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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team will attempt to win its third-consecutive, Southern Conference contest at home Saturday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs play host to the streaking Furman Paladins in a key league contest to be held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
Samford (9-14, 2-8 SoCon) heads into the game riding a wave of positive momentum after earning back-to-back victories against UNCG, 89-78, and Western Carolina, 78-72, last week. The Bulldogs boast a solid 7-4 record when playing at home this season and have won two straight games versus Furman (7-13, 4-5 SoCon) in the Pete Hanna Center.
 
The Paladins are also in the midst of a two-game winning streak and have been victorious in three of their last four outings. Since losing at Wofford on Jan. 22, Furman has rattled off consecutive home wins against Allen College, 82-46, and ETSU, 59-55.
 
Furman has struggled on the road this season and owns a 1-10 record when playing away from Timmons Arena. The Paladins' lone road victory this year occurred at The Citadel on Jan. 17, as their 74-62 win over the Cadets snapped a nine-game road losing streak.
 
Furman's Stephen Croone enters the contest as the league's fifth-leading scorer with an average of 17.1 points per game this season. In the Paladins' 59-55 home win against ETSU on Thursday, Croone scored a game-high 24 points and added 11 rebounds, four assists and a trio of steals.
 
The Bulldogs trail Furman in the all-time series by a count of 11-6.
 
Earlier this season, the teams squared off at Timmons Arena in Greenville, South Carolina, and the Paladins tallied a 74-64 home victory over Samford. Furman's win snapped a two-game losing streak in the series after the Bulldogs swept the season's home-and-home matchups in 2013-14.
 
Samford will be honoring former Bulldog-great Jim Harrison on Saturday.
 
Harrison played at Samford during the mid-1950s and still holds one of the highest-profile records in school history. Nearly 60 years ago, Harrison squared off against the Chattanooga Mocs on Jan. 6, 1956, and scored a school-record 48 points in a dominant 106-76 victory held at Causey Gym on the East Lake Campus.
 
Harrison's record still stands today and proves to be the benchmark for the Samford basketball program.
 
Against Western Carolina on Jan. 24, Samford tallied its second straight SoCon victory as the Bulldogs held off the resurgent Catamounts, 78-72, in a key league contest held at the Pete Hanna Center. Samford's Michael Bradley registered his second-consecutive double-double in the win with 16 points and 10 rebounds.
 
In the triumph, Samford shot a sizzling 92.9 percent (26-of-28) from the free-throw line and forced Western Carolina into 20 turnovers. The Bulldogs capitalized off the Catamounts' miscues and registered 24 points off turnovers.
 
Samford's Darius Jones-Gibson paced his squad with 19 points and four steals, while also grabbing a pair of rebounds and shooting 7-of-12 from the field. Jones-Gibson is the Bulldogs' leading scorer this season at 11.8 points per game and is scoring a team-high 16.1 points per outing in SoCon play.
 
The Bulldogs shot 51.9 percent from the floor in the opening half and built a 10-point lead, 35-25, with 1:17 remaining in the first period. Western Carolina closed out the initial half with a 5-0 run, but Samford still boasted a 35-30 advantage at the intermission.
 
The teams battled to between two to five points of each other for a majority of the second half, before the Bulldogs used four-consecutive free throws from Bradley to garner a 56-47 lead with 8:26 left to play in the game.
 
Bradley, Samford's dominant 6-foot-10 senior center from Chattanooga, Tennessee, finished a perfect 8-of-8 from the charity stripe en route to his second double-double of the week. In the Bulldogs' 89-78 victory over UNCG on Thursday, Bradley finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Bradley is coming off back-to-back double-doubles in which he averaged 14 points and 10 rebounds in wins against UNCG and Western Carolina.
 
In games against UNCG and Western Carolina last week, Samford combined to shoot a brilliant 88.7 percent (47-of-53) from the free-throw line and outscored the opposition, 47-23, from the charity stripe. Additionally, the Bulldogs forced their opponents into an average of 18 turnovers per game and registered 11.5 steals per contest.
 
Samford's Jones-Gibson was named the SoCon Player of the Week by College Sports Madness after averaging 19.5 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game last week.
 
Since Dec. 28, Jones-Gibson has paced the Bulldogs in scoring with an average of 15.9 points per game. Additionally, Jones-Gibson is averaging 3.2 rebounds per contest and is shooting 57.6 percent from the field. Against Chattanooga on Jan. 15, Jones-Gibson scored a career-high 24 points.
 
For the third time this season, Samford's Cunningham was named the CRONS SoCon Freshman of the Week. His latest honor was earned for all games played Jan. 20-26, the league office announced Tuesday.
 
The Bulldogs' Cunningham played a vital role in Samford's 2-0 SoCon record last week as he averaged 11.5 points, 5.0 assists, 1.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals per game in back-to-back victories against UNCG and Western Carolina.
 
Cunningham, the Bulldogs' dynamic 6-foot-2 point guard from Georgetown, Kentucky, started in each of the team's wins and nearly logged a career-high with 34 minutes against Western Carolina on Jan. 24, as he led the charge to fend off the Catamounts in a 78-72 home victory. 
 
Samford's Cunningham scored 13 points versus Western Carolina and handed out a game-high six assists. He also drained a crucial 3-point basket in the win and finished a perfect 4-of-4 from the free-throw line. Cunningham opened the week's competition in similar fashion by captaining Samford's 89-78 victory against UNCG on Jan. 22.
 
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 48.8 percent from the field at home this year, but only 38.2 percent from the floor when playing on the road. Additionally, Samford is shooting 7.8 percentage points better at home from 3-point range; 37.2 at home versus 29.4 on the road.
 
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 Saturday's home SoCon contest against Furman, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin a two-game road trip against the Western Carolina Catamounts to be held at the Ramsey Center in Cullowhee, North Carolina.

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