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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team will begin play in a pivotal three-game Southern Conference homestand Thursday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs welcome the UNCG Spartans to the Pete Hanna Center for a critical midseason league showdown.
 
Samford (7-14, 0-8 SoCon) heads into the contest looking to build upon a 5-4 home record this season. Already this year, the Bulldogs have registered home victories against Austin Peay, 68-67, Jacksonville, 76-70, Louisiana-Monroe, 64-50, Campbell, 65-56, and Auburn-Montgomery, 94-60.
 
Additionally, Samford is averaging 72 points at the Pete Hanna Center and is shooting 48.3 percent from the field at home this season.
 
So far this year, the Bulldogs have been shooting the ball significantly better at home in the friendly confines of the Pete Hanna Center. Samford is shooting 48.3 percent from the field at home, but only 38.2 percent from the floor when playing on the road.
 
Additionally, Samford is shooting 7.6 percentage points better at home from 3-point range; 37.0 at home versus 29.4 on the road.
 
Nov. 15, 2007, marked the dawning of a new era for Samford as the Bulldogs began play in their brand-new 32-million-dollar Pete Hanna Center. The state-of-the-art 5,000-seat arena was completed in October of 2007 and featured new locker rooms, a training room, a weight room and coaches offices.
 
The Pete Hanna Center, which replaced Samford's historic 45-year-old Seibert Hall, also houses the University's recreation center and workout facility. In their Pete Hanna Center debut, the Bulldogs dropped an 82-73 decision against perennial NCAA Tournament participant Belmont.
 
UNCG (6-13, 2-4 SoCon) enters Thursday's contest with a full head of steam after defeating VMI in league play on Jan. 14, 75-63. The Spartans are 2-5 on the road this year and have been defeated in their last three games away from home against Western Carolina, 82-72, Furman, 71-64, and East Carolina, 71-50.
 
UNCG is ranked third in the conference in total rebounds per game. The Spartans are averaging 33.9 rebounds per contest and already boast 217 offensive boards this season.
 
Additionally, UNCG's sharpshooting guard from Salt Lake City, Utah, Nicholas Paulos, enters Thursday's game ranked among the top-25 players in the nation in three statistical categories. Paulos, who is averaging 10.9 points per game this season, is ranked No. 15 in 3-point field goals made (56), No. 16 in minutes (689) and 25th in 3-point field goals per game (3.0).
 
The Bulldogs are in the midst of a two-game winning streak against UNCG, but the Spartans have been victorious in four of the last six meetings between the teams.
 
All-time, Samford leads the series by a count of 8-5 and is 4-3 versus UNCG when playing at home in Birmingham. Last year, the Bulldogs earned an 88-78 victory held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
With seven points, Samford's Tyler Hood would move into 21st place on the Bulldogs' all-time scoring list. Hood enters Thursday's contest with 1,024 career points and is currently ranked No. 23 on the school's all-time list.
 
Samford returned 21.2 points per game from last season's squad that averaged 70.5 points per outing. Additionally, the Bulldogs returned an average of 10.9 rebounds per game out of a total of 32.1 from the 2013-14 campaign.
 
In percentages, Samford returned 30.1 percent of its scoring production from last season; mainly from its top three offensive returners in Hood (7.9), Brandon Roberts (4.0) and Michael Bradley (3.5).
 
On the boards, the Bulldogs returned 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's Christen Cunningham is ranked second in the SoCon with 87 assists. The Bulldogs' true freshman floor general is averaging 4.1 helpers per game this season and is on pace to record 136 assists in 2014-15.
 
In SoCon play this season, Samford's Darius Jones-Gibson is ranked ninth in the league with an average of 15.3 points per game.
 
Since Dec. 28, Jones-Gibson has paced the Bulldogs in scoring with an average of 14.5 points per game. Additionally, Jones-Gibson is averaging 3.1 rebounds per contest and is shooting 56.3 percent from the field. Against Chattanooga on Jan. 15, Jones-Gibson scored a career-high 24 points.
 
Samford has played the toughest SoCon schedule this season. Six of the Bulldogs' eight league games have come against the top five teams and Samford's conference opponents this year boast a combined 30-19 record in league play.
 
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 Thursday's matchup with UNCG, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue play in their three-game SoCon homestand against the Western Carolina Catamounts in a key league contest to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.

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