Samford Men Return after Long Hiatus, Host Mercer Bears in First Home Game since 1/20/21

After a two week pause due to COVID procedure, Men's basketball returns to Homewood, AL as Samford plays host to Mercer after the two teams clashed in Macon, GA where the Bulldogs lost in 2OT. In Coach Bucky McMillan's first year at the collegiate level, Samford has embraced his relentless style of play, leading to nearly 7 steals per game. However, Samford has averaged over 16 turnovers a game. Only 12 other D1 programs have a worse average and Samford has the worst average in the Southern Conference.

On the season, Samford enters the game with a very small positive margin in points scored vs points allowed (80.7 PPG vs 78.9 PAG) and shoots a decent 46.19% from the field, good for 73rd best in the nation. Only 4 SOCON teams shoot the ball better than the Bulldogs. All season long, Samford has crashed the boards and it shows in the stat line: Samford is 21st in the nation for rebounds per game, which is the best in the SOCON.

KEYS FOR THE GAME:

1. Take and Make the 3

Samford shot a horrendous 3-20 from beyond the arc. This has to change for Samford to avenge Monday night's loss. Bucky Ball is centered around finding the open man, which is a lot easier to find when they are outside the paint.

2. Stay out of Foul Trouble

On Monday, 3 of the 5 Bulldog starters fouled out compared to only 1 Bear starter fouling out (1 bench player also fouled out on Monday). Mercer shot 28 free throws throughout the game in Macon. On the season, Mercer is only shooting 68.69% from the stripe on the season(224th in D1), but when you give them 28 attempts, they're bound to hit a few of them.

3. Contain Ross Cummings

Senior guard Ross Cummings outscored everyone on Monday by scoring 25, with 18 of those points coming from downtown. 2 Bears followed behind him in Macon, both contributing 15 points to the final score. If someone's going to beat you, don't let it be the known star.

Watch the game tonight on ESPN+ at 7 CT

Follow along on Twitter by following @SamfordMBB

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