Time:  2 p.m.
Location:  Boiling Springs, N.C.  •  Paul Porter Arena
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BOILING SPRINGS – Winners of its last three in a row, Gardner-Webb returns home to Boiling Springs on Saturday afternoon, January 8 where the Runnin' Bulldogs are set to take on Hampton in Big South Conference action.
 
Tipoff for Gardner-Webb's conference home opener is slated for 2 p.m. inside Paul Porter Arena. In celebration of GWU's Youth Day on Saturday, all children in attendance wearing a jersey to the game will earn free entry.
 
Live video coverage can be streamed on ESPN+ with Phil Constantino on play-by-play and former Penn State Head Men's Basketball Coach Jerry Dunn on color commentary. Radio coverage will also be available on the Runnin' Bulldogs Sports Network (RBSN) with Jim "Mojo" Morrison on the call.
 
Saturday's meeting will be the eighth all time between Gardner-Webb and Hampton, with GWU holding a 5-2 edge in the all-time series. The two teams split its two-game season series a year ago, with the Runnin' Bulldogs picking up a win in the most recent contest, 80-69, on December 31, 2020 in Hampton.
 
Gardner-Webb cruised to an 88-63 victory in its Big South opener on Wednesday night at Charleston Southern. D'Maurian Williams scored 20, Lance Terry added 19 and Anthony Selden matched a career high with 16 points as the Runnin' Bulldogs shot 54.0% from the field in a 25-point rout of the Buccaneers to boost Coach Craft to 5-4 in Big South openers in his GWU tenure.
 
Hampton, on the other hand, has not seen game action since December 12, a 67-54 loss to Loyola (MD). The Pirates have been dormant since then due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols.

BULLDOG BITES

SUCCESSFUL BIG SOUTH OPENER: Gardner-Webb cruised to an 88-63 victory in its Big South opener on Wednesday night. D'Maurian Williams scored 20, Lance Terry added 19 and Anthony Selden matched a career high with 16 points as the Runnin' Bulldogs shot 54.0% from the field in a 25-point rout of the Buccaneers to boost Coach Craft to 5-4 in Big South openers in his GWU tenure.
 
STREAKIN' BULLDOGS: The Runnin' Bulldogs have now strung together a winning streak of 3 games or more for the second time this season. After registering victories over Converse (79-46), Georgia (77-60) and Charleston Southern (88-63), GWU now has a chance on Saturday to match its season-long 4-game winning streak. The 'Dogs have combined to outscore opponents 244-169 during the current 3-game winning streak while holding opponents to 34.4% shooting from the field.
 
WINNING IN FASHION: Gardner-Webb's average margin of victory in 7 games this season is 28.8 points, with the closest victory being a 12-point win over Columbia International, a non-Division I. While GWU beat Georgia by 17 points, all 5 other wins have come by 25 points or more. The largest margin of victory for Gardner-Webb this season: 62 points versus Carver (100-38).
 
BIG SOUTH SUCCESS: Under Coach Craft, the Runnin' Bulldogs have not endured a losing season in Big South Conference play in his eight full seasons. Craft is 82-61 (.573) in the Big South, reaching at least 10 wins in 7 of his 8 seasons.
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Zion Williams was named Big South Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week on Monday, Jan. 3 following Gardner-Webb's 77-60 victory over Georgia. Williams matched a career high with 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting, and also grabbed seven rebounds and set season-high marks with 3 steals and 1 block in 34 minutes of action, a team high.
 
DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS: Through 14 games, Gardner-Webb has held opponents to a 39.2% field-goal percentage, the top mark in the Big South and the 46th best average in the nation. GWU has kept opponents below 40.0% shooting in 4 of the last 5 games and 9 times overall this season. Also, 2 of those instances of opponents shooting over 40.0% came against nationally-ranked opponents in No. 16 Arkansas (.471) and No. 7 Duke (.571).
 
DEFENDING THE PERIMETER: GWU currently ranks 12^th in the country in opponent 3-point percentage at 27.1%. Outside of its 2 games against nationally ranked opponents, Gardner-Webb has been excellent defending the perimeter this season. In 12 games not against ranked teams, GWU has held opponents to just 23.6% (66-of-280) shooting from deep. GWU opponents have gone just 27-for-116 (23.3%) on triples in the last 5 games combined.
 
BLOCK PARTY: Gardner-Webb's 77 total blocks this season are 17^th most in Division I, while its 5.5 BPG average ranks 22^nd in the nation. Ludovic Dufeal leads the way averaging 2.1 BPG, followed by Kareem Reid (1.9 BPG) and Anthony Selden (1.3 BPG).
 
DOUBLE-DIGIT D'MAURIAN: D'Maurian Williams continues to get it done on offense for GWU. The 2nd-year guard has finished in double figures 10 times this season, including in 5 of the last 6 games. He has finished with 20+ points in 4 games, the 4^th-most of any player in the Big South trailing only John-Michael Wright (HPU – 7), Rayshon Harrison (Presbyterian – 5) and D.J. Burns (Winthrop – 5). The Phoenix, Arizona native currently leads the Runnin' Bulldogs averaging 14.6 PPG.
 
DOWNTOWN D'MAURIAN: Much of D'Maurian Williams' offensive success this season has come from distance. Williams has gone 15 for 28 from distance over the last 4 games (53.6%) and is currently 4^th the Big South in 3P% at 38.0%. Additionally, Williams has hit on 2 or more 3-pointers in 10-of-14 games this season and has hit 3 or more in 8-of-14 games.
 
BACKCOURT BROS: The duo of D'Maurian Williams and Lancy Terry has been one of the best 1-2 punches on offense in the Big South this season. Williams (14.6 PPG) and Terry (13.9 PPG) rank 5^th and 6^th in the Big South in scoring, respectively, as Gardner-Webb is the only Big South school to feature two players in the top 6 in scoring. Only 4 Big South teams (High Point, Winthrop, Presbyterian and Hampton) have a single player averaging more PPG than both Williams and Terry.
 
DUFEAL DIMES: While not a major scoring (13 points on 13 shots in the last 3 games), Ludovic Dufeal has still made a major impact on offense, combining for 13 assists over the course of the 3-game winning streak. Dufeal, who averages 0.75 APG for his career, tied a career high with 5 assists versus Converse on Dec. 19 before setting a new career high with 6 assists last game on Dec. 29 versus Georgia. This season, Dufeal has averaged 2.3 APG in 9 games since returning from injury and already has 21 assists after not registering more than 21 in any season prior (21 total as a junior, 20 as a sophomore, 3 as a freshman).
 
MORE LUDOVIC: Ludovic Dufeal has also been crashing the boards of late, grabbing double-digit rebounds in 3 of the last 5 games. He set a new career high with 15 boards at VMI and currently averages a team-high 6.7 boards overall this season after averaging 4.4 last season and 5.2 as a sophomore.  His 15-rebound performance was also the most by a GWU player since Tyrell Nelson grabbed 16 boards on Jan. 6, 2016.
 
MASTER OF EFFICIENCY: Kareem Reid, who has finished perfect from the field in 4 games this season, ranks 10th in NCAA Division I with a FG% of 63.6% (70-of-110). He remains GWU's 3rd-leading scorer at 11.6 PPG trailing only D'Maurian Williams (14.6 PPG) and Lance Terry (13.9 PPG). Reid, who entered the season with a single-game career-high of 13 points, has already eclipsed that total in 5 games this season while finishing in double figures 7 times.
 
GWU BLOCK KING: With 3 blocks versus Converse on Dec. 19, senior Ludovic Dufeal became Gardner-Webb's all-time career blocks leader with 145 (Division I era) eclipsing the previous record of 144 set by Simon Conn (02'-03 to '05-'06).
 
DOWN GO THE (UGA) BULLDOGS: Gardner-Webb pulled off an upset over Georgia its last time out, a 17-point win over the Bulldogs on Dec. 29 in Athens. GWU led for all but 1:24 of play early in the opening half, and it took only 7:17 for the Runnin' Bulldogs to open a double-digit lead. Zion Williams, Lance Terry and Jordan Sears all finished with 14 points on a combined 15-31 shooting, Ludovic Dufeal recorded 11 rebounds and a career-high six assists and Georgia never came any closer than 7 points.
 
A WIN LIKE NO OTHER: The 17-point margin of victory over Georgia was the largest ever for Gardner-Webb over a Power 5 opponent. Prior to that, the largest margin of victory stood at 16 points when GWU upset #20 Kentucky, 84-66, on Nov. 7, 2007.
 
POWER 5 WIN: The win over Georgia was Gardner-Webb's first over a Power 5 program since taking down Wake Forest (12/29/18) exactly 3 years to the date. It was the 13^th Power 5 win in team history and the sixth for Coach Craft in his 9-year tenure at the helm.
 
SEC TERRITORY: GWU's victory in Athens was its second win all-time against an SEC opponent. The other win came back on Nov. 7, 2007, a 16-point win over #20 Kentucky, 84-66.
 
LOCKDOWN D: GWU held Converse to 27.0% shooting, the lowest shooting percentage of any opponent since Brevard shot 18.0% against the 'Dogs on December 19, 2018, nearly 3 full years ago.
 
THREE-FOR-ALL: The 'Dogs knocked down 16 3-pointers on Dec. 19 against Converse, the most in a contest since February 10, 2020 against High Point.
 
100 BLOCK CLUB: With 4 blocks vs. North Carolina Central on Nov. 29, Kareem Reid became sixth Runnin' Bulldog to eclipse 100 career blocks since Gardner-Webb's move to Division I in 2002-03. Reid also became the 46th player in Big South Conference history to eclipse 100 career blocks.
 
100 WINS: Coach Craft is the third coach in Gardner-Webb history to reach 100 career wins in six seasons. The Tallahassee, Florida native joined Hall of Famers Eddie Holbrook (141) and Jim Wiles (103) on that list on Jan. 19, 2019. Craft currently ranks third all-time in career wins at GWU trailing Holbrook (212) and Rick Scruggs (199).