They Said It: Alabama A&M Exhibition

We spoke with Samford head coach Lennie Acuff postgame following his team’s 71-61 win over Alabama A&M in the Ballin in Boutwell event. Cooper Noard led Samford in scoring with 15 points while Ty Davis had 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Q: What kind of element does Cooper Noard give you?

“It’s just proven production. You know when you’ve done it. He averaged, 19, a game or whatever it was at Cornell
last year. I don't know the last time he’s missed five threes like he did tonight. He got five really good looks at it that he normally makes. He’s three for eight. He just gives us a guy that can score the ball. He’s experienced, he’s been through it and that really helps.”

Q: Defensively, what did you see from your guys on that end?

Well I thought that last year, they took the flight to us, and that was the thing we weren't gonna do. We say don’t ever let them be the hammer. You gotta be the hammer, not the nail. And I thought we had a little bit more physicality and we got up into the ball a little more. But we will have to make a big jump in two weeks before we go to Jax State. There’s a lot of things that we gotta clean up.”

Q: With your frontcourt at the five spot, what will it be like finding a rhythm there?

“Yeah, we gotta figure that out. Braeden gives us a real deadly shooter. There's some other things that he has got to get better at. It gives us a guy that can pick and pop and make threes. Will has actually shot the three pretty well. We’ll get Lawson Lee back in a couple weeks and that will help. We just gotta keep kicking the can down the road.”

Exhibition season continues as Samford plays Jacksonville State on October 26th.