Saturday, November 14th, 5:00 p.m. (et)

FACTS & STATS: Site: Memorial Athletic and Convocation Center (6,327) -- Kent, Ohio. Television: None. Home Record: UWGB 0-0, Samford 0-0. Away Record: UWGB 0-0, Samford 0-1. Neutral Record: UWGB 0-1, Samford 0-0. Conference Record: UWGB 0-0, Samford 0-0. Series Record: Wisconsin-Green Bay leads, 1-0.

GAME NOTES: Hispanic College Fund Classic action continues today with a matchup between the Wisconsin-Green Bay Phoenix and the Samford Bulldogs.

UW-Green Bay fell to UAB yesterday by a 68-56 final to begin the season on a sour note. The team was recently selected to finish fifth in a Horizon League preseason poll, a middle-of-the-road projection. The Phoenix ripped off 22 victories last season and posted an outstanding 13-1 ledger at home, but with three 1,000 point scorers no longer on the roster, it would be mildly shocking for Green Bay to achieve that level of success again in 2009-10.

Samford nearly scored an upset win over the host team, Kent State, yesterday, but the result of that battle was a 69-66 defeat. Fans of the Bulldogs are somewhat optimistic as the team enters its second season as a member of the Southern Conference. There are four returning starters in the fold, and 11 players in total from last year's team are back. Jimmy Tillette is in his 13th season as head coach at Samford, and he welcomes a talented crop of freshmen as well.

UWGB won its only previous meeting with Samford by a 53-48 final in 2000.

So what went wrong for Green Bay in yesterday's loss to UAB? Well, it certainly didn't help matters that the team was outrebounded by a 40-29 margin or outscored 12-5 from the foul line. Also, the club's 40 percent shooting from the floor was certainly nothing to be proud of. Rahmon Fletcher scored 14 points for UWGB in the setback, and Bryquis Perine added 13 points. The Phoenix figure to rely heavily on the backcourt tandem of Fletcher and Troy Cotton both tonight and all season. Cotton, who finished last year second on the team in scoring with 12.6 ppg, scored zero points in the opener on 0-of-6 shooting from the field, and he will have to be much better against Samford.

The Bulldogs connected on 53.5 percent of their field goal attempts against Kent State yesterday, but the team put forth a modest 10-of-19 showing from the foul line and was outrebounded by a 41-31 margin. Also worthy of mention is that the Bulldogs committed eight more turnovers than their counterparts. Three players reached double figures in scoring for Samford, and Andy King led the way with 14 points. Trey Montgomery added 11 points and six rebounds from his guard position, and Bryan Friday had 10 points and five assists. Friday led the team a year ago with 12.5 ppg, while Montgomery did a little of everything for the Bulldogs by posting 11.6 ppg to go along with team highs in rebounds (4.4 rpg) and assists (80).

In what figures to be a close game from start to finish, give a narrow nod to the Phoenix. Cotton will bounce back strong with a stellar performance.

Predicted Outcome

Wisconsin-Green Bay 70, Samford 64