Cold-shooting Arizona eyes turnaround vs. high-scoring Samford

Field Level Media|published: Tue 17th December, 20:32 2024

Dec 14, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Arizona Wildcats guard Caleb Love (1) against the UCLA Bruins in the first half at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

Samford and Arizona enter Wednesday's game at Tucson, Ariz., with each having a different outlook a little more than a month into the season.

Samford (9-2) is on a five-game winning streak while Arizona (4-5) has lost three of its last four games following Saturday's 57-54 loss in Phoenix against former Pac-12 rival UCLA.

The Bulldogs are coming off a 72-47 victory Sunday over Austin Peay that improved their home record to 7-0.

"A 9-2 start to the season is a good start, but most importantly we are getting better," Samford coach Bucky McMillan said. "Two more in the nonconference and then the fun starts (in the Southern Conference)."

Samford will play at Alabama State on Saturday followed by the Southern Conference opener at home against The Citadel on Jan. 1.

Following the win over Austin Peay, the Bulldogs were the second-highest scoring team in the nation at 90.5 points per game.

They are making 11.5 shots per game from 3-point range.

Trey Fort has scored in double-figures in four of his last five games and leads the Bulldogs with 30 shots made from beyond the arc.

He is shooting 39.5 percent from 3-point range and averages 13.9 points per game.

Leading scorer Jaden Brownell (14.7 points per game) also tops Samford in 3-point shooting at 45 percent (18 of 40).

Arizona is off to its worst start following nine games since Sean Miller's first team in 2009-10 started 4-5.

Arizona coach Tommy Lloyd entered the season without losing consecutive games in his first three years leading the program but has endured that predicament twice already this season.

His team will try to avoid that from happening a third time against Samford while battling confidence issues.

"We're not going to act like everything's going great and we've been where we're expected," Lloyd said. "We're going to have to fight for it. This group is going to have to fight. You're dealing with some adversity. You know, where's our confidence at?"

Preseason All-American Caleb Love is leading Arizona with 13.3 points a game, but he is shooting 36.6 percent from the field and 27.9 percent from 3-point range.

The Wildcats are shooting 30 percent from beyond the arc while opponents are at 34.2 percent.

--Field Level Media