Bears Face Bulldogs Saturday in Birmingham

Saturday, January 18

Birmingham, Ala.

3 p.m.

Mercer University

Samford

Photo by: Judy Stapleton

1/17/2020 3:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Mercer Game Notes Samford Game Notes

Mercer heads to Samford for SoCon play

By: Travis Rae

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer men's basketball team heads to Birmingham, Ala. to face Samford in Southern Conference action on Saturday afternoon from the Pete Hanna Center. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. ET.

GAME DAY LINEUP
Date: Jan. 18, 2020 | 3 p.m. (ET)
Teams: Mercer (7-11, 1-4 SoCon) at Samford (8-11, 2-3 SoCon)
Location: Birmingham, Ala. | Pete Hanna Center
Live Stats: Samfordsports.com
Radio: 100.9 The Creek FM and SportsMic – Rick Cameron
TV: ESPN3
Twitter Updates: @MercerMBB

SERIES HISTORY
• Overall: Mercer leads the all-time series, 69-45
• Current Streak: W12
• Last Meeting: W, 65-62 (Feb. 21, 2019)

OPENING TIPOFF
Mercer Men's Basketball returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 18 when they head to Birmingham, Ala. to face Samford in Southern Conference play. Tipoff is set for 3 p.m. ET and will be aired on ESPN3, 100.9 The Creek FM and Sportsmic Radio with Rick Cameron on the call.

ABOUT THE BULLDOGS
Samford enters the match against the Bears with an 8-11 record and a 2-3 mark in Southern Conference play… They are coming off an 88-63 loss at ETSU on Jan. 15… The Bulldogs have dropped its last three games… The last win for the Bulldogs came on Jan. 4 when they defeated VMI, 78-75… On the season, the Bulldogs are averaging 75.3 points per game and are shooting 44.8 percent from the floor… They are led in scoring by Josh Sharkey, who is averaging 18.7 points per game… Three other players, Brandon Austin (13.8 ppg), Robert Allen (13.2 ppg) and Jalen Dupree (11.3 ppg) round out the double-figure scorers… The Bulldogs have attempted 374 three-pointers this season, making 127 for a 34.0 percentage… Austin leads the team making 45 threes this season… Austin has made a three-pointer in 20 straight contests, the longest active streak in the SoCon… Samford is allowing 78.3 points per game and opponents are shooting 43.8 percent from the field… Samford is holding its opponents to shoot 32.8 percent on three-point shots this season… The Bulldogs are led by Scott Padgett, who is in his sixth season at the helm.

LAST TIME OUT
The last time the Bears took to the court was Wednesday night against VMI at Hawkins Arena. The Bears trailed by 11 points, 38-27, at halftime before catching fire in the second half. Mercer shot 60.7 percent from the floor en route to a 73-62 victory. The win for Mercer was the first in Southern Conference action. Djordje Dimitrijevic scored 26 points in the contest (19 in the second half) to lead the Bears. Dimitrijevic hit a career-high six three-pointers in the win. As a team, Mercer hit 11 three-pointers, which was the fourth time this season hitting 10 or more in a game.

DOUBLE-DOUBLES FOR THE BEARS
After only picking up four double-doubles during the 2018-19 season, the Bears have recorded 11 double-doubles this season. Four different players have recorded a double-double this season. Below are the Bears that have recorded double-doubles. Ethan Stair leads the way with seven double-doubles.

Name                                    Double-Doubles               Last Double-Double
Ethan Stair                          7                                              12/28/19 vs. Milligan
Maciej Bender                   2                                              12/20/19 vs. Furman
Djordje Dimitrijevic         1                                              11/11/19 vs. Kennesaw State
Victor Bafutto                    1                                              12/28/19 vs. Milligan

DIMITRIJEVIC NAMED SOCON STUDENT-ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Mercer men's basketball guard Djordje Dimitrijevic has been named the General Shale Southern Conference Student-Athlete of the Week for all competition from Jan. 8-14. The selection is made by the league office. Dimitrijevic recorded the first 30-point game of his career on Jan. 11 at Western Carolina when he scored a game-high 34 points while shooting 10-19 from the field and hitting 12 of his 14 free throw attempts. The Grdelica, Serbia, native pulled down four rebounds and added four steals in the contest. Dimitrijevic hit two 3-pointers in the game and has now made 3 in 16 straight games.

BEARS FIRST MEETING AGAINST SAMFORD
Saturday marks the 115^th meeting between the Bulldogs and the Bears. However, do you know when the first meeting was between these two programs? The first meeting between Mercer and Samford came on Jan. 21, 1947. The Bulldogs came away with a 45-42 win over Mercer. The Bears were coached by James Cowan.

FIRST SOCON WIN
The Bears defeated VMI on Wednesday night for its first win in Southern Conference action. The win snapped a six-game losing streak. It was the Bears first conference win since Feb. 23, 2019, when they defeated Chattanooga 74-69.

HOW MANY STRAIGHT GAMES WITH A THREE?
Six SoCon student-athletes have streaks of at least 13 games with a made three-pointer. The Bears Djordje Dimitrijevic has made a three-pointer in 16 straight games, while Ross Cummings has followed with a three in 13 straight games. Dimitrijevic is the third-longest streak in the SoCon. The SoCon leader for consecutive games hitting a three-pointer is Brandon Allen of Samford. He is currently at 20 straight games hitting a three-pointer.

Player (School)                                 Streak
Brandon Austin (Samford)           20
Alex Hunter (Furman)                    17
Djordje Dimitrijevic (Mercer)     16
Kaiden Rice (The Citadel)              15
Matt Halvorsen (WCU)                  15
Ross Cummings (Mercer)             13

BACK-TO-BACK CONFERENCE WINS
Following the win over VMI on Wednesday, the Bears will be looking for back-to-back Southern Conference wins. The last time the Bears won back-to-back SoCon games came last season when they defeated Samford and Chattanooga at Hawkins Arena.

TEN OR MORE THREES IN A GAME
The Bears have made ten or more three-pointers in four games this season. The most three-pointers Mercer has hit in a single game was 14 against Milligan. In the last game, the Bears hit 11 three-pointers against VMI. After hitting three in the first half, Mercer shot 50 percent (8-of-16) in the second half. Below are the games that Mercer connected on ten or more three-pointers.

Date      Opponent                           3-pt FG Made
11/6       at St. John's                        12
12/16     at UNCW                             11
12/28     Milligan                                14
1/15       VMI                                       11

LAST MEETING BETWEEN SAMFORD AND MERCER
The last meeting between the Bulldogs and Bears took place on Feb. 21, 2019 in Hawkins Arena. The Bears led from start to finish and held on for a 65-62 victory over Samford. The win marked the Bears 12th straight win over the Bulldogs. In the contest, the Bears shot 38.6 percent from the floor. Ross Cummings led the Bears with 23 points and Ethan Stair picked up a double-double.

SAMFORD AT HOME
Saturday will be the ninth home game of the season for the Bulldogs. They are 6-2 on the season at home this season. Since the 2016-17 season, the Bulldogs are 35-20 playing in the Pete Hanna Center.

LOOKING TO JOIN 1,000-POINT CLUB
Both Ross Cummings and Ethan Stair are closing into on becoming the Bears 41st and 42nd 1,000-career scores in Mercer History. Which player will be the first to score 1,000 points? Cummings has scored 860 points in his career that spans 79 games, while Stair has scored 991 points in 103 games. Sitting in 40th on the 1,000-point club for Mercer is Dartez Talbott who scored 1,014 points in his career at Mercer, which stretched from the 1979-81 seasons. James Florence, who played for the Bears from 2006-10, is the all-time leading scorer as he scored 2,286 points. Florence is the only 2,000-point scorers in Mercer history. The list of players that Cummings and Stair are looking to catch is below.

1,000 Point Scorers (No. 36-40)
                Rk.         Name                    Pts
                36           Will Emerson     1,050
                T37         Jim Hearn            1,034
                T37         Reggie Elliott      1,034
                38           Rodney Kirtz       1,025
                39           Donnie Veal        1,023
                40           Dartez Talbott   1,014
                                Ethan Stair          991
                                Ross Cummings 860

SENIOR CLASS AWARD
On Friday, Jan. 17, 30 NCAA Men's Basketball student-athletes who excel both on and off the court were selected as candidates for the 2019-20 Senior CLASS Award and senior Ethan Stair was one of the selections. An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School ®, the Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages students to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact as leaders in their communities. The men's candidates will be narrowed to a field of 10 finalists in February, and those names will be placed on the official ballot. Ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select one male candidate and one female candidate who best exemplifies excellence in the four C's of community, classroom, character and competition. The Senior CLASS Award winners will be announced during the 2020 NCAA Men's Final Four® and NCAA Women's Final Four® this spring. For more information on each of the candidates, visit seniorCLASSaward.com.

GREG GARY COACH'S SHOW
The Greg Gary Coach's Show is underway from Margaritas in Mercer Village. The 11-edition show will be streamed on Sportsmic Radio and the Mercer Men's Basketball Facebook page. The show is aired from Margaritas in Mercer Village from 6 to 7 p.m. The next Greg Gary Coach's Show will be on Monday, Jan. 20^th.

SoCON CHAMPIONSHIP
The 2020 Ingles SoCon Men's Basketball Championship presented by General Shale will be held March 6-9 at Harrah's Cherokee Center Asheville in Asheville, North Carolina. The 2020 edition of the tournament is the 100th for the nation's oldest collegiate conference basketball tournament.

UP NEXT
The Bears return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 22 when they host Western Carolina in Southern Conference action. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from Hawkins Arena.

How to Follow the Bears:
For complete coverage of Mercer Basketball, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerMBB (Twitter), /MercerBasketball (Facebook) and @Mercer_MBB (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com.