SAMFORD RUNS UP HOME WINNING STREAM IN 72-47 Win Over Austin Peay

By Steve Irvine

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - December 9, 2024

The message came to Samford post player Riley Allenspach during the first half of Sunday’s non-conference game against Austin Peay at the Pete Hanna Center.

“I don't remember what time it was, it was one of the media timeouts,” the 6-foot-11, 247-pound sophomore said of the message delivered by head coach Bucky McMillan. “Coach just kind of came in and was like, they're going to get me the ball. And then it was a good job to the guards to listen to him and kind of feed me throughout the night.”

When he was done, Allenspach had collected 15 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line to lead the Bulldogs to a 72-47 victory over the Governors. It was the Bulldogs 25th consecutive home victory.

However, this win didn’t come complete with a quick start. Both teams, in fact, scuffled around in the first half before Samford carried a 26-22 lead into halftime. Allenspach had seven points in the first half but was just 2-of-7 from the field. McMillan knew what was coming in the second half.

“I think we set it up about 10-minute mark (or) eight-minute mark,” McMillan said. “We said they cannot stop Riley tonight, they won’t be able to stop him. We could see what it was. That's really a culmination of obviously him being a great player and his hard work. It also was the culmination of our team's defensive effort to link to wear them down a little bit, so that he's not playing against a guy with a full battery all the time. So that's one thing that we got to give credit to those guards and those guys that worked so hard on defense so that Riley, when he came in there, he was a full force, maybe against a guy with battery when fully charged.”

McMillan’s said his team is also blessed by a trio of big men – Allenspach, 6-foot-9,230-pound junior Jaden Brownell and 6-foot-9, 215-pound sophomore Larry Olayinka – who take turns carrying the load. Allenspach scored in double digits in four of the first games. In the five games prior to Sunday, though, he scored a total of 28 points. He played just four minutes in a win over Utah Valley. Brownell entered Sunday’s game as the team’s leading scorer at 14.7 points per game.

“We got three really good bigs on our team,” McMillan said. “Sometimes they play together, sometimes they don't. A lot of times it's been Jaden’s night. They're all very capable of being forces in our league and forces in college basketball. What I like about them is that they never stop working. There was a couple of games ago, Riley didn’t play much. It was Jaden’s night. And he’s in the gym the next day or actually that night working hard. And here you go, right here, he plays a game that we probably don't have nearly success, obviously, without him playing like he did. So, man, I really appreciate how they work because it's easy when you’re not getting consistent minutes every night to give in and not keep grinding. But they pull for each other all the time. It was great it was Riley’s turn tonight and watching them all pull for him.”

It also helped that Samford starting hitting 3-pointers in the second half. The Bulldogs were 3-of-15 from long range in the first half and 8-of-16 after halftime. Trey Fort, who played just under seven first half minutes in the first half because of foul trouble, was 5-of-8 from 3-point range during the game to tie Allenspach for team-high scoring honors. Rylan Jones had two 3-pointers with both coming early in the second half.

“We didn't start the best, but played well defensively throughout," said McMillan. "I think our depth played a factor in wearing them down. Held them to 22 points in the first half, you expect to be up by more than four points. Held them to 25 in the second and we scored 46 and finally got it going offensively. A 9-2 start to the season is a good start, but most importantly we are getting better. Two more in the non-conference and then the fun starts."

Samford takes some time off for final exams before traveling to play at Arizona on Dec. 18. The Bulldogs then close non-conference play on Dec. 21 at Alabama A&M before beginning defense of their Southern Conference title.