Samford University punched its ticket to the Big Dance Monday evening (March 11) — winning the school’s first-ever Southern Conference Tournament title and a trip to the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2000. The Bulldogs move on after defeating East Tennessee State University 76–69 at Harrah’s Cherokee Center in Asheville, North Carolina.
“I’m so happy for this team, I’m so happy for Samford University,” Samford head coach Bucky McMillan said. “I remember sitting in here our first year and playing as a 10 seed, we won six games and at the end of the year we lost by 35 or 40 points to Mercer. I remember we had to recruit players for my first recruiting class, and we had to convince them that we could win this league. I said in the press conference that we would win this league and win this tournament, and we did.”
The Bulldogs now have a record of 29–5, the most wins in program history. ETSU ends its season with a mark of 19–16.
“It’s so difficult to do something like this, to win a SoCon championship, but do you know how surreal it has to be for players to be the first to do it,” McMillan said. “These are the first guys to win a SoCon championship for our university, and that’s so hard to do. I’m so proud to do it with this group. I told someone today that I’ve never wanted a team to win a championship more than this team. In a day and age where there is a lot of ‘me’ going on, we had so many upperclassmen come in and buy in to roles that would equal winning, so I’m just so happy for these guys and so happy for our university.”
Team leaders
Samford was led in the win by Achor Achor, who was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player, with 25 points and nine rebounds. Jermaine Marshall, a first-team All-Tournament honoree, had 23 points and eight rebounds. Jaden Campbell added 11 points and five rebounds for the Bulldogs. Rylan Jones was named second team All-Tournament, and he had six points and four assists.
Samford will learn its opponent and location for the first round of the NCAA Tournament at the NCAA Tournament Selection Show next Sunday, March 17. Details for a Selection Show Watch Party will be released later this week.
To read full story, click here.
EDITOR’S NOTE — This story was written and originally published by Samford University.
Share with others: