THE HILL | The Alabama A&M University men's basketball team returns home for the first time since the end of November on Saturday as the Bulldogs face Samford inside the AAMU Event Center. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. and streamed on Bulldogs All-Access.
In addition, the game will feature a teddy bear toss at halftime as all items will be donated to Toys for Tots in a partnership with the United States Marine Corps.
Alabama A&M (4-7) started the season strong, winning its first three games, but have since cooled off, going 1-7 over the last eight games and enter Saturday's matchup riding a four-game losing streak. The Bulldogs will look seek just their second-ever win over Samford in the non-conference game.
Alabama A&M is averaging 77.0 points per game and shooting 42.0 percent from the field.
The Bulldogs rank sixth nationally in offensive rebounds per game and ninth in turnovers forced per game.
Chad Moodie leads two Bulldog players in double figures at 12.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
AC Bryant is second on the team in scoring at 12.2 points and 3.7 boards.
In Wednesday's 96-67 loss at UAB,
Jaylen Colon came off the bench to post a career-high 12 points, on four 3-pointers, to pace the Bulldog offense. Moodie and
Lorenzo Downey each added 11 points in the loss.
Both Downey and Moodie are closing in on some milestones. Downey is just 24 points shy of 500 for his career, while Moodie is 98 points away from the accomplishment.
Samford (9-3) saw its five-game winning streak snapped on Wednesday night, falling 96-64 to Arizona.
Against the Wildcats, Jaden Brownell paced the Bulldogs with 13 points, while Trey Fort and Julian Brown each added 11 points as Samford shot 36.7 percent (22-of-60) from the floor and 53.3 percent (8-of-15) from the foul line.
Samford is shooting 47.3 percent from the field and averaging 88.3 points per game.
The Bulldogs rank in the top 10 nationally in many categories, including steals per game (third), turnovers forced per game (fourth), three-pointers per game (sixth) and scoring offense (seventh).
Brownell paces four Samford players in double figures at 14.6 points and 4.2 boards per game. Fort is averaging 13.7 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists, followed by Collin Holloway (10.9 points) and Rylan Jones (10.0 points).
Samford has played just one other school from the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC) in Texas Southern, defeating the Tigers, 97-82, on Nov. 17. The Bulldogs also knocked off Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) foe South Carolina State, 88-81, on Dec. 5.
After Saturday's game against Samford, Alabama A&M will close out the non-conference slate on Saturday, Dec. 28 as the Bulldogs visit Georgia Tech. Tip-off against the Yellow Jackets is scheduled for 1 p.m. (CT) from McCamish Pavilion and streamed on the ACC Network.
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