in 2006-07.
 
The Bulldogs' Isaiah Williams has come to Samford and immediately stepped in as the team's starting point guard. Already this season, the SoCon Freshman of the Year is averaging 12.4 points and 3.6 assists per game. Williams is also ranked fourth in the SoCon with a solid 1.6 assist/turnover ratio and fifth in the conference in assists (3.6 pg). Additionally, he ranked 10th in free-throw percentage at 75.8.
 
Samford is shooting a stellar 52.9 percent from 2-point range this season and has already registered 652 free-throw attempts.
 
Last season, the Bulldogs shot 48.9 percent from 2-point range and attempted a total of just 502 free throws in 32 games. Samford is averaging 21.0 free throws per contest this year, as compared to 15.7 in 2012-13. The Bulldogs are also averaging 16.4 layups per game since Jan. 18.
 
Already this season, Samford has scored 80 or more points in six games.
 
The Bulldogs are averaging 71.1 points per outing this season and registered a Seltzer Era-high total of 93 versus Western Carolina on Saturday. Samford's 93 points proved to be the team's highest scoring output since March 4, 2008, when Samford suffered a heartbreaking 101-94 triple-overtime loss at UT Martin in the opening round of the OVC.
 
The winner of Friday's SoCon Tournament-opening contest will advance to Saturday's quarterfinal round of play and will face the top-seeded Davidson Wildcats at 11 a.m. (CT) at the U.S. Cellular Center in downtown Asheville.

Live Stats
Live Audio
ESPN3 Broadcast
Samford Game Notes