Freshman Kyle Randall had a game-high 21 points as UNCG blasted Samford, 73-40, for its largest
win ever against a Division I opponent.
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. - UNC Greensboro scored 40 of the final 49 points to blow open a close game and defeat Samford, 73-40, in the Spartans' Southern Conference opener.
The Spartans (2-4, 1-0) had a fairly balanced attack with 21 points from freshman guard Kyle Randall leading the way. Brandon Evans added 16 points and Ben Stywall and Korey Van Dussen each added 11 points each. Stywall also pulled down 15 rebounds to tie a career-high
The win was UNCG's largest over a Division I opponent - home or away. The previous largest margin had come against The Citadel, 84-54. It was also Samford's worst loss at the Hanna Center.
UNCG's largest margin in a conference road win previously in the Division I era had been a 23-point victory at Winthrop in 1995. UNCG's largest SoCon road win previously was a 68-47 win at Georgia Southern in 2006. The Spartans nearly led wire-to-wire, except for the game's only tie at 3-3 less than two minutes in.
Samford's 40 points were the fewest UNCG has allowed in its Division I era and the fewest since December 2, 1985. It was tied for the third fewest in the program's history.
Samford got 15 points from Brian Friday, 12 of those coming in the first half. Samford scored just 12 points in the second half and shot just 3-for-22 from the floor in the half. Samford did not record a field goal in the final 11:15 of the game.
UNCG's lead was just two at 33-31 following Andy King's three-pointer from the left corner with 18:32 left to play. But the Spartans blew the game open by scoring 29 of the next 35 points over an 11-minute span to hold a 25-point lead with seven minutes to play. In the process, Samford missed 17 of their final 19 shots from the floor after King's trey.
"Clearly that was our best effort of the year," said UNCG coach Mike Dement. "Kyle Randall and Korey Van Dussen just made play after play after play this afternoon. Ben Stywall rebounded very well. Samford missed shots that they have made thus far this season, but I thought we did a great job of mixing defenses on them a lot. It was our best effort offensive and defensively in a long, long time.
"This is not an easy place to play. They really played well the other night against Elon and we didn't in our last outing against East Carolina. So to do this feels today really good."
The Spartans came out shooting the ball well and executing on offense, leading by as many as nine in the opening half and never trailing in the opening 20 minutes for the first time this season. UNCG made their first five three-point attempts over the game's opening 7:15 to take an early 17-9 lead. The Spartans made 12 of their first 20 from the floor overall to maintain that eight-point advantage. Samford, however, scored the last five points of the half, holding UNCG scoreless over the final 3:22, as UNCG held a 31-28 at the break.
A three-pointer by Korey Van Dussen and a conventional three-point play by Pete Brown gave the Spartans their first double-digit lead of the day at 41-31 with 15:20 to play. That was part of the massive run that extended UNCG's lead to 62-37 with 7:30 to play and just continued to grow.
For the afternoon, UNCG shot 49.1 percent from the floor (27-of-55), while limiting Samford to just 27 percent in its home arena (12-44). Samford had shot 50 percent (21-of-42) from the floor in a dominating win over Elon on Thursday night. The Spartans also held a 40-22 advantage in rebounding, including surrendering just seven offensive boards despite Samford's dismall shooting. In the second half alone, UNCG held a 27-9 advantage on the glass.
The Spartans return home to host College of Charleston on Monday at 7 p.m. at the Greensboro Coliseum. UNCG student-athletes will be collecting toys and gifts for the Fox 8 Gifts for Kids program throughout the night and fans are encouraged to bring items to donate. In addition, Spartan student-athletes will also take collections on-campus Monday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the university library, Elliot University Center, cafeteria atrium and HHP Building. For more information, log on at www.uncgspartans.com.
AGATE
UNCG 73, SAMFORD 40
UNCG (2-4, 1-0 SoCon)
Kyle Randall 9-16 0-0 21; Brandon Evans 5-9 3-3 16; Ben Stywall 5-7 1-1 11; Korey Van Dussen 4-10 0-0 11; Pete Brown 2-5 3-3 7; Kendall Toney 1-5 0-0 3; Montel Smith 0-0 2-2 2; Elhanan Bone 1-2 0-0 2; Mike Hardiman 0-0 0-0 0; Brian Cole 0-1 0-0 0; Darrius Sellers 0-0 0-0 0; Mikko Koivisto 0-0 0-0 0; Deangelo Jackson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-55 9-9 73.
SAMFORD (2-6, 1-1 SoCon)
Bryan Friday 5-12 3-4 15; Josh Davis 3-12 0-0 8; Trey Montgomery 2-5 1-2 6; Andy King 1-4 2-2 5; John Peterson 1-3 0-0 3; Kaylin Johnson 0-4 2-2 2; Jeffrey Merritt 0-1 1-2 1; Gregg Wooten 0-1 0-0 0; Matthew Friday 0-2 0-3 0. Totals 12-44 9-15 40.
Halftime: UNCG 31-28. 3-point goals--UNCG 10-18 (Brandon Evans 3-4; Korey Van Dussen 3-5; Kyle Randall 3-6; Kendall Toney 1-3), Samford 7-26 (Bryan Friday 2-3; Josh Davis 2-10; John Peterson 1-3; Andy King 1-3; Trey Montgomery 1-2; Gregg Wooten 0-1; Matthew Friday 0-1; Jeffrey Merritt 0-1; Kaylin Johnson 0-2). Fouled out--UNCG-None, Samford-None. Rebounds--UNCG 40 (Ben Stywall 15), Samford 22 (Matthew Friday 5). Assists--UNCG 14 (Korey Van Dussen 4), Samford 10 (Trey Montgomery 5). Total fouls--UNCG 15, Samford 11. Technical fouls--UNCG-None, Samford-None. A-663
FREE THROWS: Mike Dement changed up the starting line-up for the conference opener on Saturday, going with the combination that played so well in the second half against East Carolina a week earlier. The result in the switch gave senior Kendall Toney his first start of the season and freshman Korey Van Dussen his first start of his college career... Van Dussen played 33 minutes and Randall played 34 minutes. Van Dussen got off to a rough start, committing turnovers the first two times he touched the ball, but then settled in for the rest of the afternoon... UNCG had a season-high 10 three-pointers in the win.
- UNCG -
