Feb. 7, 2003

Game Notes in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader

TIPOFF: Saturday, Feb. 8, 2003, 2 p.m. Seibert Hall; Birmingham, Ala.

AIR: The game can be heard on WVSU 91.1-FM and the internet at www.samfordsports.com.

SAMFORD: Samford enters today's game in a tie with Jacksonville State for third place in the A-Sun North and are just a half game behind second place Georgia State. Defending A-Sun Freshman of the Year, Jon Mills, had his finest game as a Bulldog on Thursday. He was 9-12 from the floor and 3-5 from three-point range for a career high 22 points. He also added a career-high nine rebounds in 28 minutes of action. Center Phillip Ramelli had a career-high nine assists in Thursday's win. He is second on the team and 11th in the conference in assists averaging 3.6 per game. Samford is 9-4 this season when it scores 60 points or more in a game. The Bulldogs are 0-8 when they score less than 60 points. Head coach Jimmy Tillette enters the game with 98 career victories at Samford.

JACKSONVILLE: The Dolphins had won six of their last seven before falling at Belmont on Thursday night. JU scored just 17 points in the first half and shot 30 percent for the game. Calvin Warner and James Daniels each scored 12 points against the Bruins. Warner leads JU averaging 16.8 ppg and 7.7 rpg. Kevin Sheppard is averaging 15.6 and Daniels chips in 10.6 points per outing. JU head coach Hugh Durham recorded his 600th victory last week against Gardner-Webb. The Dolphins are shooting 43 percent as a team from the floor, 31 percent from three-point range, and 65 percent from the free throw line. JU leads the A-Sun in three-point FG percentage defense allowing teams to shot just 31 percent from beyond the arc. It is also second in the league in blocked shots averaging five and a half blocks per game.

INSIDE STUFF: Something has to give as Samford leads the A-Sun in 3-pt FG percentage and JU leads the conference in 3-pt FG defense. The Bulldogs have won three straight and six of the last eight meetings against JU since renewing the rivalry in 1999. The Dolphins won the five meetings in the series which began on Nov. 29, 1974. JU leads the series 7-6 but Samford has won the last three meetings in Birmingham.

NEXT: The Bulldogs sandwich two important road games around Valentine's Day. There will be no love as Samford plays at Jacksonville State on Thursday Feb. 13, and at Georgia State on Sat., Feb. 15. Samford swept JSU and GSU in Seibert Hall in January.