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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team will face one of its biggest home challenges of the 2016-17 season Wednesday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs welcome the ETSU Buccaneers to the Pete Hanna Center for a primetime Southern Conference showdown to be broadcast live on ESPN3.
 
Play-by-play specialist Curt Bloom will be calling the action along with color analyst Bill "The Coach" Jones and up-and-coming sideline reporter Hattie Breece.
 
Samford (13-7, 4-3 SoCon) heads into the contest with aspirations of bouncing back from a tough 82-78 road loss to first-place Chattanooga on Saturday. In their first road SoCon setback of the season, the Bulldogs fell behind early, 27-9, but nearly fought all the way back to send the game into overtime. With the loss, Samford moved to 7-4 in road games this season.
 
GAME PROMOTIONS
-- It's Sock Night! The first 200 students and the first 100 "Alabama Power Kids" receive a pair of exclusive Samford basketball "Rock 'Em" Socks!
 
-- Most importantly, it's Step Sing Night where Samford athletics will commit $1 for every Samford student in attendance to the Step Sing's 2017 philanthropy, Shauna's House!
 
-- As always, kids 12 and under receive free admission, courtesy of Alabama Power!
 
BULLDOGS BOASTING A WELL-BALANCED ATTACK
Since Dec. 20, six Samford players are averaging at least 9.4 points per game, while as a team, the Bulldogs are scoring 80.6 points per contest in its last nine outings. Below please find a chart that lists Samford's scoring in its last nine games as the team has gone 6-3.

               
PLAYER - - PPG
Demetrius Denzel-Dyson - - 14.2
Wyatt Walker - - 13.1
Josh Sharkey - - 10.9
Christen Cunningham - - 9.9
Triston Chambers - - 9.6
Alex Thompson - - 9.4
 
SAMFORD'S CHAMBERS ON FIRE IN SOCON PLAY
The Bulldogs' Chambers is shooting a sizzling 54.8 percent from 3-point range in SoCon play this season. Samford's true freshman sharpshooter from Cold Springs, has already knocked down 17 three-point baskets in conference play and is 17-of-31 from beyond the arc against SoCon opponents.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
Samford owns a 6-3 record when playing at home this season and is scoring an average of 86.1 points per outing in the Pete Hanna Center. So far this year, the Bulldogs have tallied scores of 103, 94, 93, 92 and 91 at home in Birmingham.
 
QUICK HITTERS
-- Samford boasts four players averaging double figures in scoring this season in Denzel-Dyson (14.4), Walker (13.0), Thompson (10.7) and Cunningham (10.5).
 
-- In SoCon games this year, Samford is averaging 78.3 points per game, shooting 47.7 percent from the field and 38.1 percent from 3-point range.
 
-- The Bulldogs' Cunningham is averaging 7.7 assists per game in his last nine outings.
 

-- On Jan. 2, Samford's Sharkey set a school record with seven steals at Western Carolina.
 
DID YOU KNOW??
Samford's Sharkey is first cousins with 10-year NBA veteran and collegiate standout at St. Joe's Jameer Nelson.
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
ETSU (15-5, 5-2 SoCon) enters Wednesday's game as the third-place team in the conference. The
Buccaneers are coming off a 79-72 home victory against Wofford on Sunday and have been triumphant in six of their last eight contests.
 
ETSU owns a 4-3 record on the road this season, including a 2-1 mark in SoCon away games. So far in 2016-17, the Buccaneers have lost on the road at Furman, but have also picked up key conference victories at The Citadel and Mercer.
 
ETSU's leading scorer is Preseason All-SoCon performer T.J. Cromer, who is averaging 18 points per game. Cromer is shooting 44.8 percent from the field, 39.3 percent from beyond the arc and has already knocked down 59 three-point attempts this season.
 
The Buccaneers' Tevin Glass is the squad's leading rebounder this year with an average of 5.4 per game, while Desonta Bradford has handed out a team-high 82 assists this season.
 
THE ALL-TIME SERIES - - SAMFORD vs. ETSU
On Wednesday, the Bulldogs will square off against ETSU for only the eighth time in school history. Samford currently trails in the all-time series, 6-1, and was swept by the Buccaneers in last season's home-and-home series. The Bulldogs lost at home, 81-77, and suffered a 94-90 overtime defeat on the road.
 
Samford's victory in the series occurred Feb. 7, 2015, as the Bulldogs posted a thrilling 71-68 last-second triumph held in Johnson City, Tennessee.
 
SCORING IS KEY
Since the beginning of last season, Samford has registered a 15-2 record when scoring at least 80 points. On Nov. 14, the Bulldogs opened the 2016-17 season with a dominant 83-65 road victory at San Diego and turned in a 46.9-percent shooting performance from the field, including a welcome 10-of-25 (40 percent) outing from 3-point range.
 
On Jan. 14, Samford played on the road at The Citadel in a tough SoCon matchup and earned a pivotal 98-90 victory in Charleston, South Carolina.
 

BULLDOG BITES
-- Samford's Walker is averaging a double-double this season with 13.0 points and 10.3 rebounds per game. He has already tallied 15 double-doubles in his young, up-and-coming career.
 
-- Samford is ranked No. 21 in the nation in free-throws made this season with a total of 370. The Bulldogs are also ranked No. 27 in the country in 3-point field-goal percentage (39.3).
 
-- Since the beginning of last season, the Bulldogs have compiled an impressive 19-9 record against non-conference opponents, including a pivotal 69-58 road victory at Nebraska last year. The Bulldogs' monumental win proved to be their first against a Big Ten opponent in school history.
 
-- Last season, Samford's Cunningham became the first player in school history to record back-to-back 125-assist seasons. He finished 2015-16 with a career-high 128 assists and an average of 3.9 pg.
 
-- Already this year, Cunningham has registered 134 assists at a break-neck pace of 6.7 assists per contest. At his current rate, Samford's floor general is on pace to tally 214 assists this season, which would well eclipse the Bulldogs' current school record of 151 achieved by Raijon Kelly in 2012-13.
 
-- Since the beginning of last season, the Bulldogs have tallied a 15-2 record when scoring 80 points or more. On Jan. 14, Samford posted a key 98-90 road SoCon victory at The Citadel.
 
TRUE FRESHMEN
Samford head coach Scott Padgett and his staff continued to make major waves in the recruiting scene during the early signing period last season, as the Bulldogs added highly-acclaimed talents James Boone, Chambers, Justin Hopkins and Sharkey to their roster as members of the 2016 signing class.
 

"I am very excited about this class," said Padgett. "We are bringing in shooting, speed, toughness and athleticism, and this group will win a lot of games during the next four years at Samford."
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following Wednesday's home game against ETSU, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Saturday at noon (CST) as the Bulldogs head back on the road to face the VMI Keydets in another key SoCon matchup to be held at Cameron Hall in Lexington, Virginia.
 
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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