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Friday night Purdue basketball officially returns with the regular season opener. The Boilers have a squishy soft opening slate this weekend with two of its weakest opponents on the entire schedule. Samford has recently had a decent baseball rivalry with Purdue with some solid early-season games, but the Bulldogs do not have much of a basketball history.
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Opponent: |
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Location: |
Birmingham, AL |
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Venue: |
Mackey Arena (14,846) |
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TV: |
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Satellite Radio: |
XM Station 192, SIRI 134 |
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Odds: |
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Tickets: |
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Tipoff Time: |
7pm |
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All-time Series |
Purdue leads 1-0 |
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Last Purdue win |
66-50 on 11/23/2003 at Purdue |
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Last Samford win: |
None |
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Blog Representation: |
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2013-14 Record: |
13-20, 6-10 SoCon |
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Last NCAA Appearance |
2000 (0-2 all-time in NCAA Tournament) |
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Coach: |
Scott Padgett (1st season, 0-0 all-time) |
The bulldogs are starting over in 2014-15, as they hired former Kentucky player and NBA veteran Scott Padgett to take over their program. He was previously an assistant at his alma mater Kentucky, Manhattan, and the last three years at Samford before getting the top job.
He is likely in for a very long season. The Bulldogs had three players that averaged in double figures last season in Tim Williams, Isaiah Williams, and Raijon Kelly. All three are gone from the program. In fact, the only player among their top six scorers that is back is 6'6" forward Tyler Hood. Hood is a senior from Lenoir City, Tennessee who averaged 11.1 points per game as a freshman, but has seen his scoring drop each season to 9.1 and 7.9 points. He is still a player that will likely finish his career as a 1,000 point scorer. He shoots the three fairly well and gets about three rebounds per game.
Fellow senior Michael Bradley is also back and he averaged 3.5 points per game in 12 minutes a night as a 6'10" 250 pound center. He does not do a whole lot, but he is at least a big body for A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas to bang against in the first game of the year.
Honestly, Purdue should have no trouble doing whatever it wants down low because of Haas and Hammons. Bradley is the lone player that is anywhere close to their size and the Bulldogs don't have anyone with the experience of Hammons. The Bulldogs were also 299th in rebounding nationally last season, so if Hammons and Haas don't dominate something is seriously wrong.
This team is a bit of a mystery since it lost so much scoring and it has four freshmen. Evan Taylor was a late commitment from one of the best HS teams in the country last year in Paul VI, who won a state championship in Virginia behind him. Marcus Johnson and Darius Gibson are also decent JuCo transfers into the Samford program.
This is a game Purdue should not have any trouble winning. Samford is a step up from our exhibition opponents, but not a big one. They are going through a massive transition and Padgett is coaching his first Division I game as a head coach. Since we have a tremendous advantage in the frontcourt we should dominate. This will be a good game to see how the guards do too.
Projected Purdue starters:
PG: Jon Octeus
SG: Kendall Stephens
SF: Rapheal Davis
PF: Vince Edwards
C: A.J. Hammons
Prediction: Purdue 90, Samford 65