Senior Night Eve: Samford WBB Looks to Finish Season with Perfect SOCON Home Record

With only two games remaining on the regular season schedule

for the Bulldogs, Guards Katie Allen, Raven Omar, and Shauntai Battle and Forward/Centers Natalie Armstrong and Makaila Woolard will be honored prior to the day's tilt with ETSU for their contributions to the Women's Basketball program during their time in Birmingham. Samford enters the game on a one game winning streak after splitting their season series at Wofford last weekend. ETSU has had a weird February,

playing twice before having their series against Mercer canceled due to COVID problems within the Buccaneer program. Due to this, SOCON had to cancel the game between Samford and ETSU previously scheduled for Thursday as ETSU got out of quarantine that day.

Looking at the stats, ETSU confuses me. They score 57.2 per game, allow 65.2 per game, and rank in the bottom half of the league in FG% (7th), FT% (7th), 3% (6th), and their shooting defense is suspect as the team is ranked 6th in both FG defense (39.6%) and 3 point defense (32.3%). However, ETSU dominates the glass, pulling down 38 boards a game (T 2nd) and blocking 3 shots a game (3rd). Also, ETSU leads the league in steals, poking loose a league-leading 9.6 balls a game, resulting in a positive turnover margin (Mercer is the only other team in the SOCON with a positive margin). With this, let's look at the keys to the game.

Keys to the Game:

1. Limit Turnovers

Samford's 16 turnovers per game (14 in SOCON play) combined with ETSU's propensity to pick pockets scares me. Samford has shown that they can shoot with anyone, posting a solid 43.7% FG% and 34.4% from deep, so I don't think that we can be out shot. However, giving away points can allow ETSU back into the ballgame, giving me unneeded stress (thanks Auburn Football and Basketball).

2. Start the Game Strong

Samford has only scored 10+ points once in the first quarter in the past four games. Two of these ultimately ended in blowouts (vs UNCG 2/6, @ Wofford 2/13), with the other game vs UNCG ending in a four point Bulldog victory and the fist Wofford game ending in an eight point loss. I'm not saying that we need to match the 24 from Saturday the 13th, but we need to hit double digits within the first 10 minutes of the game. This is especially true with tomorrow's game as this will be the earliest game the team has played this season (Samford has played UAH and @ Alabama-Tuscaloosa at 12pm Central), and sometimes the two hour time shift from the normal schedule can be a huge difference. However, this could be a blessing in disguise. IF Samford wins the regular season, all of their games will start at 11 am Eastern, and what's another two hours between friends? In all seriousness, being able to adjust your schedule in the regular season and get that experience could be a big deal come tournament time.

3. Win the Rebounding Battle

I know that I sound like a broken record, but I don't care. *Spoiler Alert* this exact same key to victory will be on the list next week when the Bulldogs travel to take on the Mercer Lady Bears. Not only do I love the rebounding battle as it allows the highly skilled player and the not-as-higly skilled player to compete for the ball on an equal playing field (but that's a huge plus for a short slasher like yours truly), but each rebound you pull down that the other team doesn't either gives you the opportunity to put points on the board, or it takes away that ability from the other team. Samford comes into the game averaging 37.5 rebounds a game, good for 2nd in the league. When reaching the season average, the Bulldogs are 8-2, as compared to 4-6 when not reaching 37 rebounds in the game. In other SOCON action today, Wofford was able to hang around with Mercer as the Bears couldn't hit any of their deep shots, but Mercer out rebounded the Terriers by 9. Rebounding matters folks. Speaking of other SOCON teams...

Bracketology

Here are the standings as of Friday the 19th:

1. Samford 0 GB

2. Mercer 0.5 GB

3. UTC 1.5 GB

4. Wofford 2.5 GB

5. UNCG 5.5 GB

6. Furman 5.5 GB

7. WCU 6.5 GB

8. ETSU 6 GB

With Mercer defeating Wofford tonight 54-47, Samford cannot clinch the top seed in the SOCON Tournament on Saturday. However, there is still the chance of Samford not needing to win @ Mercer next Thursday. If Samford wins tomorrow and Wofford takes the second game of the series against Mercer on Sunday, Samford will be able to know exactly when their games will start in Asheville. However, a Mercer victory on Sunday will make the game in Macon, GA very consequential. The top spot is now practically guaranteed to go to either Samford or Mercer with UTC most likely to pick up the 3 seed and Wofford will most likely take the 4 spot. What we do know for certain is that these four teams (Samford, Mercer, UTC, and Wofford) will be the designated home teams in the opening round come tournament time as the next closest team (UNCG is 3 games behind Wofford with only 2 games remaining on the schedule).

All of this is to say that Samford still controls its own destiny. We don't have to spend Sunday afternoon with bated breath following the Wofford-Mercer game. If Wofford wins, great! If not, oh well. If you want something done right, best to do it yourself.

Tomorrow's game will tip off at 12pm Central Time and can be streamed via ESPN+ or you can follow along via the live stats. These links, plus game updates and video highlights, can be found by following @SamfordWBB on Twitter.

Photo taken by Chase Cochran