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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team will continue its pivotal three-game Southern Conference homestand Saturday at 6 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs face the Western Carolina Catamounts in a marquee league contest to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
Samford (8-14, 1-8 SoCon) heads into the matchup with aspirations of lifting its 2014-15 home record to 7-4. The Bulldogs have tallied six of their eight victories in the Pete Hanna Center this season and are coming off a momentous 89-78 triumph over SoCon-foe UNCG on Thursday.
 
In its decisive win, Samford forced the Spartans into 16 turnovers and registered a lopsided 22-3 disparity in points off turnovers.
 
Samford finished Thursday's win with five players scoring in double figures. The feat marked the first time this season that the Bulldogs concluded a game with five players scoring at least 10 points apiece.
 
Junior guard Darius Jones-Gibson paced Samford with 20 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and also finished 8-of-10 from the charity stripe. The Bulldogs' explosive two-guard also pulled down five rebounds and handed out a team-high five assists in 31 minutes of playing time.
 
Marcus Johnson, Samford's junior transfer from Wallace State Junior College, continued his stellar play of late as he dropped in 18 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the floor. Johnson, who has progressively earned more minutes this season, drained a trio of 3-pointers against the Spartans and added four rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.
 
The Bulldogs' Tyler Hood moved into sole possession of 21^st place on the school's all-time scoring list Thursday by scoring 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field. Hood, Samford's senior team captain and 3-point specialist, also connected on a trio of 3-pointers and now owns 1,039 points in his illustrious career.
 
Turning in the best overall performance for the Bulldogs on Thursday was senior center Michael Bradley.
 
Bradley logged 30 minutes of playing time against UNCG and registered his second double-double of the season with 12 points and 10 rebounds. He finished 5-of-10 from the field, tallied three blocked shots and handed out an assist.
 
Rounding out Samford's double-digit scorers Thursday was true freshman point guard Christen Cunningham who tallied 10 points, four assists, two rebounds and a pair of steals, while also finishing a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
 
Western Carolina (9-11, 4-4 SoCon) picked up one of its biggest victories of the season Thursday as the Catamounts knocked off previous league-leader Mercer, 60-52, at home.
 
Western Carolina boasts a brilliant 6-2 record at home this season, but is only 2-8 when playing outside of the friendly confines of the Ramsey Center in Cullowhee, N.C.
 
On Dec. 21, the Catamounts snapped a four-game road losing streak by defeating UNC Asheville, 66-62. Since then, their struggles have continued away from home with back-to-back losses at Chattanooga, 66-60, and Wofford, 62-43.
 
Offensively, Western Carolina is being bolstered by James Sinclair's team-high 18.2 points per game this season. He currently ranks third in the SoCon in scoring despite missing a game earlier this year.
 
Last season, Samford and Western Carolina split the annual home-and-home series with each team winning on its home court. In Birmingham on March 1, the Bulldogs tallied a 93-86 victory over the Catamounts, while Western Carolina won, 67-64, in Cullowhee, N.C.
 
All-time, Samford trails the Catamounts, 9-4, but owns a 4-2 lead when playing at home in Birmingham.
 
The Samford basketball team was picked 10th in the preseason SoCon rankings on Oct. 15, and the Bulldogs have been using that last-place prediction as fuel and motivation for the 2014-15 campaign.
 
"We're definitely going to use it as motivation," said Hood. "We have big 10s plastered all over the locker room, so it's a constant reminder for us and we take that extra motivation into every practice. Every day, we strive to be competitive and to push each other to get better in each and every practice. Ultimately, we go out every day with plans of being the best that we can possibly be."
 
Since Dec. 28, Samford's Jones-Gibson has paced the Bulldogs in scoring with an average of 15.1 points per game. Additionally, Jones-Gibson is averaging 3.3 rebounds per contest and is shooting 58.2 percent from the field. Against Chattanooga on Jan. 15, Jones-Gibson scored a career-high 24 points.
 
In the preseason, Samford head coach Scott Padgett wanted to associate with something local that would represent both the state of Alabama, as well as his new exciting brand of fast-paced, full-court basketball. That's when the Bulldogs' marketing department set him up with a photo-shoot at the Talladega Superspeedway.
 
"My dad's a big NASCAR fan and so in growing up around him I really got into it as well," said Padgett. "I wanted to do something that definitely related to us as a team, but also something that was very much the state of Alabama. I don't know how much Samford basketball has recruited Alabama in years past, but I do know that we are going to hit this state hard in recruiting.
 
"I also like being associated with Talladega. Obviously, speed is what racing is all about and that's the way we're going to play. We're going to play fast and I thought the two fit hand in hand. I thought it was a perfect match."
 
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."
 
Following Saturday's SoCon showdown with Western Carolina, the Samford University basketball team will take a week off from competitive play and next be in action Jan. 31 at 6 p.m. (CT) as the Bulldogs conclude their pivotal three-game homestand with a key league matchup against the Furman Paladins to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.

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