BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Samford Men's Basketball Head Coach Bucky McMillan announced on Thursday the Bulldogs' full schedule for the upcoming 2022-23 season.
 
"We've got a good team with a lot of guys coming back," Coach McMillan said. "When we were putting our schedule together, our goal was to compete against quality competition that employ different tactics and styles to help get us ready for Southern Conference play."
 
The month of November is highlighted by six home contests, with the Bulldogs hosting Anderson University on Nov. 7 to open the season. Other notable November home opponents include 2021-22 SWAC champions Texas Southern on Nov. 20 and Louisiana Tech on Nov. 25, who posted a 24-10 record last season and finished runner-up in the C-USA Championship.
                                                                                              
The Bulldogs end the month with a Nov. 30 matchup at Big East foe DePaul, followed by a Dec. 4 tilt at UCF, who tallied a 13-3 record at home in 2021-22 with victories over Michigan and American Athletic Conference rivals Memphis and Tulane.
 
"The SoCon is one of the top 10 leagues in the country, so we need to be ready to hit the ground running once conference play gets here," McMillan said. "In order to prepare ourselves for that, we need to be able to match up against teams that are physical and teams that rely on finesse because we will see a good mixture of both in our league."
 
The final leg of the Bulldogs' nonconference slate begins with a Dec. 10 road game against the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns, who have posted a record of 17-9 at home over the last two seasons. Samford's final nonconference contest will take place on Dec. 21 at Belmont University, a team who has won at least 25 games in each of its last two seasons and compiled a 24-2 record at home during that span.
 
"If you go deep into the schedule, I don't think you're going to see many mid-major teams that are playing at places like Belmont, Louisiana, DePaul, and Central Florida," McMillan said. "Those are all really good basketball teams. To play six division one nonconference games in another team's gym is something that's very rare. We want to improve our road record in our league, so that's the goal with the nonconference portion of our schedule. We were great at home but need to get better on the road."
 
Southern Conference play begins on Dec. 28 when the Bulldogs host Mercer, followed by a Dec. 31 matchup at The Citadel. Samford will welcome reigning-SoCon Tournament champs Chattanooga on Jan. 14, followed by a home contest against Western Carolina on Jan. 21. The Bulldogs close out the month with a pair of league games at Furman (Jan. 25) and Wofford (Jan. 28).
 
"Most of our conference games last year were decided by one or two possessions, so every small detail will matter," McMillan said. "We did a lot of those little things last year that equated to winning, and we will need to do them again to take that next step. We've got to be extremely tight and locked in, especially on the road."
 
Samford will play four home and four away games in the final month of the regular season, with ETSU (Feb. 4), The Citadel (Feb. 11), UNC Greensboro (Feb. 15), and Furman (Feb. 25) all making the trip to Birmingham in February.
 
"For us to get where we want to go we'll need to continue to do the great things we've done at home, have all of our fans there fighting with us, and find ways to get road wins. That's the recipe to winning the league. You must take care of business at home and steal some on the road to be at the top."
 
Year two under McMillan in 2021-22 served as one of the Bulldogs' most successful seasons in recent history. For the first time since the 1998-99 campaign, Samford men's hoops tallied 20 regular season wins. McMillan's squad added 15 wins from the previous season, finishing 21-11.
 
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