Game Day: Thursday
Date: February 5, 2015
Time: 7:00 p.m. ET
Location: Ramsey Center, Cullowhee, NC
Radio: Catamount Sports Network
TV / Video: SoCon Digital Network
For the Cats, it's only been three games ago, that the Catamounts traveled to Homewood, AL for the first meeting of the season between the two teams. At that time, the Samford Bulldogs were 1-8 in the Southern Conference, and had just won their first conference game two days before. That win was a 89-78 victory over UNCG. a game that was also in Homewood.
Western came into that game, having just knocked off the SoCon leader, Mercer by a final score of 60-52. and maybe just a little overconfident. That night, the Bulldogs were not to be denied, handing the Cats a 6 point loss, 78-72, with the assistance of some fairly sloppy ball handling creating 20 turnovers, as well as 24 personal fouls by the Cats. The fact that Samford was able to hit 26 of 28 (93%) free throw attempts (when they usually shoot 68% from the charity stripe) more than sealed the deal in favor of Samford.
Since that game, Samford has only played once, picking up their third conference victory, a 68-58 win over Furman, again in Homewood. While the upward trending Bulldogs are on a three game conference win streak, it's important to remember, all three conference wins were at home. Samford is 1-9 in road games this season, beating only Presbyterian College on the road.
Western came into that game, having just knocked off the SoCon leader, Mercer by a final score of 60-52. and maybe just a little overconfident. That night, the Bulldogs were not to be denied, handing the Cats a 6 point loss, 78-72, with the assistance of some fairly sloppy ball handling creating 20 turnovers, as well as 24 personal fouls by the Cats. The fact that Samford was able to hit 26 of 28 (93%) free throw attempts (when they usually shoot 68% from the charity stripe) more than sealed the deal in favor of Samford.
Since that game, Samford has only played once, picking up their third conference victory, a 68-58 win over Furman, again in Homewood. While the upward trending Bulldogs are on a three game conference win streak, it's important to remember, all three conference wins were at home. Samford is 1-9 in road games this season, beating only Presbyterian College on the road.
Samford is currently scoring 68.7 points per game (6th in the SoCon), while giving up 71,8 points per game (also 6th in the SoCon). The Bulldogs have two players scoring in double figures, Darius Jones-Gibson is scoring a team high of 12.1 points per game, followed by Tyler Hood at 10.5. Just under the double digit threshold is Christen Cunningham at 9.8 points per game.
In Samford's last game, just as in the Western game, Samford's pressure defense forced Furman into 17 turnovers, and then outscoring the Paladins, 25-8, in points off turnovers. Just like in the Western game, Samford did an a good job of capitalizing on the miscues of their opponents.
Has Samford improved their play, yes. Have they improved enough to beat the Cats a second time, with this game in Cullowhee? maybe. The key Western in this game will be how well the Cats take care of the ball, how they handle the Bulldogs pressure defense and how many times Western sends the Bulldogs to the free throw line.
Take care of the ball, limit fouls, and the Cats win their seventh conference game.
Samford's Probable Starters
Freshman Guard - Christen Cunningham, 6-2 185 lbs - 9.7 pts
Junior Guard - Darius Jones-Gibson, 6-1 175 lbs - 11.8 pts.
Freshman Guard - Evan Taylor, 6-4 205 lbs - 5.1 pts.
Senior Forward - Tyler Hood, 6-6 210 lbs - 10.2 pts,
Senior Center - Michael Bradley, 6-10 250 lbs - 6.5 pts
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| Chart Courtesy Daily Catamount |
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