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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team will begin play in its final road trip of the 2014-15 regular season Thursday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs challenge the UNCG Spartans in a Southern Conference showdown to be held at the Greensboro Coliseum.
 
Samford (12-17, 5-11 SoCon) heads into the contest with aspirations of snapping a three-game losing streak. Since rattling off a season-long, five-game winning stretch against UNCG, Western Carolina (twice), Furman and ETSU, the Bulldogs have dropped consecutive tough-luck league games to The Citadel, 66-65, Chattanooga, 79-72, and Mercer, 62-61.
 
Samford owns a 3-10 record in true road games this season. The Bulldogs' road victories have come against Presbyterian College, Western Carolina and ETSU.
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
UNCG (9-20, 5-11 SoCon) enters Thursday's matchup with a full head of steam after demolishing Furman at home Sunday, 84-49. The Spartans are 5-9 at home this season and their victory against Furman snapped a three-game losing streak versus ETSU, Mercer and Wofford.
 
UNCG owns one of the most balanced offensive attacks in the league this season and boasts four players averaging double figures in scoring. The Spartans are being paced by Tevon Saddler's 13.9 points per game, while Kayel Locke follows at 12.7 per contest.                      
 
Sophomore center RJ White leads UNCG with 6.9 rebounds per game and is scoring 11.5 points per outing. Nicholas Paulos, the Spartans' senior sharpshooter from Salt Lake City, Utah, has connected on 82 3-point field goals this season and is scoring 10.9 points per contest.
 
SAMFORD at UNCG:  THE FACTS
Samford leads the all-time series with UNCG by a count of 9-5 and has won the last three games between the teams dating back to Jan. 24, 2013, when the Bulldogs suffered a 66-64 loss in Greensboro, North Carolina. Samford owns a 4-2 record when playing in Greensboro, but the Bulldogs have dropped the last two meetings held at the Greensboro Coliseum.
 
IN THE LAST MEETING
In one of its most complete games of the 2014-15 SoCon season on Jan. 22, Samford forced UNCG into 16 turnovers and scored 22 points off their miscues en route to a decisive 89-78 victory held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
Samford finished the triumph with five players scoring in doubles figures. The feat marked the second 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 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 scored 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.
 
Turning in the best overall performance for the Bulldogs 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.
 
WHAT'S TRENDING . . .
• The Bulldogs' Christen Cunningham has already set the school's freshman record with 117 assists this season and currently leads ALL SoCon freshmen in the following categories: points (278), assists (117), steals (35), free-throw percentage (78.8) and minutes played (860).
• Samford's Jones-Gibson has scored in double-figures in 19 of the last 23 games.
• In SoCon play, Jones-Gibson is averaging 15.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per contest this season.
 
HOOD REACHES HISTORIC 1,000-POINT PLATEAU
Samford's Hood scored six points at The Citadel on Jan. 8 to reach the prestigious 1,000-point plateau in his career. With the achievement, Hood became just the 24th player in the Bulldogs' illustrious 113-year history to reach the milestone.
 
Hood enters Thursday's contest with 1,124 career points. He is averaging 10.7 points per game this season and has already moved into the No. 16 position on the Bulldogs' all-time scoring list.
 
THE LAST TIME OUT
At the buzzer, with Samford trailing by just a point, 62-61, the Bulldogs' Cunningham found Evan Taylor streaking to the rim for the possible game-winning basket, but Mercer's Darious Moten blocked the last-second shot to preserve the Bears' 62-61 SoCon win held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
The Bulldogs started out slow on Senior Night and trailed Mercer, 21-7, at the 8:54 mark in the first half.
 
Just minutes later, Samford used a nice six-point flurry to trim the Bears' advantage to 25-20 with 6:30 to play until the intermission. The Bulldogs' run was sparked by back-to-back 3-pointers from Jamal Shabazz and Nnamdi Enechionyia.
 
Mercer ended the first half on a 10-5 run and took a 40-30 lead into the locker room.
 
Exactly three minutes into the second period, Samford took a 10-point deficit and trimmed it to 46-45 with a keen 9-0 run from 17:00 to 11:56. During the stretch, the Bulldogs' Hood, Shabazz and Bradley all scored on layups, while Jones-Gibson converted a 3-point play.
 
With Samford's home crowd of 1,683 fans helping to shift the momentum of the game, the teams traded baskets until approximately the seven-minute mark when Mercer used a quick five-point spurt to garner a 60-54 lead with 5:33 to play.
 
Samford scored seven-straight points from 5:33 to the 26-second mark to take its only lead of the game at 61-60 following a thrilling layup from Hood. The Bears led Saturday's matchup for exactly 39:13, while the Bulldogs led for 19 seconds.
 
With Samford leading 61-60, Mercer took possession with 26 left to play. The Bears ran through their motion offense and Phillip Leonard gathered the ball in the left corner. He then streaked down the baseline and was able to connect on the game-winning basket with just seven seconds remaining.
 
After Leonard's bucket, Samford set up its final play, which was executed perfectly, but Moten was able to get a paw on Taylor's final jumper.
 
CUNNINGHAM CHASING HISTORY
Samford's Cunningham has already handed out a freshman-record 117 assists this season and recently surpassed Isaiah Williams' record of 103, which was achieved last year.
 
The Bulldogs' all-time record for single-season assists is 151 and is held by Raijon Kelly who reached it during the 2012-13 campaign. At his current rate of 4.0 assists per game, Cunningham is on pace to reach 129 in 2014-15.
 
SAMFORD'S TYLER HOOD - - THE CONSTANT LEADER
Through all of the changes of the last few years, the Bulldogs' senior Hood has been the constant. He's been a reliable leader and consistent figure on the Samford basketball team.
 
In a meeting held before the season, he stated that he's had three different head coaches, eight assistant coaches and 38 teammates. But if you know Hood, he wasn't complaining. He gushed about how blessed he was to have been able to meet and bond with so many different guys.
 
"Not too many people get the opportunity to develop a brotherhood with that many people," Hood said.
 
"TALLADEGA" - THE SPEED OF SAMFORD BASKETBALL
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."
 
NEXT UP
Following Thursday's SoCon matchup at UNCG, the Samford University basketball team will conclude its 2014-15 regular-season schedule Saturday at noon (CST) as the Bulldogs will play at the VMI Keydets for the first time in school history. The game will be held at VMI's Cameron Hall in Lexington, Virginia.

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