GAME NOTES -- SAMFORD at NORTH ALABAMA (PDF)
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford men's basketball hits the road for the second time this season tomorrow as they face North Alabama in Florence, Ala. at 7:45 p.m. The Bulldogs are 2-1 early in the season with their lone defeat coming at Cornell on a buzzer-beating three.
The meeting will be the 31st all-time between the two squads with the Bulldogs holding a 16-14 lead in the series. The Bulldogs are coming off a 109-52 victory over Rhodes College at home on Monday to take their home winning streak to 20 games.
Trey Fort scored a game-high 16 points along with teammate
Riley Allenspach who came off the bench for the first time this season.
The Samford Bulldogs are first in the nation in turnover margin at plus 14 a game and sit second in the country in turnovers forced per game at 23 per game. The Dogs had 52 bench points against Rhodes College and now sit 12th as a team with 43.5 per game.
Rylan Jones is top-50 in the nation in assist to turnover margin at 6.0 and is ranked 26th in assists with 18.
Josh Holloway is top-40 in the nation in steals with 8 through three games this season. The Dogs are top 20 in the nation, currently causing 19.5 turnovers per game through the first two games of the season. At 2.04, the Bulldogs ranked 23rd as a team in assist to turnover margin. Samford ranks top-10 nationally in fast break points per game with 26 per game.
North Alabama is currently sitting at 3-0 on the season, including wins over Air Force and UT Martin. Head coach Tony Pujol is in his seventh season with the program and is coming off his two best seasons with the Lions with 18-15 and 15-17 records. The Lions were picked to finish second in the Atlantic Sun Conference preseason poll. Junior guard Jacari Lane is leading the team in scoring at 19.7 ppg and had a season-high 24 at Air Force in the season opener. The Lions have seven players averaging over 8.0 points per game.
After being a top-10 three-point shooting team last season, the Dogs are just at 29 percent so far this season as a team. Balance and depth have been a strong point offensively for the Bulldogs as they currently have five players averaging in double-figures.
Friday night's game can be watched on ESPN+ and live stats will be available also. Dates and times for Samford games throughout the season can be foundÂ
here.
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