BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - The Samford men's basketball team returns to the Pete Hanna Center for its home opener on Friday night. The Bulldogs are set to take on South Carolina State at 7:30 p.m. Both teams enter the game with 0-1 records after falling on Monday night.
 

The Samford Bulldogs host South Carolina State for their 2025-26 home opener at the Pete Hanna Center. Samford and South Carolina State are meeting for the eighth time in program history, with Samford leading the all-time series 5-2, including an 88-81 victory on the road last season. 
 

The Bulldogs are coming off an 85-72 defeat in their season opener at Tulane on Monday night. The Dogs were led by transfer guard Jadin Booth, who scored 34 points in the Samford debut. He is currently tied as the leader in points per game in the country after going 10-of-20 from the field overall and was 9-of-17 from three, which tied the school record for three pointers in a game. Samford scored half of their points from the three-point line, shooting 12-of-31 from behind the arc.

Nine different Bulldogs made their Samford debut on Monday, while Zion Wilburn was the lone returner to see time. Dylan Faulkner controlled the paint for the Bulldogs as he finished with 16 points and 8 rebounds, while starting point guard Keaton Norris added 10 points and 7 assists. The Bulldogs had just nine points from their bench and 12 points outside of Booth, Faulkner, and Norris.

South Carolina State enters the game with a 0-1 record on their season after they fell on the road against Louisville, 104-45 on Monday night. Head coach Erik Martin is in his fourth season as head coach at South Carolina State. The Bulldogs were picked to finish 3rd in the MEAC Preseason Poll, and Jayden Johnson was named the MEAC Preseason Player of the Year. Junior guard Rayniel Wright leads the team in scoring after scoring 11 points in their opener.

The game be seen on ESPN+ here and live stats can be found here.

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