Despite Booth’s 34 Points, Samford’s Season Ends in Asheville
Well sometimes history does repeat itself. Samford is one-and-done in consecutive years in Asheville losing to the same team in Furman, 86-81. Despite an incredible performance from the best shooter in the country, Jadin Booth led all scorers with 34 points. Booth is now the Samford school record holder in threes made in a single-season.
At critical points in the second half, Samford went on too many scoreless stretches and that cost them in the end. Furman’s depth proved to be too much to overcome as the Paladins finished with 48 bench points compared to Samford’s six. The first half was an electric display of offensive basketball by both teams.
Furman was throwing punches in the first half and Samford was punching right back. As Samford head coach Lennie Acuff likes to say, “you have to have a strong chin,” and Samford had just that in the first half. Furman started the game making eight of their first 10 threes and Furman guard Alex Wilkins had 13 early points.
Acuff pointed to that in his postgame presser. “Man, what a strong chin,” said Acuff. They (Furman) absolutely hit us with a haymaker. I think they made eight of their first ten threes but we didn’t flinch. We kept coming back.”
Samford did keep coming back in large part thanks to Jadin Booth. The half included seven lead changes and Booth was on fire early with 23 of his 34 points coming in the first half. Samford shot 60% from the field in the first half and 50% from three (five of six threes were from Booth). Samford struggled to get All-SoCon first teamer Dylan Faulkner enough touches in the first half but Samford was finding other ways to stay in the fight.
Later in the second half is when Samford’s offense could not match Furman. Jadin Booth hit his first three pointer of the second half on Samford’s first possession and did not make another on until the 28 second mark. In the first half, Booth tweaked his ankle by getting stepped on by a Furman player but still managed to play all 40 minutes.
Furman started face guarding Booth on one end then making sure he chased Furman’s Tom House around on the other end of the floor.
Samford was also turning the ball over which they had not done all season being one of the best teams in the country in that category. The Bulldogs finished with 11 total turnovers. So you add the scoreless stretches along with turning it over more, that is a bad recipe. Samford also finished -5 on rebounds which included Furman finishing with 10 offensive rebounds.
Furman had 15 second chance points to go along with that.
Dylan Faulkner finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Cade Norris came alive in the second half finishing with 11 points after being held scoreless in the first half. His brother Keaton finished with 11 points of his own along with five assists.
For Samford to advance far in this tournament, they needed more outside the tandem of Booth and Faulkner. The Norris brothers combined for 22 points while the other supporting cast combined for just 13 points. Booth was otherworldly but not enough support from the rest of Samford’s slim rotation doomed them in the end.
Samford will have to replace Booth and Keaton Norris this offseason. Becoming a deeper team off the bench, is also on that list of priorities. Retaining star forward Dylan Faulkner is probably number one.
Lennie Acuff was effusive in his praise of Jadin Booth with his play on the court and the kind of person he is off the court.
“You guys saw tonight the best shooter in the country,” said Acuff. “This (Booth) is the best shooter in college basketball. I don’t care what anybody says. He had 23 at the half and ended up with 34. But what he’s about, after the game he says he’s sorry. I’m like sorry for what? I mean that’s how good he is, even when he misses everybody in the gym’s surprised.”
Samford returned .9 points per game from a season ago following the departure of Bucky McMillan to Texas A&M.
Guard Keaton Norris got to fulfill a lifelong dream this basketball season, getting to play with his brother Cade, for his final year of eligibility.
“I’m just unbelievably grateful to be a Bulldog,” said Norris. “Just super thankful for Coach (Acuff) and staff for believing in me, putting me in this situation, especially for being able to play with Cade. Dream come true. I’m super grateful, will never forget it. And I’m a Bulldog for life.”
Jadin Booth reflected on his final year of college basketball. Samford’s first ever player of the year in the Southern Conference and Samford’s record holder for most threes made in a regular season spoke about playing under Acuff for his final season.
“Like Keaton said, I’m super grateful for this opportunity”, said Booth. “I definitely would not have gone anywhere else, this was the best choice I’ve made. It’s funny sometimes the grass isn’t greener on the other side and like coach said, you have to be lucky too as a player to find the right fit and have a great experience. So yeah this was a home run for me. A lot of people told me Coach Acuff was like the greatest human being on the planet and that’s 100% true.
Year one of the Lennie Acuff era is officially in the books. Samford was literally one of the last jobs needing to be filled last offseason. To return just two players from a season ago and finish tied for second in the league is a credit to the new Samford coaching staff. This team was able to gel and succeed playing with each other.
Samford lost a projected starter before the regular season even started, losing guard DaJion Humphrey to an achilles tear in the preseason exhibition against Alabama A&M. Acuff and staff had to reorganize their plan on what to do with this roster. Cade Norris did not start the season opener against Tulane but ended up starting every game after that. True freshman Isaiah Campbell-Finch also found himself in the starting lineup after not starting the first seven games.
Samford added C Will Shaver in August and he had to shed pounds to get into playing shape. For next season, Samford needs to be deeper on the bench. That probably goes for most basketball teams around the country. Lennie Acuff wants Samford to be a developmental program in this new era of college basketball. Furman returned eight players from a season ago, that’s rare.
It’s clear in the way that Samford players talk about their coach, Samford has the right coach to help push forward this new era of Samford basketball. As Acuff stated in his introductory presser, “My job is not to replace Bucky. My job is to keep Samford at the top of the Southern Conference.”
An interesting offseason awaits as all are in this day and age of college basketball. One thing is for certain, Samford will be back.
