Samford (16-11, 6-8) vs. Mercer (9-17, 4-10)
Hawkins Arena, Macon, Georgia; Thursday, 7 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Mercer goes for the season sweep over Samford after winning the previous matchup in Homewood. The teams last played on Jan. 19, when the Bears outshot Samford 54.9 percent to 45.5 percent and made 12 more free throws en route to a six-point victory.
LEADING THE CHARGE: Mercer's Ross Cummings has averaged 17 points while Ethan Stair has put up 11.5 points and five rebounds. For the Bulldogs, Josh Sharkey has averaged 16.5 points, 7.7 assists and 2.7 steals while Ruben Guerrero has put up 13.9 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks.
CREATING OFFENSE: Sharkey has been directly responsible for 55 percent of all Samford field goals over the last three games. Sharkey has 24 field goals and 23 assists in those games.
WINLESS WHEN: Mercer is 0-13 this year when it scores 70 points or fewer and 9-4 when it scores at least 71.
COLD SPELL: Mercer has lost its last three home games, scoring an average of 63.7 points while giving up 72.3.
DID YOU KNOW: Samford and Mercer are the class of the SoCon when it comes to getting to the foul line. The Bulldogs are ranked second in the conference and have averaged 20 free throws while the Bears are ranked first and have attempted 21.8 per game.
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This was generated by Automated Insights, http://www.automatedinsights.com/ap, using data from STATS LLC, https://www.stats.com
