Samford (9-2) at Arizona (4-5) | McKale Center | 7 p.m. Wednesday | ESPN+ | 1290-AM
PROBABLE STARTERS
ARIZONA
G Jaden Bradley (6-3 junior)
G Caleb Love (6-4 senior)
F Carter Bryant (6-8 freshman)
F Trey Townsend (6-6 senior)
C Tobe Awaka (6-8 junior)
SAMFORD
G Rylan Jones (6-0 senior)
G Isaiah West (6-2 soph.)
F Trey Fort (6-4 senior)
F Collin Holloway (6-6 senior)
C Jaden Brownell (6-9 junior)
How they match up
The series: Arizona has only faced Samford once, beating the Bulldogs 86-57 on Nov. 22, 2006.
Samford overview: Of all the one-time nonconference opponents that Arizona has invited into McKale Center this season, Samford might be the scariest for the Wildcats. With an aggressive full-time pressure defense, the Bulldogs won the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament titles last season, then nearly knocked off fourth-seeded Kansas in the first round before retrenching with four new starters to go 9-2 so far this season.
Predicted to win the SoCon again this season, Samford has beaten two non-Division I schools and nobody higher-rated than North Alabama, but it has only lost so far at Cornell (88-86) and at Michigan State (83-75).
The Bulldogs press and aim to turnover opponents, entering the game with the 28th-best defensive turnover percentage (22.2) in Division I, a challenge for UA after the Wildcats coughed it up on 34% of their possessions against UCLA on Dec. 14. They record a steal on 12% of opponents’ possessions, and they had 13 against Cornell.
The Bulldogs sustain that press by going deep into the rotation, with 10 players averaging double-figure minutes and six averaging 20 or more.
Offensively, they are versatile and relatively efficient, shooting 48.1% overall and 37.3% from 3-point range. Big man Jaden Brownell leads Samford in scoring (14.7) and rebounding (4.5), while Hamad “Larry” Olayinka comes off the bench to block 16.5% of Division I opponents’ shots when he’s on the floor.
Tulane transfer Collin Holloway is a versatile, high-IQ power forward, while small forward Trey Fort arrived from Mississippi State to become the Bulldogs’ second-leading scorer (13.9) and most prolific 3-point shooter, making 30 of 76 long-range shots over 11 games. The offense is glued together by sixth-year point guard Rylan Jones, the one-time Utah guard who has better than a 4-1 assist-turnover ratio.
He said it: “They’re a good team and they play a crazy style. Our guys have to understand that it's going to be relentless. You could be up 20 or down 20, and it’s still going to be a ball game.
“They’re much more aggressive (defensively) than UCLA. They're very chaotic in terms of they're going to press on every possession, made or missed basket. They're going to change defenses. They're going to shoot a lot of 3s. They're one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the country, but their defense spurs their offense.
“It's not an easy style to play against. If you're playing from behind, you're just going to feel very uncomfortable going against it.
“(Jones) shoots the ball extremely well from 3, he’s crafty, and he's been around college basketball for a long time. He's kind of the head of the snake with them. Trey Ford is a good player, making three 3s a game, and they’ve got four guys (inside). Jaden Brownell’s ultra-efficient, a pick-and-pop player and Holloway is a bull down in the post. He loves to drive and spin. He’s really, really physical and crafty around the basket.” — UA assistant coach TJ Benson, who scouted the Bulldogs.
Key players
Samford — Rylan Jones
As a starter for Utah, Jones once hit 3 of 8 3-pointers against Arizona at McKale Center … before COVID hit. That's how long he's been around. Nearly five years after that January 2020 game, Jones returns to McKale after being named the SoCon Newcomer of the Year last season and a preseason all-league pick this year.
Arizona forward Stone Gettings (13), Utah guards Both Gach (11) and Rylan Jones (15) battle for the rebound in the first half during a game at McKale Center on Jan. 16, 2020.
Arizona — Conrad Martinez
Still on the outside of the Wildcats’ regular rotation, Martinez earned five minutes against UCLA and he hasn’t turned the ball over yet this season. The Wildcats may need him as a fresh ballhandler against the Bulldogs’ relentless press this time.
Arizona guard Conrad Martinez (55) looks for room to maneuver under Old Dominion forward Ben Nacey (42) in the second half of their game, Nov. 9, 2024.
Sidelines
McConnell to receive 'huge honor'
Known for kissing the floor during his last game at McKale, TJ McConnell will watch the arena return the favor on Wednesday. UA will unleash a banner proclaiming him a member of the program’s Ring of Honor.
As they did last season for the Ring of Honor induction for guard Bennedict Mathurin, the Pacers will be stopping over in Tucson during a road swing. They are scheduled to face the Suns on Thursday in Phoenix.
“This is a huge honor,” McConnell said on a Pacers’ X post. “It’s pretty cool that the whole team is going to be there for it.”
Possibly the most popular player of the Sean Miller era, McConnell qualified for the honor by playing 10 NBA seasons. He went undrafted out of Arizona in 2015 — and wasn’t even invited to the NBA Combine until Miller lobbied hard for him — and has since played key roles for the Philadelphia 76ers and Indiana Pacers. He signed a four-year extension with Indiana before this season for $45 million.
At Arizona, McConnell was a two-year starter at point guard who helped lead the Wildcats to back-to-back Pac-12 regular-season championships and NCAA Tournament Elite Eight appearances. As a senior in 2014-15, he was a first-team all-Pac-12 player and a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award that honors college basketball’s top point guard.
A native of Pittsburgh, McConnell first played at McKale as a Duquesne sophomore in 2011-12, then joined the Wildcats after that season and sat out 2012-13 as a redshirt transfer.
Was it the same?
Instead of playing UCLA before a packed and rowdy house of 14,000-plus fans at McKale last Saturday, the Wildcats sort of hosted the Bruins at Phoenix’s Footprint Center in part for NIL reasons.
Only 8,437 fans showed up, leaving over 10,000 seats vacant inside the home of the Phoenix Suns.
Still, UCLA guard Skyy Clark called it a “very hostile crowd,” and Bruins coach Mick Cronin spoke highly of the atmosphere.
“I thought their crowd was great,” Cronin said.
Adopted Tucsonan
While the Wildcats don’t have much of a history with Samford, they did take one of the Bulldogs' best players once.
In 2018, Justin Coleman transferred from Samford to spend a season with the Wildcats. He started 31 of 32 games for UA in 2018-19 and earned all-tournament honors at the Maui Invitational, when he averaged 20.7 points.
Even though he’s a native of Birmingham, Alabama, where Samford is located, Coleman is now living in Tucson again, where he says he’s been coaching and working. Perhaps not too surprisingly, he also has a cousin working on the Samford staff as a graduate assistant.
Numbers game
18.2: Average turnovers by Samford opponents this season.
23.5: Arizona’s 3-point shooting percentage in its five losses
68: Rylan Jones' assists over 11 games.
— Bruce Pascoe
