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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. -- The Samford University basketball team will continue its four-game Southern Conference homestand Monday at 6 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs welcome the third-place Mercer Bears to the Pete Hanna Center (5,000) for a marquee league showdown to be televised live by the American Sports Network.
 
GRAY OUT
Bulldog fans are encouraged to wear gray Monday versus Mercer. Additionally, Samford's team will be wearing its dark gray, anthracite uniforms in the contest. So far this season, the Bulldogs are 1-1 when donning the jerseys.
 
Samford (11-11, 2-7 SoCon) heads into the contest with hopes of ending a three-game losing streak. Since running past Western Carolina on Jan. 16, 84-68, the Bulldogs have dropped consecutive league games against VMI, 83-76, UNCG, 86-78, and Chattanooga Saturday, 63-56. Monday's game will be shown on ASN and Samford has already played nine nationally broadcast games this year.
 

WHAT'S TRENDING . . .
• Samford is in the midst of a four-game homestand and will play seven games in 15 days from Jan. 30 - Feb. 13. The Bulldogs are currently 5-3 when playing at home this season.
• In the last five games, Samford's Wyatt Walker is averaging 16.0 points and 9.2 rebounds.
• The Bulldogs' Darius Jones-Gibson is ranked No. 18 in the nation in free-throw attempts (161).
• As a team, Samford is ranked 30th in the country in turnovers forced per game (15.5).
 
SCOUTING THE COMPETITION
Mercer (16-6, 6-3 SoCon) enters Monday's matchup with a full head of steam after defeating VMI, 73-58, and UNCG, 81-67, at home last week. The Bears own a 10-0 home record this season and are already 5-0 in league play when competing in Macon, Georgia.
 
Mercer heads into Monday's contest as one of the best rebounding teams in the nation. The Bears are currently ranked ninth in all of Division I this year with a jaw-dropping rebounding margin of plus-10.4. Purdue leads the nation with a plus-12.3 margin.
 
Individually, sophomore forward Stephon Jelks is ranked No. 39 in the country with a total of 196 rebounds this season. Jelks is also averaging 11.8 points per game, while senior guard Jestin Lewis leads Mercer with 13.5 points per contest. The Bears are 3-6 on the road this season.
 
THE ALL-TIME SERIES
The Bulldogs will square off against Mercer for the 108th time in school history Monday. Samford's all-time rivalry with the Bears is its most active and is 15 meetings more than the Bulldogs' 92 games against Birmingham-Southern. Samford trails Mercer in the all-time series, 46-61, and has not defeated the Bears since Feb. 23, 2002.
 
IN THE LAST MEETING BETWEEN THE TEAMS
In its 2015-16 SoCon opener on Jan. 2, Samford turned in a subpar 32.7 percent shooting mark from the field and a 21.7-percent performance from 3-point range in a 69-50 road loss against the Mercer Bears held at Hawkins Arena.
 
With the loss, Samford moved to 4-4 in true road games this season and suffered its fifth-consecutive setback against Mercer. The contest marked the 107^th all-time meeting between the teams as the Bears increased their advantage to 61-46.
 
Mercer used a 17-0 run midway through the first half to take control of its SoCon-opening contest held in front of 3,715 orange-clad fans.
 
The Bears closed out the opening period with a 24-4 run and garnered a 36-15 advantage at halftime. Mercer shot 46.9 percent from the field in the first half and registered a 40-percent mark from 3-point range. Conversely, Samford turned in a 22.7 shooting percentage from the field and went 0-for-11 from 3-point range.
 
The Bulldogs outscored Mercer, 35-33, in the second half of action, but could get no closer than 15 points from their SoCon counterparts in the final period.
 

Samford's Cunningham and Jamal Shabazz both scored 15 points, but proved to be the only Bulldogs in double figures. Walker added eight points and four rebounds, while Jones-Gibson notched six points and a pair of assists.
 
Rounding out Samford's scoring were Matt Rose and Marcus Johnson with four and two points, respectively.
 
Mercer outscored the Bulldogs, 28-12, in the paint and 17-8 off of turnovers. The Bears also outrebounded Samford, 39-25, and tallied a 14-3 advantage in second-chance points. Mercer entered the contest ranked 11^th in the nation in rebounding margin at plus-11.3.
 
Senior guard Phillip Leonard paced the Bears with 15 points on 4-of-6 shooting from the field. The Tulsa, Oklahoma native also went 6-of-8 from the charity stripe and added five rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals.
 
THE SAMFORD YOUTH MOVEMENT
Seven of the Bulldogs' 14 members of the 2015-16 roster are underclassmen. Samford boasts four true freshmen this season in Dakota Quinn, Rose, Tanner Tapp and Walker, as well as talented redshirt freshman Gerald Smith.
 
Additionally, the Bulldogs' roster includes an impressive sophomore class comprised of forward Eric Adams, Cunningham and center Alex Peters. Only two of Samford's 14 players were born before April 25, 1995, and the average age of a member of the Bulldogs' basketball team is 19 years old.
 
744-STRAIGHT AND STILL COUNTING
The Bulldogs have made at least one 3-point field goal in 744-consecutive games. The last time that Samford did not make a 3-point basket was on Jan. 19, 1991, against UTSA.
 
The Bulldogs' streak of having made at least two 3-pointers in a game was snapped on Dec. 13, 2008, against Saint Louis when Samford turned in a dismal 1-for-14 performance from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs' streak of 476-straight games with two 3-pointers began Feb. 8, 1992.
 
UNLV is the national leader in consecutive games with a 3-point field goal as the Running Rebels have made a 3-point basket in 959-straight games dating back to the 1986-87 season. Kentucky (956) and Vanderbilt (950) are the only other two schools that have made at least one 3-point basket since the rule was adopted prior to the 1986 campaign.
 
ROAD SWEET ROAD - - BULLDOGS SHOOTING BETTER AWAY FROM HOME
Typically, teams shoot much better at home than they do on the road, but that's not necessarily the case for the 2015-16 Bulldogs. From the field, Samford is shooting far better at home in the Pete Hanna Center (49.0% to 41.2%) this season, while the Bulldogs' numbers are surprisingly better on the road in both 3-point shooting (32.7% to 31.3%) and free-throw shooting (74.3% to 64.8%).
 

THE FOUR HORSEMEN
Samford's top three active leaders in points, rebounds, assists and steals are all a combination of the following four players:  Jones-Gibson, Cunningham, Johnson and Shabazz.
 
Here in the latter half of the 2015-16 campaign, Jones-Gibson is ranked first in both points (719) and steals (65). The Bulldogs' senior guard is also listed second in active career rebounds (156) and assists with 141. Cunningham paces Samford in assists with 211 and is also ranked second on the team in points (619) and steals (63), while being listed third in rebounds (153).
 
Johnson, the Bulldogs' senior guard from Washington, D.C., is ranked third on the team in points (348), assists (105) and steals (43), while Shabazz is ranked first in rebounds (159) and third on the team in 3-point field goals (38).
 
MILITARY APPRECIATION & LOCAL HERO NIGHT
Monday is "Military Appreciation and Local Hero Night" for Samford basketball. Show military ID or your first responders badge for FREE admission. We are also encouraging fans to wear gray shirts as our team will be in their gray uniforms against Mercer.
 
Remember, kids 12 and under receive free general admission to all home Samford Athletics events, courtesy of Alabama Power. For additional ticket information, call 205-726-DOGS or visit samfordsports.com/tickets.
 
THE LAST TIME OUT - - FREE THROWS, REBOUNDING AIL BULLDOGS IN LOSS TO CHATTANOOGA
Despite miscues and a poor shooting performance from 3-point range Saturday, Samford nearly toppled the first-place Chattanooga Mocs, 63-56, in front of a season-best home crowd of 2,549 rowdy fans at the Pete Hanna Center.
 
Samford finished 3-of-14 from 3-point range and 9-of-20 from the free-throw line, but the Bulldogs played intense defense throughout the contest and limited Chattanooga to its lowest scoring output since Jan. 9, when the Mocs suffered a 70-55 loss at Furman. Samford also forced Chattanooga to shoot just 35.6 percent from the field and 16.7 percent from 3-point range.
 
The teams traded baskets in the opening minute of play, but following Duke Ethridge's jumper at 18:20 in the first half, the Mocs led for the remaining 38:50 of the game.
 

Chattanooga never led by more than nine points in the first half and took a 35-28 advantage into the locker room. In the second stanza, Samford quickly used consecutive layups from Jones-Gibson, Cunningham and Walker, as well as a free throw from Jones-Gibson to trim the Mocs' lead to 37-35 at the 15:10 mark.
 
In the next five minutes of action, Chattanooga answered with an 11-2 run of its own to build its largest lead of the night, 48-37, with 10 minutes left to play. During their run, the Mocs' Dee Oldham drained a pair of back-to-back 3-pointers.
 
Late in the final period, Walker slammed home a dunk to trim Chattanooga's advantage to 54-51 with 3:02 left in the game. Walker turned in his third double-double of the season Saturday with 11 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
 
Following Walker's dunk, the Bulldogs went through a cold shooting spell and the Mocs' advantage grew back nine points, 62-53, thanks to nine made free throws in the final 2:27 of action.
 
WHAT'S COMING UP NEXT?
Following Monday's matchup with Mercer, the Samford University basketball team will next be in action Thursday at 7 p.m. (CST) as the Bulldogs play host to the red-hot, second-place Furman Paladins in a critical SoCon contest to be held at the Pete Hanna Center. Furman is currently in the midst of a four-game winning streak.
 
For quick score updates, breaking news and links to all of your favorite articles featuring the Bulldogs, please follow @SamfordHoopsFOE and @Samford_Sports on Twitter.

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