GAME NOTES: Samford @ Belmont (Dec. 5, 2020) (PDF)
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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - In a series that dates back to the 1953-54 season, the Samford men's basketball team will face Belmont on Saturday, Dec. 5 in a battle of former Ohio Valley Conference foes. Tipoff is set for 4 PM CT at the Curb Event Center in Nashville. The Bulldogs (1-1) are coming off a 98-73 victory over Covenant College while the Bruins (3-0) have raced out of the gate with victories over Howard (95-78), George Mason (77-67) and Queens (73-61). Complete coverage will be available on ESPN+.

Saturday's matchup is the 29th between the two schools with Belmont owning a 17-11 edge in the series standings. The Bruins clipped the Bulldogs, 95-63, in the last meeting between the schools on Nov. 11, 2019 in Nashville. Samford's last win at Belmont came on Dec. 11, 1999, 81-65.

Guard play will factor heavily into Saturday's matchup. Luke Smith (18.0 ppg), a 6-0 junior transfer from the Uni. of the South, leads five starters averaging double digits for the Bruins while Christian Guess, a 6-6 junior from Cleveland, Ohio, paces the Bulldogs in rebounding (9.0 rpg) and is second in scoring (17.0 ppg).

Saturday's game at Belmont begins a four game road stretch for coach Bucky McMillan and the Bulldogs. Samford will travel to Georgia (Dec. 12), Troy (Dec. 16) and Kennesaw State (Dec. 19) before returning to the Pete Hanna Center to face Belhaven on Dec. 21.
 

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MCMILLAN & THE BULLDOGS CAPTURES 1ST WIN, 98-73, OVER COVENANT: The Samford men's basketball team opened up a big halftime lead and never looked back on its way to a 98-73 win over Covenant College Tuesday evening in the Pete Hanna Center. The victory marked the first regular-season win of the Bucky McMillan era of Samford basketball.

Five Bulldogs scored in double figures, including a career-high 17 points from Jacob Tryon. Richardson Maitre and A.J. Staton-McCray added 15 points each with Logan Dye (14) and Christian Guess (12) rounding out the double digit scorers. Freshman guard Jaron Rillie set a career-high with seven assists and eight points. 

Chris Barnette paced the Scots and all scorers with 20.   

BULLDOGS TO FACE FORMER ASUN FOE BELMONT: In a series that dates back to the 1953-54 season, the Samford men's basketball team will face Belmont on Saturday, Dec. 5 in a battle of former Atlantic Sun Conference foes. Tipoff is set for 4 PM CT at the Curb Event Center in Nashville. The Bulldogs (0-1) are coming off a 98-73 victory over Covenant College while the Bruins (3-0) have raced out of the gate with victories over Howard (95-78), George Mason (77-67) and Queens (73-61).

Saturday's matchup is the 29th between the two schools with Belmont owning a 17-11 edge in the series standings. The Bruins clipped the Bulldogs, 95-63, in the last meeting between the schools on Nov. 11, 2019 in Nashville. Samford's last win at Belmont came on Dec. 11, 1999, 81-65.

Luke Smith (18.0 ppg), a 6-0 junior transfer from the University of the South, leads five starters averaging double digits for the Bruins while Christian Guess (22.0 ppg) and Logan Dye (21.0 ppg) are leading the way for Samford.   

BRUINS PICKED THIRD IN OVC: Saturday's opponent Belmont (3-0) was picked to finish third in the annual Ohio Valley Conference Preseason Poll. The Bruins placed juniors Nick Muszynski (Pickerington, Ohio) and Grayson Murphy (Franklin, Tenn.) on the Preseason All-OVC team. The Bruins, defending OVC regular season and tournament champions, have finished in the top two of the OVC standings for 15 consecutive years while claiming 11 conference regular season championships.  

SAMFORD SET FOR FOUR GAME ROAD SWING: Saturday's game at Belmont begins a four game road stretch for coach Bucky McMillan and the Bulldogs. Samford will travel to Georgia (Dec. 12), Troy (Dec. 16) and Kennesaw State (Dec. 19) before returning to the Pete Hanna Center to face Belhaven on Dec. 21.  

BULLDOG BITES

• Senior center Jacob Tryon scored a career-high 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds in his second start for the Bulldogs in Tuesday's win over Covenant. 
• A pair of freshmen, A.J. Staton-McCray and Jaron Rillie, turned in breakout performances versus Covenant. Staton-McCray scored a career-best 15 points while Rillie dished out a game-high seven assists with eight points.
• Senior point guard Richardson Maitre , a 6-3 transfer from Florida Atlantic, had his best game as a Bulldog with 15 points and four rebounds. 
• Christian Guess turned in his second straight double digit performance with 12 points and eight rebounds in a 98-73 win over Covenant. The 6-6 guard posted a double-double in the season-opener versus Alabama A&M, scoring 22 points and grabbing 10 rebounds.
• Samford shot a season-best 55.1 percent from the field in Tuesday's win over Covenant. The Bulldogs were 38-of-69, including 10-of-17 from 3-point range.
• The Bulldogs were big on the glass in coach McMillan's first win, out rebounding Covenant 46-29.   
• Junior forward Logan Dye scored a career-high 21 points on Sunday versus the Bulldogs of Alabama A&M. The Haleyville, Ala., native, followed up that performance with 14 points and six rebounds against Covenant.
• One of the hallmarks of #BuckyBall is points in the paint. In Tuesday's win over the Scots, Samford's bench outscored Covenant 54-8 in the lane.   
• History was made on Sunday versus Alabama A&M, as Jacob Tryon, K.J. Davis, A.J. Staton-McCray, Preston Parks, and Richardson Maitre started the first game under new head coach Bucky McMillan.

SAMFORD TIPS OFF 103RD SEASON: The Bulldogs are playing their 103rd season in Samford University Men's Basketball history. Samford has won 1,125 games in its previous 102 seasons, including 600 as an NCAA Division I institution.

BUCKYBALL COMES TO SAMFORD: Arguably one of the nation's most distinct brands of basketball, #BuckyBall, has come to Samford with new head coach Bucky McMillan. The former standout at Birmingham Southern won 332 games and five Alabama state championships in 13 seasons as head coach at Mountain Brook High School. The up-tempo, in your face style of play became a staple in Birmingham, as MBHS transformed into a national power. McMillan has been named "Coach of the Year" 12 times in his career, including 2019 USA Today National Coach of the Year.

BULLDOGS PICKED 8TH IN PRESEASON POLL: With the start of the 2020-21 season in less than two weeks, the Samford Bulldogs were picked to finish 8th in the SoCon Preseason Coaches Poll. UNC-Greensboro, which received 76 votes, narrowly edged Furman as the league's preseason favorite. The 2020-21 SoCon Preseason Poll was voted on by the league's head coaches. A complete breakdown of the poll and All-SoCon team is below. 

Team (1st-place votes)                  Total
1. UNCG (4)                                   76
2. Furman (5)                                 74
3. ETSU (1)                                    63
4. Mercer                                       56
5. Wofford                                      47
6. Western Carolina                        44
7. Chattanooga                               38
8. Samford                                     23
9. VMI                                            15
10. The Citadel                               14