Game Information
Opponent: Samford
Date: December 16, 2014 - 7:00 p.m.
Site: Clinton, S.C. (Templeton Center)
Video: BigSouthSports.com
Radio: NONE
Announcers: Eric Thacker (PbP), Kenn Blankenship (Analyst)
Live Stats: www.GoBlueHose.com
Twitter: @BlueHoseSports
Series: Samford Leads 1-0
Last four meetings:
2013: SAM 71, PC 59
Presbyterian College
Record: 4-6, 0-0
Ranking: n/a
Last Game: Dec 13, 2014 vs Montreat
W 79-68 in Clinton, S.C.
Head Coach: Gregg Nibert
Career Record: 395-362 (26th year)
PC Record: 395-362 (26th year)
vs. Samford: 0-1
Samford
Record: 3-8, 0-0
Ranking: n/a
Last Game: Dec. 14, 2014 at Wake Forest
L 68-86 in Winston-Salem N.C.
Head Coach: Scott Padgett
Career Record: 3-8 (1st year)
Samford Record: 3-8 (1st year)
vs. PC: 0-0
Notes:
The Blue Hose host Samford in a 7 p.m. game at Templeton Center ... It marks the second meeting between the two schools, with the Bulldogs taking the 71-59 win last season ... The Blue Hose led by as much as 10 points in the first half but could not withstand a furious second half rally by the Bulldogs, as Samford earned the win ... The Bulldogs outscored the Blue Hose, 37-22, in the second half to erase the three-point halftime deficit ... Reggie Dillard led the team with a career-high 23 points, followed by Jordan Downing with his 18 ...
A close game until the end, PC defeated Montreat in its last game, 79-68, after leading by just one at the half, 35-34 ... Jordan Downing scored 16 of his 22 points in the second half as PC pulled away late ... Tied for the ninth time of the game, 53-53, with 9:50 left, PC outscored Montreat 23-9 over the next nine minutes to take a 14-point, 76-62 lead with 1:29 left ...
PC is led by Jordan Downing, who is averaging 17.2 points per game ... Will Truss is close behind with 10.4 ppg ... Truss is being looked at for his rebounding as well with his team-leading 7.8 a game ... Downing is close by with 4.7 a game ...
PC has turned the ball over 158 times this season, resulting in 182 points by the opponents ... In five of six PC losses the points off turnovers has matched or exceeded the margin of loss ... The Blue Hose are 4-0 when they have less turnovers, but 0-5 when then have more ...
PC's depth will be tested early in the season as DeSean Murray is out until January with an injury he suffered against Piedmont late in the game ... He is still second on the team in scoring (13.0 ppg) and rebounding (6.0) ... The second-leading scorer from last season, Reggie Dillard, suffered a pre-season injury and is out for the season as well ...
PC dropped a tight contest to UNCG Dec. 6 ... After trailing by eight with just over eight minutes to play, the Blue Hose rallied to within one with just four minutes to go ... After several misses by both teams, the Spartans hit a lay-up with three seconds left to help seal the two-point win ... Markus Terry had a shot a the end to tie the game, but it fell just short as time expired ... Will Truss paced the team with 17 points and eight rebounds ...
The loss to UNCG marked the first time the margin in the game has been under 10, win or lose ... Up until the two-point loss to the Spartans, PC has won by an average of 27.3 points, and lost by an average of 32.6 points ... The closest margin until this past game was a 10-point win over Piedmont ...
The Blue Hose fell 45-66 at Wofford Dec. 3 ... Trailing by eight at the half, PC fought back to within three early in the second, but suffered through a 10-minute scoring drought as the Terriers pulled away late to take the win ... Jordan Downing led the team in scoring with 17, while Will Truss was tops on the boards with 10, his second double-digit rebounding game in the last three games ...
PC earned an 88-39 win over Bob Jones in its last home game Nov. 29 ... Jordan Downing led the Blue Hose in scoring with 28 points in just 22 minutes of action ... His six three-pointers tied his career-best ... Downing was followed by Austin Anderson, who recorded a career-high 16 points ... PC scored a season-high 88 points in the complete win ... The nine turnovers were a season-low, with the .541 field goal percentage a season-high ...
The Blue Hose returned home for a 63-40 win over Toccoa Falls Nov. 25 ... Jordan Downing posted his first 20-point game of the season with a team-leading 23 points ... Ed Drew pulled down a career-high and team-leading 12 rebounds, followed by a season-high 11 boards from Will Truss ... Ruben Arroyo-Felix was solid with a career-high 14 points ... The team held Toccoa Falls to a season-low .118 FG percentage while posting a season-high 51 rebounds ...
The Presbyterian College men's basketball team traveled to Ruston, La., Nov. 21-23, for the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic ... The Blue Hose faced American Friday, Morehead State Saturday, and host Louisiana Tech Sunday ... Turnovers were the key to the three losses with the Blue Hose averaging 22 turnovers in those games ... the scoring margin was -24.3, with the other teams averaging 24.67 points off the turnovers ... Field goal percentages were roughly the same, with the opponents hitting at a .458 clip, compared to .438 for the Blue Hose ... PC only took 27 less shots, and made just 15 less (56-128 to 71-155) ...
The Blue Hose were led by Jordan Downing at the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic with 18 points against American, 13 against Morehead State and 12 against Louisiana Tech ... Downing recorded his first career double-double with his 13 points and 10 rebounds against MSU ... Will Truss had a career game as well, with a career-high tying six blocks ... The team tied its DI record with seven total blocks ...
One highlight from the loss at #4 Duke was the tremendous play by freshman DeSean Murray, who proved he will be an impact player for the Blue Hose after leading the team in scoring (14) and rebounding (7) against the Blue Devils in the season-opener ...
PC opened the home season Nov. 18 against Piedmont ... The Blue Hose recorded an 82-72 win with Will Truss recording his fifth career 20-point game with 20 points, as well as a team-leading nine rebounds ... Downing posted his first double-digit game of the season with 18 ... DeSean Murray and Markus Terry added 12 apiece as the Blue Devils led by as much as 16 late in the second half before settling on the 10-point, 82-72 win ...
When PC opened the season at Duke Nov. 14, it marked the sixth time in the last seven seasons, the Blue Hose have played either a SEC or ACC opponent first ... The lone year, in 2011, PC's second game was Duke after opening at home against Montreat ... The last two years it has been an ACC school that has met PC with Clemson in 2012 and Georgia Tech in 2013 ... The Blue Hose opened with Duke in 2008, Clemson in 2009 and Vanderbilt in 2010 ...
The Presbyterian College men's basketball team is in a position it normally doesn't find itself in - the Blue Hose return all five starters from the 2013-14 team, including Big South pre-season All-Conference member Jordan Downing, who became the 22nd player under Head Coach Gregg Nibert to reach 1,000 career points and averaged 20.2 points per game last season ...
Backing up Jordan Downing on the court this season will be Will Truss, who averaged 10.9 ppg last season and is on pace to better that with 10.4 ppg so far ... Markus Terry is also expected to step up his sophomore campaign and is currently fourth on the team in scoring with 7.3 ppg ... Ed Drew, who is averaging 4.7 ppg, is in the top five on the boards with 5.2 rpg ...
It will be a season of record-book watching as a couple of Blue Hose are close to historical marks ... Jordan Downing, with 1,154 career points, is 387 points from becoming PC's Division I leader in scoring ... He posted 647 points last season to place third behind Al'Lonzo Coleman with 1,499 and Khalid Mutakabbir with 1,576 … He also needs to make just 131 field goals (Khalid Mutakabbir, with 567, is first) and 36 three-pointers (Pierre Miller is first with 206) to become PC's Division I leader in those categories ... William Truss is only 252 rebounds from becoming the schools' Division I leader ... Al'Lonzo Coleman is first with 786 ... Will Truss needs just 290 points to reach 1,000 career points ... He recorded 350 last season … He just surpassed the 500 career rebound mark and has 534 …
Head Coach Gregg Nibert five wins away from career-win 400 … he stands at 395-362 after the win over Montreat Dec. 13 ...
While it was a safe bet to see Jordan Downing, Reggie Dillard and Will Truss in the starting lineup, Coach Nibert liked to mix it up with the last two spots in 2013-14 ... Markus Terry got the starting nod 17 times, with Austin Anderson being announced 16 ... Ed Drew started 12 games, including the final nine ... This season Anderson has started three times so far, while Terry has started eight times, and Ed Drew four ...
PC renewed its series with Wofford this season ... The two teams played each other 166 times, but not since 1995 when the Terriers took home a 66-49 win, when both programs were NCAA Division II members ... Wofford took the 66-45 win Dec. 3 of this season ...
The Blue Hose had several players high up in the national rankings last season ... Jordan Downing was 37th in the nation in total points (647.0), 14th in total field goals made (235.0), 23rd in points per game (20.2), 16th in minutes played (2233.0) as well as 8th in total field goal attempts (541.0) ... William Truss was 29th in Defensive Rebounds per game (6.47) and 33rd in rebounds per game (9.0) ...
This season the national rankings are starting to show some Blue Hose ... Will Truss is ranked 59th in blocked shots per game (2.1), 50th in total rebounds (78) and 35th in total blocks (21) ... Jordan Downing is 41st in total points (172), 24th in field goals made (64), 37th in three-point field goals attempted (66), 32nd in total three-pointers made (27) and 13th in total field goals attempted (146) ...
