Furman ends Samford's 17-game winning streak

Purple Kryptonite: Furman again proves to be Samford's stumbling block

Marcus Foster leads Furman past Samford

On Jan. 25, 2023, Samford came to Greenville with a nine-game winning streak and was off to an 8-0 start to SoCon play, however, it would be Furman that would end that winning streak with a 91-84 overtime win between a pair of teams that would go on to tie for the regular-season league crown with identical 15-3 league ledgers. 

Furman would garner the No. 1 seed in Asheville for the 2023 SoCon Tournament by virtue of a 93-79 win in Birmingham over the Bulldogs to close the regular-season, preventing Samford from winning the regular-season outright and garnering the top overall seed for the tournament themselves. Mike Bothwell started that game in superhero fashion, scoring the first 16 points for the Paladins, powering Furman to a 16-9 early lead to quell the sellout crowd. It was part of a 35-point afternoon for the senior guard. 

In the 2022 SoCon Tournament semifinal at the Harrah's Cherokee Center in Asheville,  Furman's 71-68 win in a thrilling semifinal contest brought an end to Samford's season at penultimate stage

This season, Samford had nearly double the winning streak it had a year ago, as the Bulldogs led by head coach Bucky McMillan and his unique pressing style of basketball arrived at Timmons Arena in for a midweek, late January battle with the Paladins on the strength of a nation-leading 17 game winning streak, however, when the Bulldogs left Timmons Arena with a 78-68 loss to Furman, the winning streak would be no more. The Paladins are officially becoming Samford's winning streak kryptonite...A purple kryptonite of sorts which, at least temporarily, halt the successes of  "Bucky Ball.". 

The win would see Furman improve to 11-9 overall and 5-2 in the SoCon with its fifth-straight win, while Samford dropped just its third game of the season, falling to 17-3 overall and 6-1 in the Southern Conference. The win for the Paladins was its 29th in its last 32 games at Timmons Arena. 

The Bulldogs entered the game as the nation's second-highest scoring team behind only Kentucky, averaging 90.4 PPG, however, for just the third time this season, Furman held them to less than 70. Only Purdue (45 pts), VCU (65 pts) and Furman (68 pts) have held the Bulldogs to less than 70 pts in a game this season.

The Paladins, which held Samford to just 25 points in the opening half, were only the second team to hold the Bulldogs to less than 31 points in a half this season, joining Purdue. Samford's previous point total low for a half in SoCon play this season came in an 80-64 win at The Citadel, as the other Bulldogs held Samford to just 31 points in the opening half of that contest earlier in league play.  

Furman went to the half of Wednesday night's contest with a 34-25 lead, using good old fashioned defense to help build that halftime advantage, holding the Bulldogs to just 37.5% (12-of-32) shooting from the field, including a 0-of-9 shooting effort from three-point range. 

The win by the Paladins also marked the 150th win for head coach Bob Richey in his seventh season as the head coach of the Furman basketball program, and he is the second-winningest coach in Paladin basketball history, and he is the fastest to reach 150 wins as head coach. In the 10-point win over the Bulldogs, Richey improved to 150-64 and .701 winning percentage as head coach, which has him ranked among the Top 20 active Division I head coaches in NCAA Division I college basketball. 

The win also marked Furman's 60th home conference win since the start of the 2015-16 season, as the Paladins improved to 60-8 overall against Southern Conference opposition during that timespan, as well as improving their overall mark to 106-17 at Timmons Arena over the past nine seasons. 

The night for the Paladins belonged to Marcus Foster, who posted his second double-double in just his third game back for the Paladins, as he finished with 22 points and 11 rebounds to lead all scorers in the contest. Foster finished as one of four Paladins in double figures, connecting on 7-of-17 shots from the field and was 3-of-7 from three-point land, including going 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. 

Foster was joined in double figures by Alex Williams, who added 16 points, while JP Pegues finished with 12 and PJay Smith came off the bench to add 11. Carter Whitt led the Paladins with seven assists, as Furman finished with a team total of 19 helpers in the contest. 

Samford finished the contest with three players finishing in double figures, led by Achor Achor, who posted 19 points, which included scoring 11 of the Bulldogs' 25 first-half points. He finished contest by knocking down 9-of-12 shots from the field and also added six rebounds, an assist and a steal. Achor was joined in double figures by AJ Staton-McCray, who added 14 points, posting all 14 of those in the second half, while Nathan Johnson added 10, and like Staton-McCray, scored all of those points in the second half. 

The Paladins finished the game connecting on 45.9% (28-of-61), which included shooting 42.9% (12-of-28) from beyond the arc. Furman also shot a solid 76.9% from the charity stripe, knocking down 10-of-13 from the foul line.

The Bulldogs finished the game connecting on 43.8% (28-of-64) from the field and shot 33.3% (9-of-27) from three-point range. 

Furman finished the night holding advantages in points from beyond the arc (36-27), total assists (19-14), total rebounds (41-35), second-chance points (19-10), points from the free throw line (10-3), and free throw attempts (13-10).

Samford held advantages in points in the paint (38-28), points from turnovers (20-15), fast-break points (10-7) and bench points (24-22). 

How It Happened:

Samford started the game in strong fashion, as Achor Achor finished with a strong one-handed jam off a nice feed from Rylan Jones on a pretty pick-and-roll for the first points of the night. 

A Furman turnover would result in the next two for the Bulldogs, as Dallas Graziani converted a layup to make it a 4-0  Bulldogs lead. 

Furman's first points of the evening would come via an Alex Williams three-pointer, making it a 4-3 game. Another turnover allowed Rylan Jones to double Samford's early lead off an easy layup. Williams promptly tied the game on a three from the corner on Furman's next time down the floor.

Samford would take its final lead of the night when Graziani gave the Bulldogs an 8-6 lead after he got past Carter Whitt and dribbled to the basket for the layup to give Samford the two-point lead with 17:24 left in the opening half.

After Garrett Hien was fouled shooting and converted 1-of-2 free throws on the other end of the floor, the Paladins continued to dig in on the defensive end of the floor and come up with stops against the SoCon's and one of the nation's most explosive offensive teams. The Bulldogs went to the first media timeout of the evening clinging to the 8-7 lead.

PJay Smith Jr. blocked a Graziani layup attempt just after the first media timeout and then after Riley Allenspach came up with the offensive rebound, but an alert defensive play by Marcus Foster saw him knock the ball off Allenspach out of play, creating the Samford turnover. Foster missed a layup attempt on the other end, however, Ben VanderWal would come up with a big block, preserving Furman's one-point deficit. 

Smith buried an open three on the other end with 14:49 left in the opening half, giving the Paladins their first lead of the night. Following another Paladin defensive stop, VanderWal tipped in a Foster missed layup on the other end to help increase Furman's lead to four, at 12-8. 

After Achor Achor responded with a layup to get the Bulldogs back to within two, VanderWal received a beautiful pass from Carter Whitt in the lane, and he converted the reverse layup to make it a 14-10 Paladin lead with 13 minutes remaining in the opening half. VanderWal had a chance to complete the three-point play the old fashioned way, however, missed the free throw. 

Following an Alex Williams block of a Nathan Johnson shot attempt, Furman was off and running again, and it was Carter Whitt who would give the Paladins their biggest lead of the night to that point, with a jumper in the lane that concluded a 9-2 Paladin run and gave Furman the 16-10 lead with 12:35 left in the opening half. 

A 6-0 spurt by Samford would eventually tie the game, 16-16, with just under 10 minutes to play in the half, as the Bulldogs got layups from Josh Holloway, Achor Achor, and Jaden Campbell to tie the contest, 16-16, with 9:42 remaining in the opening frame. 

The two teams went scoreless for over two minutes before a three by Williams from the top of the key restored the Furman lead, at 19-16, with 7:30 left in the opening half. Williams' triple sparked an 18-9 run to close the half by the Paladins, as Furman took a 34-25 lead into the halftime locker room. The Paladins held a pair of 10-point advantages down the stretch of the opening half of play, with the second of those coming after a Garrett Hien two-handed dunk in the paint, which gave the Paladins a 31-21 lead with 4:05 left in the opening half.

In the second half, Samford would make things interesting early in the second half. Following a JP Pegues three-pointer, which gave the Paladins their largest lead of the evening, at 44-33, with 17:03 left, a 7-0 run by the Bulldogs, which started and ended with Achor Achor layups and was sandwiched by an AJ Staton-McCray made three-pointer, to get the Bulldogs to within four, at 44-40, with 14:08 left in the game. 

However, the Paladins would respond with a 12-3 run, which commenced with a three-pointer by PJay Smith Jr and concluded with another Williams triple from the corner, giving the Paladins a 56-43 lead with 10:30 left in the contest, as Timmons Arena likely reached its highest decibel level the entire evening. 

The Bulldogs continued to hang around, thanks in large part to Nathan Johnson's good perimeter shooting, as his back-to-back threes, coupled with a Samford defensive stop, got the Bulldogs back to within seven, at 56-49, with 8:57 left. 

However, Furman turned up the heat on the defensive end of the floor, limiting the Bulldogs to just one basket over the next 4:16 and used an 11-4 spurt to take complete control of the game, as Foster's made layup gave Furman a 67-53 lead with 5:07 remaining. It was Foster's final made shot of the night--a three-pointer with 1:47 remaining--that staked the Paladins to their largest lead of the night, at 76-60, before the Paladins eventually settled on the 10-point win.

The Paladins will return to action Saturday evening at the Jerry Richardson Indoor Stadium to face the Wofford Terriers (11-9, 4-3 SoCon) with tip-off set for 6 p.m. EST. Samford will be in Johnson City Saturday to do battle with East Tennessee State (10-10, 2-5 SoCon). Tip-off for that contest is set for 4 p.m. EST at Freedom Hall.

Postgame Press Conference:

Head coach Bob Richey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M-WGOflprSY

Players Carter Whitt and PJay Smith Jr.: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nF9X-ZJMjpo