Tag Archives: Samford

Samford Preview — 11/19/2017

Sunday, November 19, 2017 2:00 p.m.
Gentile Arena, Chicago, Ill.

Loyola will be facing Samford for the first time ever on Sunday as part of the Savannah Invitational. Samford is a small private school with about 5400 students (only 3300 undergrads) situated in a suburb a few blocks from the Birmingham, Ala. city limits. The school dates back to 1841, making it the 87th oldest college in the United States.

For the 2017-18 season, Samford was voted 2nd in both the Southern Conference Coaches poll, and the SoCon media poll. The Bulldogs finished 20-16 last season, with their first winning season since 2005-06 and their first postseason win (78-74 over Canisius in the CIT), despite finishing 7th in the SoCon. All five starters return, with two making the all-conference preseason team. Coach Scott Padgett is beginning his fourth year with the Bulldogs, and has combined for a 45-57 record. You might remember Padgett as a Kentucky player under Rick Pitino, an NBA player from 1999-2006, or a Kentucky assistant under John Calipari in 2009-10.

Despite the high expectations, the Bulldogs have looked shaky in the early going. Samford was blown out in their season opener at Arkansas, 95-56. A home win against Alabama State was followed by 105-86 drubbing at LSU. All-conference junior center Wyatt Walker has been bothered by injuries throughout his career, and missed the postseason last year with knee problems. He did not play in the game at LSU. When everyone is able to play, the Bulldogs spread the minutes fairly evenly between 10 players.

Samford will likely start Eric Adams (if Wyatt Walker is unable to play) and Alex Thompson at forward, with Christen Cunningham, Josh Sharkey and Darius Denzel-Dyson at guard. Denzel-Dyson is a 6’5” senior shooting guard who transferred from UMass after his sophomore season. He was named to the Southern Conference preseason team, and averages 12.3 ppg and 4.0 rebounds– including 21 points to lead all scorers in the LSU game. Sophomore Josh Sharkey (5’10”) and junior Christen Cunningham (6’2”) are both listed on the roster as point guards, and from the numbers so far on the season it looks like Cunningham is better offensively, and Sharkey is better handling the ball and on defense.

Alex Thompson, a 6’8” senior forward who transferred from Auburn, averages 10.3 points per game and is a rangy shooter prone to fouls. He fouled out in 16 minutes at LSU, and was 2 of 9 from three-point territory at Arkansas indicating he doesn’t like to mix it up. Eric Adams is a 6’7” senior forward who earned a start with Walker out at LSU, and has more offensive rebounds on the season (10) than field goal attempts (8). Preseason SoCon all-conference team member Wyatt Walker averages 9 points and 5 boards per game on the young season, playing only 17.5 minutes per.

Three players off the bench are impact players: 5’10” junior point guard Justin Coleman actually plays more minutes per game than starters Sharkey and Thompson. Coleman likes to shoot the ball, and is second on the team in scoring (11.3 ppg), and leads in assists. Three-point specialist Triston Chambers is a 6’2” sophomore guard that has only taken two of his 16 field goal attempts inside the arc, but when you shoot 50% from distance, why bother shooting a two? Chambers averages 7.7 ppg and plays about 20 minutes per game. Six-foot-seven junior forward Stefan Lakic played well at LSU (seven points, four rebounds in 16 minutes); he will likely get double digit minutes off the bench if Walker and senior forward Alex Peters (who also missed the LSU game) can’t play.

The Ramblers are coming off a game at UMKC where they had a terrible first half in which they managed to score only 20 points and were losing the rebound and turnover battle to a younger and shorter team. But they came out of the halftime break with some real energy, and played their best defensive half of the young season to get a road win. Now it’s time to put together the good halves into full games that are effective on both offense and defense. After the next two games, Loyola starts a stretch of four games in eight days in three different cities and three time zones. But in the meantime, Samford certainly won’t be a pushover.

Loyola game notes: Pending

Samford game notes: Pending

TV/Streaming video: http://www.espn.com/watch/_/id/3200140/samford-vs-loyolachicago-m-basketball

Vegas odds: Pending