RUSTON – After a long road trip to Indiana, the Louisiana Tech men's basketball team returns home to face Samford on Saturday night at 8 p.m. inside the Thomas Assembly Center on Karl Malone Court.
 
The matchup will be streamed live on CUSA.tv (subscription required).  Fans can also listen to Dave Nitz and Jack Thigpen call the action through the LA Tech Sports Network on KXKZ 107.5 FM (Ruston), KOKA 93.3 FM/980 AM (Shreveport) as well as on the LA Tech Athletics app.
 
LA Tech (4-2) does not want a repeat performance of its game at Indiana that saw the team commit a season-high 20 turnovers and 28 fouls that proved costly in the 88-75 loss.
 
The Bulldogs trailed by as much as 23 points in the game, but fought back to get it down to nine in the second half.  The bulk of the scoring ended up coming from the bench that totaled 46 points, the most since 2017 and the most against a D1 opponent since 2014.
 
In particular, it was junior Amorie Archibald and freshman Isaiah Crawford who did the scoring.  Archibald set a new career-high with 24 points, including five three-pointers, while Crawford also set a new career-high with 14 points.  Both players also tied for a team-high five boards.
 
Archibald became the sixth different player (in six games) to lead the squad in scoring.  Six different Bulldogs have scored double-digit points at least three times, led by senior DaQuan Bracey with five.
 
LA Tech continued its ability to turn other people over, forcing a season-high 18 turnovers by the Hoosiers.  They have now forced 17+ turnovers in five of their six games this season, averaging 18.5 forced per game which currently ranks 26th in the country.
 
It has been an even split so far for Samford (4-4) this season, winning all four home games and dropping all four road games.  There most recent game was an 86-77 setback at South Dakota State.
 
The team, under six-year head coach Scott Padgett, relies heavily on their starting five who are the top five scorers and make up 79 percent of the scoring offense.  Four of the starters – Brandon Austin (14.9), Robert Allen (14.5), Josh Sharkey (14.4) and Jalen Dupree (12.5) – are averaging double-figure points.
 
Sharkey, a senior guard, was one of 10 players named to the preseason All-Southern Conference team.  Despite missing three games this season, he leads the team in assists (9.4 per game) and steals (3.8 per game). 
 
The visiting Bulldogs are a strong rebounding team, ranking ninth in the country in total boards and 45th in total rebounds per game with an average of 41.25 per contest.
 
Samford leads the all-time series, 4-3, over LA Tech.  The last meeting came in Ruston in 2014 with the home Bulldogs winning it, 77-64.
 
Twitter users can follow @LATechHoops for live in-game updates and more.