HOMEWOOD, Ala. – Leading just 55-51 with 13:43 to go in the game, coach Bucky McMillan and the Samford Bulldogs found themselves in an unfamiliar position: under siege.
The VMI Keydets were giving the Bulldogs all they could handle and threatening to make it a one-possession game once again.
With his team’s energy flagging, McMillan laid down the gauntlet in the huddle: keep this up, and Thursday, Jan. 9 would be their first loss at home at the Pete Hanna Center since Feb. 25, 2023.
“I told them, ‘If we keep this up, we will lose this game inevitably, so we have to play like we're down by three or four points here and live with what happens instead of just running back on defense and just taking it however they wanted to give it to us,’” McMillan said.
Samford accepted the challenge and played like a team reborn in the final stretch of the game, pulling away for an 81-68 victory to extend their home win streak to 27 games in a wire-to-wire win that was anything but comfortable.
After a bit of a slow start from both offenses, each side hit its stride from deep as Samford (13-3, 3-0 SoCon) hit two 3-pointers and VMI (6-10, 0-3 SoCon) made one to answer.
The Bulldogs used their early 3-point success to build out a lead, and they made a big early statement thanks to a connection from the two Utah products. Jaden Brownell’s block led right into a transition 3-pointer for Rylan Jones to make the lead 12-5, triggering a Keydets timeout before the under-16 mark even arrived.
Samford had the edge behind the arc early and found Brownell down low on multiple occasions as he controlled the low post, using both of those to remain in front during the first half.
However, the Bulldogs had trouble stopping Rickey Bradley Jr. and Augustinas Kiudulas all night long. The pair kept hitting shots from deep and scored VMI’s first 19 points. Both Keydets finished with 26 points on the night, including a 5-for-6 night from downtown for Kiudulas.
VMI threatened multiple times down the stretch as it cut the lead to just three on several occasions. However, Samford had a response to every shot to remain in front, opening the door for brief run capped by a Josh Holloway steal and breakaway dunk to increase the lead to 41-31 with 4:45 left until halftime.
The Keydets would cut into the deficit before halftime and trailed 47-40 going into the break, setting themselves up to challenge the Bulldogs in the opening minutes of the second half.
In a low-scoring start for both sides out of the gate, Bradley made his move for VMI and scored a layup to cut the deficit to five before knocking down a pair of free throws less than a minute later to make it a 55-52 game with 13:43 remaining.
McMillan called timeout in between the two free throws, and that’s when he challenged his players to respond. The Bulldogs did exactly that.
A couple minutes later Jones hit a clutch 3-pointer after a Keydets turnover to take the lead to 59-52, and that helped Samford carry momentum into the under-12 media timeout.
The Bulldogs lead became double digits thanks to back-to-back layups, the latter off an inbounds steal, to go up 63-52 with 10:59 remaining. The advantage kept ballooning from there, growing to as much as 19 down the stretch.
Samford remained in control in the final minutes as multiple highlight-reel plays only emphasized their newfound command of the game after the numerous scares from VMI.
Jones knocked down a deep 3-pointer while falling away to make it a 17-point game, Larry Olayinka earned two emphatic blocks late of his three for the game and Brownell hit another big shot from deep as the Bulldogs pulled away for the 13-point win.
After the game, McMillan was grateful for the challenge that the Keydets offered as it showed his team early on in SoCon play that winning wouldn’t always be as easy as their first two conference games against The Citadel and Western Carolina.
“It’s just the league,” McMillan said. “I told them, ‘We’ve won the league a couple of years in a row, went 15-3 in the league, if you go back and look, a lot of games were like four-point games when it really gets down to it, and then the SoCon Tournament is that, it’s what it is. So, there is no trying not to lose. That’s just not this league. You have to go take it, and they were here to take the win for sure, and I can assure you on Saturday versus Greensboro, if we're not here to take that win, then I don't even know why we're playing.”
Brownell led Samford with 20 points off 9-for-17 shooting as well as four rebounds, three blocks and three steals. He was one of four Bulldogs in double figures, including Jones with 14 points and five assists, Collin Holloway with a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds and Trey Fort with 10 points and six rebounds.
Collin Holloway’s 12-point night put him at 999 points for his career, and he will go for 1,000 in Samford’s next game on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 5 p.m. at the Pete Hanna Center against the UNC-Greensboro Spartans. Only 7 home games remain for the Samford Bulldogs. Get to a game.
Article by Andrew Simonson. You can follow his work on X and Instagram @andrewtsimonson.