Wanna Fight? Fine with Us as Samford Beats UNCG
Two teams entered the Pete Hanna Center 3-0 in Southern Conference play. Only one remains undefeated as Samford wins the first battle over the UNCG Spartans 76-69. Samford battled their way to their 28th straight win at home and their seventh straight victory against UNCG. The Bulldogs tied UConn for the second most consecutive home wins tonight.
Bucky McMillan told reporters after the VMI win on Thursday that this UNCG game was going to be an “absolute war.” He turned out to be correct as the game was not for the weak. UNCG is extremely tough defensively and they made Samford earn it. The UNCG defense was ranked second in the SoCon defensive rating just behind Furman.
Trey Fort continued his tear, leading Samford in points with 21 and the Bulldogs were +17 when he was on the floor. Fort has now scored in double figures in nine straight contests. Super senior point guard Rylan Jones had 16 points of his own along with six assists. Collin Holloway officially joined the 1,000 career points club as he finished with 14 points and six rebounds.
Samford’s depth per usual turned out to be the difference. Yes Trey Fort led Samford but it were the contributions of Riley Allenspach and Lukas Walls who both played big minutes. In that first half both Allenspach and Walls were assertive on the offensive end. Both were making a difference on the defensive end as well. Allenspach had 13 points and Walls had seven and five rebounds.
Allenspach played more confidently and looked more in control offensively. Walls plays unafraid and does not shy away from contact. Bucky McMillan said postgame that he told Walls this was going to be his kind of game.
“Lukas is a fighter”, said McMillan. “So I told him yesterday this would be the kind of game he could totally understand. Like this would be a street fight and he’s a fighter. One of the guys in the game that would crash the glass every time, play their hearts out the whole game and be ready for the physicality of the game.”
This was a grind it out kind of game for Samford especially against an opponent in UNCG who is tough and will not back down. These are the kind of games that prepare you for March and Samford is well aware of that. Samford can win the pretty games and the tough ones. As Bucky McMillan said after, his group is not here to just be flashy.
“So you know we’re not here to win an Oscar, we’re here to win basketball games. That’s what we’re saying. It’s not always going to be pretty and teams that want to be pretty, they’re not gonna do it against Greensboro.” The atmosphere inside of the Pete Hanna Center was much improved and will only get better with the students being back on campus. Trey Fort mentioned after that he loves feeding off the energy of the crowd.
“Just being able to feel the love on the court, it gives you an extra boost on the court for sure. When a ball go through the net, when you get those defensive stops, the blocks, the steals and the crowd go crazy, you’re gonna go do it again. They continue to boost us and make us wanna play even harder.”
There are only six home games left to support Trey Fort and these Bulldogs. The next home game is next Saturday at 5:00pm against ETSU. ETSU is another tough, gritty team.
Tonight showed that Samford is full of fighters and the Winter Soldier knows that performances like these are what it takes to cut down the nets in Asheville….again.
