Late-season woes and all, Kansas lived up to the experts’ No. 4 seed projection when the NCAA tournament picture revealed No. 13 seed Samford as the Jayhawks’ first-round opponent in the Midwest Region bracket on Thursday.
The game will take place at 8:55 p.m. Central Time at the Delta Center in Salt Lake City, with a TV broadcast on TBS.
Samford (29-5) automatically earned its first seat in the tourney since 2000 – its third berth all-time – with a six-point win over East Tennessee State in the Southern Conference tournament.
“On paper, looking at it and not knowing all their personnel the way that we will here shortly, I’d say that it’s an extremely difficult matchup,” KU coach Bill Self said Sunday.
Led by Anton Foy Coach of the Year Bucky McMillan, the Bulldogs engineered the nation’s fifth-highest-producing offense (86.0 ppg). The Bulldogs maintain nearly 50% production from the field (11th), compared to KU at 48.8% (17th).
Melbourne, Australia, native Achor Achor (15.8 points per game, 6.1 rebounds) is a key fixture of “Bucky Ball.” The 6-foot-9 first-team All-Southern forward is shooting just under 60% after transferring from Chipola College for the 2022-23 season. Achor is complemented on the block by senior Jermaine Marshall (10.9 ppg, 5.1 reb).
While Samford can claim security in the lane, ball security is another matter. The Bulldogs give up 16.6 turnovers per game (357th in the nation), paired with 35.6 rebounds lost per game (234th).
Two more All-Southern names, Jaden Campbell (11.1 ppg) and SoCon Newcomer of the Year Rylan Jones (9.4 ppg), are 30-minute-per-game mainstays on the Samford roster. Senior guard A.J. Staton-McCray (11.6 ppg) has picked up sporadic minutes off the bench through his last five appearances.
Campbell, Jones and Staton-McCray all shoot 38% or higher from beyond the arc. Across the board, Samford is the seventh-best 3-point shooting team in the country. Conversely, the Bulldogs allow 23.6 (276th) attempts per game from 3-point range.
“What have we labored with the most this year?” Self said. “It’s teams that shoot a ton of 3s and then we have a hard time making up the difference.”
Additionally, Samford’s bench ranks in the upper decks with 33.38 ppg (fifth).
The winner of the KU-Samford matchup will be paired with either Gonzaga or McNeese State in the second round.
Sports Editor Henry Greenstein contributed to this story.
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AP Photo/Kathy Kmonicek
