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LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- The Samford University basketball team will begin play in its 2015-16 campaign Friday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs face a tough test against the Louisville Cardinals in a non-conference contest to be held at the KFC Yum! Center (22,000).
 
Samford (0-0) enters the game boasting two returning starters, six returning letterwinners and seven talented newcomers on the roster this season. The Bulldogs will be buoyed by backcourt mates Christen Cunningham and Darius Jones-Gibson, who combined to average 22.5 points, 6.1 assists and 5.5 rebounds per outing last season.
 
Samford finished the 2014-15 campaign, its first under Head Coach Scott Padgett, with a 13-19 record.
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Louisville (0-0) heads into the season with high aspirations after advancing to the Elite Eight of the 2015 NCAA Tournament. The Cardinals were preseason picked seventh in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
 
Louisville, under the direction of Head Coach Rick Pitino, has already rolled to a pair of wins in exhibition play this season by defeating Bellarmine, 71-55, on Nov. 1, and Kentucky Wesleyan, 77-68, on Monday.
 
Against Kentucky Wesleyan, the Cardinals blocked 12 shots and scored 23 points off turnovers. Louisville returns eight lettermen from its 2014-15 squad that reached the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament and finished the year with a 27-9 overall record. The Cardinals have won 20 of their last 22 season-opening games, including winning their last 11 straight openers.
 
THE ALL-TIME SERIES
The Bulldogs will square off against Louisville for just the second time in school history Friday as the teams meet in a season-opening test to be held at the KFC Yum! Center located in downtown Louisville. The first meeting between the teams occurred Nov. 15, 2012, as the eventual NCAA Champion Cardinals defeated the Bulldogs, 80-54.
 
SAMFORD'S BLUEGRASS STATE CONNECTIONS
Many members of the Samford basketball program have key ties to the state of Kentucky. Starting at the top of the Athletic Department, Director of Athletics Martin Newton worked with Head Coach John Calipari and the University of Kentucky basketball team for two seasons, while his father, C.M. Newton, was the Director of Athletics at Kentucky from 1989-2000 and hired Pitino at Kentucky in 1989.
 
Samford's Padgett, who was born and raised in Louisville and starred at St. Xavier High School, played for Pitino at Kentucky for three seasons and later spent the 2009-10 campaign as an assistant coach with the Wildcat program.
 
With Padgett's connections in the area, the Bulldogs also boast many Kentucky natives on their roster, including Assistant Coach Charles Newton (Lexington), sophomore guard Christen Cunningham (Georgetown), freshman forward Matt Rose (Lexington) and senior guard Darius Jones-Gibson (Lexington).
 
BOASTING A BIG-TIME BACKCOURT
Samford heads into the 2015-16 campaign with a pair of returning starters at the guard position in Cunningham and Jones-Gibson. Cunningham, the Bulldogs' talented sophomore point guard from Georgetown, Kentucky, enters the season having never missed a start in his young up-and-coming college career.
 
As a true freshman last year, Cunningham started at the point guard position in all 32 of the team's games and averaged 10.3 points, 3.9 assists and 2.4 rebounds per contest. He also logged a team-high average of 30.1 minutes per outing and finished second on the squad with a 79.1 free-throw percentage.
 
Jones-Gibson, Samford's senior guard from Lexington, Kentucky, heads into the 2015-16 season as the Bulldogs' top returning scorer. Last year, Jones-Gibson paced the squad with 12.2 points per game and also pulled down an average of 3.1 rebounds per contest.
 
Since transferring to Samford from Barton County Community College prior to the 2014-15 campaign, Jones-Gibson has started in every outing as a Bulldog, and has shared backcourt duties with Cunningham in all 32 games of Padgett's tenure.
 
THE SAMFORD YOUTH MOVEMENT
Eight of the Bulldogs' 15 members of the 2015-16 roster are underclassmen. Samford boasts four true freshmen this season in Dakota Quinn, Matt Rose, Tanner Tapp and Wyatt Walker, as well as talented redshirt freshman Gerald Smith. Additionally, the Bulldogs' roster includes an impressive sophomore class comprised of forward Eric Adams, Cunningham and center Alex Peters.
 
Only three of Samford's 15 players were born before April 25, 1995, and the average age of a member of the Bulldogs' basketball team is 19 years and three months old.
 
BULLDOGS' "DJG" MAKING WAVES IN THE SOCON
Samford's Jones-Gibson was voted to the third team by the Southern Conference Sports Media Association last year.
 
Jones-Gibson, in just his first season at Samford, finished the 2014-15 campaign as the Bulldogs' leading scorer with an average of 12.2 points per game. He also tallied 3.1 rebounds per game and handed out 69 assists. In 18 matchups against SoCon opponents, Jones-Gibson averaged 14.4 points per game and shot a sizzling 42.9 percent from 3-point range.
 
CUNNINGHAM THRIVING AT THE POINT
Last season, Samford's Cunningham handed out a freshman-record 125 assists and finished the campaign as the team's third leading scorer with 10.3 points per game. Cunningham, who started all 32 games in 2014-15, also averaged 3.9 assists per contest and grabbed 77 rebounds.
 
722-STRAIGHT AND STILL COUNTING
The Bulldogs have made at least one 3-point field goal in 722-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 942-straight games dating back to the 1986-87 season. Kentucky (940) and Vanderbilt (933) 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.
 
THE FOUR HORSEMEN
Samford's three active leaders in points, rebounds, assists, steals and 3-point field goals are all a combination of the following four returning players:  Jones-Gibson, Cunningham, Marcus Johnson and Jamal Shabazz.
 
Heading into the 2015-16 campaign, Jones-Gibson is ranked first in points (389), rebounds (98) and steals (42). The Bulldogs' senior guard is also listed second in active career assists with 69. Cunningham paces Samford in assists with 125 and is also ranked second on the team in points (329), steals (38) and 3-pointers, while being listed third in rebounds (77).
 
Johnson, the Bulldogs' hard-nosed senior guard from Washington, D.C., is ranked third on the team in points (195), assists (54) and steals (23), while Shabazz enters the year tabbed second in both rebounds (88) and 3-point field goals (11).
 
JONES-GIBSON NAMED TO PRESEASON ALL-SOCON TEAM
Samford's Jones-Gibson was honored by the SoCon on Oct. 22, as the Bulldogs' senior guard was one of 10 players named to the 2015 Preseason All-Conference Team, it was announced by the league office.
 
Jones-Gibson, Samford's leading scorer from a year ago, averaged 12.2 points per game last season and earned Third-Team All-SoCon honors. He started all 32 games for the Bulldogs in 2014-15 and averaged 26.8 minutes per game.
 
Jones-Gibson also turned in a 48.5-percent shooting mark from the field last season and averaged 14.4 points and 3.3 rebounds per contest in SoCon play.
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following Friday's season-opening matchup at Louisville, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Monday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs welcome the Auburn-Montgomery Warhawks to the Pete Hanna Center for a home-opening, in-state contest.

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