GREENSBORO, N.C. – The eighth-seeded UNCG men's basketball team opens the 2015 Southern Conference Tournament Friday evening as the Spartans face off against ninth-seeded Samford in the opening game of the tournament. Game time is set 6 p.m. at the U.S. Cellular Center in Asheville, N.C. with the winner advancing to the SoCon Quarterfinals against top-seeded Wofford Saturday at noon.
Friday's game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and the Watch ESPN App with Darren Goldwater and Dean Keener providing the call. Additionally, the game will be aired on 1320 WCOG AM and online via the TuneIn App with Scott Pryzwansky and Darryl Kosciak providing the call. The game will be the first of two first round contests Friday at the U.S. Cellular Center with No. 7 The Citadel meeting No. 10 Furman 30 minutes after the Spartans' game.
Friday's game marks the 17th appearance all-time for UNCG at the SoCon Tournament where the Spartans re 14-16 all-time. UNCG has won at least one game in the tournament in four out of the last six years, while advancing to the SoCon Tournament finals twice in 2001 and 2005, winning the entire tournament in 2001. UNCG and Samford have never met during the SoCon Tournament.
The Spartans and Bulldogs split the regular season series this year with each home team winning a game. The Spartans trail the all-time series by a 9-6 margin with the home team winning the last six games between the teams. Earlier this year, the Spartans dropped an 89-78 contest in Birmingham as they committed 16 turnovers against the Samford full court press, which the Bulldogs turned into 22 points.
Junior forward Kayel Locke (Baltimore, Md./McDonogh) led the team with 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting from the field while sophomore guard Tevon Saddler (Aberdeen, Md./St. Frances Academy) scored 18 points despite fouling out after 26 minutes. Darius Jones-Gibson led five Bulldogs in double figures with 20 points while Marcus Johnson added 18 points off the bench.
The Spartans evened the season series just last week, posting an 81-67 victory at the Greensboro Coliseum. The Spartans used a 22-4 second half run to break the game open and only committed nine turnovers in the victory. Redshirt sophomore center R.J. White (Frisco, Texas/Frisco) was the catalyst off the bench, posting his seventh double-double of the season with a career-high 24 points and grabbing 12 rebounds as he was 10-of-13 from the field. Saddler added 10 points and a career-high eight assists in the victory. Christen Cunningham led Samford with 19 points while Tyler Hood and Marcus Johnson each chipped in 11 points.
The Spartans finished the regular season with a 10-21 overall record and a 6-12 mark in league play as they finished tied for seventh overall. UNCG turned up its defense over the last eight games of the year, limiting opponents to just 61.6 points per game. The Spartans held foes to just 36.3 percent (154-of-424) shooting from the field and only 27.6 percent (42-of-152) from 3-point land in the final eight games as they posted a 4-4 record in the league.
Saddler led the way averaging 13.6 points per game on the year but really turned his play into a distributor down the stretch. He finished the regular season third in the league with 120 assists and averaged 5.7 assists over the last eight games of the year. Locke was second on the team in scoring at 12.5 points per game and second on the glass at 5.5 rebounds per game. In his career, he is averaging 11.8 points and shooting 55.8 percent against the Bulldogs in five career games.
White is third on the team in scoring at 12.0 points per game and leads the team on the glass at 7.1 rebounds per game. He finished the regular season second in field goal percentage at 57.1 percent (149-of-261) and connected on 70 percent over the last five games of the year. Senior guard Nicholas Paulos (Salt Lake City, Utah/New Hampton School) rounds out the Spartans in double figures at 10.7 points per game. Paulos leads the team and ranks third in the league with 86 3-pointers.
Samford enters the tournament with a 13-18 overall record and an identical 6-12 mark in league play. The Bulldogs snapped a four-game losing streak in the regular season finale with an 80-69 victory at VMI last Saturday.
Jones-Gibson leads the Bulldogs in scoring at 11.0 points per game and is second with 69 assists. He ranks second in the conference with 190 free throw attempts and leads the team with 42 steals. Hood is second on the team with 11.0 points per game and leads the team with 67 3-pointers.
Cunningham, a candidate for SoCon Freshman of the Year, rounds out the Bulldogs in double figures at 10.3 points per game and leads the team with 125 assists. Michael Bradley leads the team on the glass with 5.4 rebounds per game while adding 6.5 points per game.
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