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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team will attempt to put an end to its only losing streak of the 2015-16 campaign Saturday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs welcome the Western Carolina Catamounts to the Pete Hanna Center for a key Southern Conference showdown to be broadcast live on ESPN3.

Samford (10-8, 1-4 SoCon) enters the matchup with aspirations of snapping a three-game losing streak. Since rolling to a 94-74 home victory against The Citadel on Jan. 5, the Bulldogs have dropped consecutive league contests versus Wofford, Furman and ETSU. Samford owns a 4-2 record when playing at home this season.

SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Western Carolina (7-10, 2-2 SoCon) suffered its first defeat in nearly two weeks Thursday as the Catamounts fell 77-58 at Chattanooga. Western Carolina is 0-9 on the road this year.

The Catamounts enter Saturday's contest ranked No. 20 in the nation in total steals (143) and 26th in the country in steals per game (8.4). WCU is forcing its opponents into 15.2 turnovers per outing this season, but are also allowing the opposition to score an average of 72.4 points per game.

Western Carolina boasts three players scoring in double figures this season and is being paced by Mike Brown's 15.7 points per outing. Senior forward Torrion Brummitt is averaging 13.1 points per game, while Rhett Harrelson averages 12.6.

WHAT'S TRENDING . . .
Samford's Christen Cunningham, who just completed the 50th game of his young collegiate career Thursday, has already accumulated 195 assists for an average of 3.9 per outing.
The Bulldogs' all-time assists record is 433 and was achieved by Jerry Smith from 2003-07.
Thursday's contest proved to be the 50th of Head Coach Scott Padgett's career and guards Darius Jones-Gibson and Cunningham have started every game of his tenure.

TRANSITIONING OFFENSE - - BULLDOGS TAKE IT TO HYPERDRIVE
Samford fans will continue to enjoy a much faster paced offense this season. With plenty of depth and a roster chalk-full of young talent, the Bulldogs are getting up and down the court in 2015-16 and creating easy buckets in transition. Last season, Padgett implemented his full-court, fast-paced offensive attack and Samford averaged 69.2 points per game.

THE SAMFORD YOUTH MOVEMENT
Seven of the Bulldogs' 14 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 two of Samford's 14 players were born before April 25, 1995, and the average age of a member of the Bulldogs' basketball team is 19 years old.
 

FROM BALL BOY TO DIVISION I CENTER
The Bulldogs' Adams has been attending Samford basketball games for a long time now. His mother, Cassandra, is the Director of Samford's Community Mediation Center and had been working in the University's prestigious Cumberland School of Law for over a decade.

Ever since he was in grade school, Adams remembers attending Samford games with his mother and father, Eric, Sr. He also served as one of the Bulldogs' ball boys for a few seasons. Already this year, Adams has started in games against Louisville and Auburn-Montgomery, and has earned playing time in all 18 games.

THE FOUR HORSEMEN
Samford's top three active leaders in points, rebounds, assists and steals are all a combination of the following four players: Jones-Gibson, Cunningham, Marcus Johnson and Jamal Shabazz.

Here in the middle portion of the 2015-16 campaign, Jones-Gibson is ranked first in points (669), rebounds (148) and steals (61). The Bulldogs' senior guard is also listed second in active career assists with 122. Cunningham paces Samford in assists with 195 and is also ranked second on the team in points (571), steals (58) and rebounds (144).

Johnson, the Bulldogs' senior guard from Washington, D.C., is ranked third on the team in points (321), assists (98) and steals (40), while Shabazz is tied for second in rebounds (144) and third on the team in 3-point field goals (33).

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 current Louisville head coach Rick Pitino at Kentucky in 1989.

Samford's Padgett, who was born and raised in Louisville, Kentucky, 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 program.

With Padgett's connections in the area, the Bulldogs also boast many Kentucky natives on their roster, including Assistant Coach Charles Newton (Lexington), Cunningham (Georgetown), Rose (Lexington) and Jones-Gibson (Lexington).

THE LAST TIME OUT - - BULLDOGS' LATE RALLY COMES UP SHORT AGAINST ETSU, 81-77
In a game that consisted of 13 ties and 17 lead changes Thursday, Samford rallied from 11 points down in the second half to take a 70-69 lead with 4:49 remaining to play, but the first-place ETSU Buccaneers came through with some clutch shots down the stretch to hang on for an 81-77 SoCon win held at the Pete Hanna Center.

With the loss, Samford dropped to 4-2 at home this season and moved to 1-5 all-time against ETSU. The Buccaneers escaped with another close victory on the road and extended their SoCon-best winning streak to six-consecutive games. ETSU's last loss occurred Dec. 22, at Tennessee.

The Buccaneers' T.J. Cromer, the reigning SoCon Player of the Week, led all scorers with 19 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. He also handed out six assists and grabbed four rebounds, while finishing 3-of-6 from beyond the arc.

Lester Wilson, ETSU's all-time leader in 3-pointers made, knocked down 4-of-6 of his 3-point attempts Thursday and finished with 16 points in 30 minutes of action. Senior guard Ge'Lawn Guyn scored 17 points and added seven rebounds, while Isaac Banks nearly tallied a double-double with 11 points and nine boards.

As a team, ETSU shot 51.8 percent from the field and 9-of-23 (39.1 percent) from 3-point range.

Samford also turned in one of its best scoring performances of conference play and shot 53.4 percent from the field. The Bulldogs only connected on four 3-point field goals, but only attempted a total of 12 for 33.3 percent in the game.

Jones-Gibson paced Samford with 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting from the field, while he added five assists and four rebounds. True freshman center Wyatt Walker turned in his best game of SoCon action with 14 points, seven rebounds and a pair of steals.

Samford senior Iman Johnson continued to turn in solid all-around games Thursday as he scored 11 points, pulled down eight rebounds, handed out three assists and added a pair of steals in 28 minutes of action.

WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following Saturday's home game against Western Carolina, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs begin a long, two-game, five-day SoCon road trip against the VMI Keydets to be held at Cameron Hall in Lexington, Virginia. Samford will conclude the road trip Saturday at 4 p.m., at UNCG.

For quick score updates, breaking news and links to all of your favorite articles featuring the Bulldogs, please follow @SamfordHoopsFOE and @Samford_Sports on Twitter.

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