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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team will begin play in a critical four-game Southern Conference homestand Saturday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs square off against the first-place Chattanooga Mocs in a highly-anticipated showdown to be broadcast live on ESPN3 and held at the Pete Hanna Center (5,000).
 
Samford (11-10, 2-6 SoCon) heads into the matchup with hopes of snapping a two-game losing streak. After cruising past Western Carolina on Jan. 16, 84-68, the Bulldogs have dropped back-to-back road games at VMI, 83-76, and UNCG, 86-78. Samford boasts a 5-2 record at home this season and is scoring 85.7 points per game in the Pete Hanna Center.
 

WHAT'S TRENDING . . .
• In just 53 games at Samford, guards Christen Cunningham and Darius Jones-Gibson have combined to score 1,309 points, which is an average of 24.7 points per outing.
• At UNCG on Sunday, Jones-Gibson eclipsed the 700-point plateau in his Samford career (705), while Cunningham reached 604 points. Both of the aforementioned players are only in their second season at Samford.
• Samford's Cunningham, just a sophomore, has started at the point guard position in all 53 games of his collegiate career.
• The Bulldogs have used the same starting lineup in 19 straight games this season, including 19 of 21 contests held in 2015-16.
• Samford has played five of its first eight SoCon matchups on the road this year and is 0-5 in away conference games.
• The Bulldogs own a 5-2 record at home in 2015-16 and are outscoring visitors by an average of 12.1 points per game.
 
Chattanooga (17-3, 6-1 SoCon), the preseason favorite to win the SoCon, currently sits in first place in the league and claims a No. 43 national ranking in the RPI. The Mocs own a near-perfect 12-1 record since Dec. 8.
 
Chattanooga heads into Saturday's game ranked No. 10 in the nation with a winning percentage of 85.0. The Mocs' lone setback in conference play occurred Jan. 9 on the road at Furman, 70-55. Chattanooga boasts a perfect 8-0 record at home this season and owns a solid 6-3 mark in true road games.
 
The Mocs also hold a 3-0 record in neutral site contests. As a team, Chattanooga is ranked 20th in the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage (39.5), while senior guard Eric Robertson is listed No. 21 in the country with a 45.7 3-point field-goal percentage.
 
THE ALL-TIME SERIES
The Bulldogs' all-time rivalry with Chattanooga is their third longest in school history. The Southern Rail Rivalry is nearly 90 years old and dates all the way back to Feb. 12, 1926, when the Mocs tallied a 23-12 win held in Birmingham. Samford trails in the all-time series, 54-37, and was swept by Chattanooga in a pair of SoCon games last season.
 

BOASTING A BIG-TIME BACKCOURT
Samford continues play in 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, has 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, returned this 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 53 games of Head Coach Scott Padgett's tenure.
 
#PLAYFAST - - SAMFORD LOOKS TO PUSH THE SPEED LIMIT
One of Padgett's top themes this season is #PlayFast. Samford's second-year head coach 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."
 

SAMFORD'S WALKER NAMED SOCON PLAYER OF THE WEEK
Samford freshman Wyatt Walker was named the SoCon Player of the Week on Jan. 19 for his performance during all games played Jan. 12-18, the league office announced. Walker averaged 20.0 points and 9.5 rebounds and shot 75 percent from the field as Samford split a pair of games, falling to ETSU (81-77) before topping Western Carolina (84-68).
 
Walker started both games at center for Samford and finished the week with a 75-percent shooting mark from the field. He also grabbed two steals, blocked a shot and handed out an assist.         
 
Against Western Carolina on Jan. 16, Walker lifted the Bulldogs to a key 84-68 victory as he turned in the best game of his young, up-and-coming career by registering personal-bests in points (26), rebounds (12) and field goals (11).
 
THE "PETE" - - SAMFORD CALLS THE PETE HANNA CENTER HOME
Nov. 15, 2007, marked the dawning of a new era for Samford as the Bulldogs began play in their pristine 32-million-dollar Pete Hanna Center. The state-of-the-art 5,000-seat arena was completed in October of 2007 and features new locker rooms, a training room, a weight room and coaches offices.          
 
The Pete Hanna Center, which replaced Samford's historic 45-year-old Seibert Hall, also houses the University's recreation center and workout facility. In their Pete Hanna Center debut, the Bulldogs dropped a hard-fought 82-73 decision against perennial NCAA Tournament participant Belmont.
 
THE LAST TIME OUT - - BULLDOGS LOSE ON THE ROAD AT UNCG IN SOCON PLAY, 86-78
Samford suffered its fifth-consecutive loss on the road Sunday as the Bulldogs came up short in an 86-78 decision against the UNCG Spartans in a SoCon contest held at the Greensboro Coliseum.
 
With Sunday's loss, Samford moved to 4-8 on the road this season, including an 0-5 record in conference play. The Bulldogs' last victory away from home came at Nebraska, 69-58, on Dec. 20. Since then, Samford has dropped consecutive road games against Mercer, Wofford, Furman, VMI and UNCG.
 
The Bulldogs led by as many as nine points in the first half, 24-15, and six in the second half, 56-50, following a 10-foot baseline jumper from true freshman Dakota Quinn with 11:37 left to play.
 
Samford shot a sizzling 54.2 percent from the field in the opening period, but only shot 33.3 percent in the final 20 minutes. The Bulldogs finished the game shooting 43.1 percent from the floor, 29.2 from 3-point range and 27-of-34 (79.4 percent) from the charity stripe.
 
A huge turning point in Sunday's outcome occurred with four minutes left to play when Samford's Cunningham was called for a foul on a 3-point field-goal attempt from Diante Baldwin. With the Bulldogs only trailing by three points, 68-65, the official from the farthest part of the frontcourt called the foul despite Cunningham's reach being a good two feet away from Baldwin.
 
UNCG's Baldwin only made one of the three free-throw attempts, but senior Kayel Locke grabbed the long rebound after the final miss and ended up scoring and getting fouled in the process. Locke, who finished Sunday's contest with 17 points and six rebounds, closed out the old-fashioned, three-point play and gave the Spartans a seven-point lead, 72-65.
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following Saturday's marquee matchup with first-place Chattanooga, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Monday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs continue play in their four-game SoCon homestand against the Mercer Bears. The contest will be held at the Pete Hanna Center and will be broadcast live by the American Sports Network.
 

MILITARY APPRECIATION & LOCAL HERO NIGHT
Monday is "Military Appreciation and Local Hero Night" for Samford basketball. Show military ID or your first responders badge for FREE admission. We are also encouraging fans to wear gray shirts as our team will be in their gray uniforms against Mercer.
 
Remember, kids 12 and under receive free general admission to all home Samford Athletics events, courtesy of Alabama Power. For additional ticket information, call 205-726-DOGS or visit samfordsports.com/tickets.
 
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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