Live Video            Live Audio
Live Stats            Game Notes

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The Samford University basketball team will begin play in a key early-season, two-game road trip Saturday at 1 p.m. (CST) against the Wofford Terriers as the Southern Conference rivals square off in a highly-anticipated league matchup to be held at Benjamin Johnson Arena.
 
Samford (10-5, 1-1 SoCon) enters the contest with a full head of steam after earning a decisive 94-74 home victory against The Citadel on Tuesday. The Bulldogs finished with six players scoring in double figures in the win and limited The Citadel's high-powered, nation-leading offense to 74 points. The Cadets entered the game averaging 92 points per outing.
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Wofford (5-9, 2-0 SoCon) opened conference play with key victories against UNCG, 87-76, and VMI, 65-61. The Terriers' two-game winning streak snapped a five-outing slide that featured losses to Clemson, Coastal Carolina, Vanderbilt, Austin Peay and Harvard.
 
Wofford, which has reached the NCAA Tournament four times since 2010, including each of the last two seasons, heads into Saturday's matchup ranked ninth in the nation in free-throw percentage (76.2), 20th in fewest turnovers (148) and 21st in fewest turnovers per game (10.6). The Terriers are tied for first place in the current SoCon standings and boast a 3-1 record at home.
 
Individually, Wofford is being paced offensively by senior guard Spencer Collins, who is scoring 13.2 points per game this season. Senior forward Justin Gordon follows at 11.3 points per outing.
 
THE ALL-TIME SERIES
In an all-time series that began Feb. 25, 1923, Samford trails the Terriers, 10-4. The Bulldogs joined the SoCon in 2008-09 and have since gone 2-9 versus Wofford. The Terriers have won each of the last four meetings between the teams, including the previous two held in Spartanburg. Samford's last win in the series occurred Feb. 14, 2013.
 

WHAT'S TRENDING . . .
• Samford boasts two of the SoCon's top-10 leading scorers in senior Darius Jones-Gibson (No. 5 at 16.0 points per game) and sophomore Christen Cunningham (No. 9 at 13.9 points per game).
• Cunningham (32.7) and Jones-Gibson (31.7) are ranked No. 1 and No. 3 in the SoCon in minutes played.
• True freshman Matt Rose is ranked second in the SoCon in 3-point shooting (45.5 percent).
• The Bulldogs own a perfect 8-0 record this season when out-rebounding the opponent.
 
ROAD SWEET ROAD - - BULLDOGS SHOOTING BETTER AWAY FROM HOME
Typically, teams shoot much better at home than they do on the road, but that's not necessarily the case for the 2015-16 Bulldogs. From the field, Samford is shooting far better at home in the Pete Hanna Center (48.2 percent to 39.7 percent) this season, while the Bulldogs' numbers are surprisingly better on the road in both 3-point shooting (32.2 percent to 30.3 percent) and free-throw shooting (78.9 percent to 67.4 percent).
 
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, 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.
 
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 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 47 games of Head Coach Scott Padgett's tenure.
 
"TALLADEGA" - THE SPEED OF SAMFORD BASKETBALL
Prior to the beginning of his first season in 2014-15, 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."
 
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.
 
PADGETT NAMED FINALIST FOR JOE B. HALL AWARD
Following his inaugural season at the helm of the Samford basketball program, Padgett was named a finalist for the Joe B. Hall award, which is presented annually to the top first-year coach in college basketball. The award is named in the honor of Joe B. Hall who was given the task of following the legendary Adolph Rupp.
 
In his first season at the University of Kentucky, Hall finished 20-8, won the Southeastern Conference and advanced to the NCAA Regional Finals. From 1972 to 1985, Hall would win two-thirds of his games (297-100), receive four SEC Coach of the Year honors and win a National Championship (1978).
 
Padgett, in first season as head coach at Samford, compiled 13 wins and six SoCon victories with the Bulldogs. With a roster comprised of just three seniors and a trio of juniors, Padgett guided his young Bulldogs to early success in his inaugural season heading the program.
 
THE LAST TIME OUT - - BULLDOGS' DEFENSE STYMIES THE CITADEL IN 94-74 WIN
Samford limited the nation's leading scoring squad to 18 points below its season average Tuesday as the Bulldogs battled to a decisive 94-74 home SoCon victory against The Citadel Bulldogs in a pivotal league matchup held at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
With the win, Samford improved to 5-0 this season following a loss. The Bulldogs were defeated on the road at Mercer on Saturday, 69-50, but have been masters of the bounce-back throughout the 2015-16 season. So far, Samford has earned victories against Auburn-Montgomery, Jacksonville State, Florida A&M, Nebraska and The Citadel in games following a defeat.
 
The Bulldogs opened Tuesday's contest with an 11-0 lead as Samford's defensive scheme quickly sterilized The Citadel's fast-paced, run-and-gun style. The Cadets have been used to getting quick, easy 3-point attempts once crossing midcourt this season, but the Bulldogs made sure to get a hand in the face of every shot attempt, especially in the early-going.
 
The Citadel opened the game shooting 0-for-14 from the field as Samford upped its lead to 19-2 at the 12:02 mark in the first half. The Bulldogs limited the Cadets to 17.2 percent shooting in the opening period, while Samford blistered the nets for a 58.2 percent mark. Samford built a 49-24 lead at the intermission.
 
On Tuesday, the Bulldogs finished with six players scoring in double figures for the first time this season. Senior guard Jones-Gibson led the way with 26 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field. Samford's dynamic native of Lexington, Kentucky, also added nine assists, six rebounds and finished a near-perfect 12-of-13 from the free-throw line.
 

Fellow-senior Marcus Johnson came off the bench to score 13 points, while adding four rebounds, two assists and a steal. Johnson also knocked down two of the Bulldogs' five 3-point baskets on the evening. Samford's Jamal Shabazz turned in his second straight double-digit scoring performance Tuesday by tallying 11 points, eight rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following Saturday's key SoCon road test at Wofford on Saturday, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Monday at 5 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs conclude their two-game, four-day league road swing against the Furman Paladins in a matchup to be held at Timmons Arena in Greenville.
 
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.

Live Video            Live Audio
Live Stats            Game Notes