SFA To Square Off With Texas Tech
12/31/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 31, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
ESSENTIALS
SFA at Texas Tech
Thursday, Jan. 1, 2009 • 3:00 p.m.
United Spirit Arena (15,098) • Lubbock, Texas
Radio: Q107.7 FM • Television: None
Internet: Yahoo! Sports/ESPN 360.com
GAME INFORMATION
New Year, Same Season: The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball will resume play following an 11-day break with a New Year's Day game against Texas Tech. The contest in Lubbock will put the wraps on a five-game road swing, SFA's longest of the season. SFA brings a 7-3 mark into the meeting after seeing its six-game win streak snapped with a loss at Arkansas. The Red Raiders are 9-4 on the year with an undefeated record in home games.
Last Game: Arkansas shot 46.3 percent, a season-high for SFA opponents, as the Razorbacks took a 67-51 win over the Lumberjacks in the final game of the Arkansas Jim Thorpe Classic on Dec. 20. Four different Razorbacks reached double digits in scoring, while Josh Alexander's 17 points left him as the lone SFA player in double figures. Arkansas beat SFA, 40-25, in rebounding and outscored the Lumberjacks, 27-9, in second-chance points. Michael Washington scored 17 points and pulled down 13 rebounds to pace Arkansas.
vs. Texas Tech: SFA is 6-4 all-time against the Red Raiders. Texas Tech has won three straight in the series, including a 60-44 verdict last season in Lubbock. The Lumberjacks' last win in the series was a 75-74 road victory during the 1998-99 season.
The Red Raiders: Texas Tech opened the season with five straight home games and won all five before suffering its first loss of the season. The Red Raiders have gone on to compile an 8-0 mark at home, where they are putting up 91.5 points per contest and outscoring the opposition by an average of 18 points per game.
The Coaches: SFA is led by head coach Danny Kaspar. Kaspar is in his ninth season at the helm for the Lumberjacks. He holds a record of 141-99 (.588) at SFA and has a 360-151 (.705) overall record in 17-plus seasons as a collegiate head coach. Texas Tech is coached by Pat Knight. In his first full season as the Red Raiders' head coach, Knight is 13-11 (.542).
Up Next: The Lumberjacks will meet Jarvis Christian on Saturday in their first home game in nearly a month. The contest is set for a 6 p.m. tip and is SFA's last non-conference game before opening Southland Conference play with a home game against Sam Houston State.
NEWS AND NOTES
OFF-BALANCE: Senior Josh Alexander scored 17 points in SFA's 67-51 loss at Arkansas. No other player reached double digits in that game, marking just the second time that's happened this season. All three of the Lumberjacks' losses this season have come when fewer than three players reached double digits.
EFFICIENT: Arkansas defeated SFA by making the most of its opportunities, while limiting the Lumberjacks' chances. The Razorbacks shot 46.3 percent from the field, the highest percentage by an SFA opponent this season, and finished with a 15-rebound margin over the Lumberjacks, also a season-high for SFA foes.
STREAK: SFA's 93-54 win over Austin Peay in the first round of the Arkansas Jim Thorpe Classic took the Lumberjacks' win streak to six straight games, the longest of the season. The run began with an 83-42 verdict over Texas College on Nov. 29 and included three home wins, one true road victory and a pair of neutral-site wins.
SCORE!: The 93 points SFA put up against Austin Peay are the most scored in regulation by a Lumberjack team this season and the most points in regulation against a Division I opponent since SFA beat Centenary College, 94-57, in the 2005-06 campaign.
QUADRUPLE-DOUBLE: Four different Lumberjacks reached double figures in scoring in Friday's win over Austin Peay. That marked the fourth consecutive game for at least four SFA players to score in double digits and the fifth time this season for the Lumberjacks to accomplish that feat.
ALL IN: Every SFA player touched the floor in SFA's win over Austin Peay, marking the first time this season that all 14 players on the Lumberjack roster have entered a game.
STEADY EDDIE: Sophomore guard Eddie Williams tied his career-high with 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting against Austin Peay. This marked the second time in three games for Williams to reach 25 points and the third time this season for him to lead the team in scoring. He first eclipsed the mark in SFA's triple-overtime win against North Dakota State. Williams' 11 field goals also tied the career-high he posted against the Bison.
RANK AND FILE: SFA is ranked No. 13 in the most recent CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. SFA began the year at No. 11, the first time in the poll's 10-year history for SFA to enter the season as a ranked team and the highest entry to the poll for a Lumberjack team to date. Two weeks ago, SFA was ranked No. 10, marking the earliest move into the top 10 for SFA since the poll began. SFA spent a program-best 15 consecutive weeks ranked in last year's Mid-Major Top 25 after debuting at No. 25 on Dec. 10. The 'Jacks climbed as high as No. 6, including a first-place vote, on Feb. 25, and finished the season ranked 14th.
ROAD SHOW: SFA's 66-64 win at Drake was the Lumberjacks' first true road victory of the season. It came on the heels of a neutral-site win against North Dakota State that was SFA's first win outside of Johnson Coliseum this season. The Lumberjacks recorded five non-conference road victories in 2007-08, when they went a program-best 12-1 before beginning Southland Conference play.
SCORING SPREE: The 223 combined points SFA and NDSU scored is the highest combined total in an SFA game since the Lumberjacks' 123-103 loss to San Francisco in the 1994-95 season.
HIGH POINT: The 111 points scored by North Dakota State are the most given up by a Lumberjack team in nine seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. The previous best for an opponent during the Kaspar era was the 92 scored by Arizona State in the season opener of the 2001-02 season, Kaspar's second at SFA. The 78 points the Bison scored in regulation are the most allowed by SFA in a regular-season game since the Lumberjacks beat Northern Illinois, 86-78, in 2006-07.
SIXTY: The 60 points scored by NDSU's Ben Woodside are the most scored by an individual against SFA in nine seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. The last time an individual scored more than 50 points against a Lumberjack team was in the 1988-89 season, when McNeese State's Michael Cutright scored 51.
WORKING OVERTIME: SFA's triple-overtime win against North Dakota State is the longest game in SFA's 23 years as a Division I program and the longest contest played by an SFA team since the Lumberjacks took a quadruple-overtime win against Southwestern, 101-99, in 1983. SFA is now 28-33, all-time, in overtime games. The Lumberjacks are 6-4 in their last 10 overtime contests.
TAKE WHAT'S FREE: Junior point guard Girod Adams leads SFA in free throw percentage at .875. He's been perfect from the stripe in four of his last five games with a foul shot attempt and has hit 13 of his last 14 attempts, including nine straight. At the Drake Hy-Vee Classic, Adams went 6-for-6 at the stripe, giving him seven straight makes dating to the Texas Wesleyan game. For the season, he is 14-of-16 on free throws.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Matt Kingsley scored 23 points and pulled down 13 rebounds against North Dakota State to record his sixth career double-double. The 13 rebounds are a season high for Kingsley and tie the career-best he set last November. With Kingsley's performance coming on the heels of Josh Alexander's 20-point, 10-rebound effort against Texas Wesleyan, the Lumberjacks have now posted double-doubles in consecutive games.
TWENTY-SOMETHING: Josh Alexander joined Kingsley above the 20-point barrier with 24 points against NDSU. He has now registered 20 or more points 22 times in his career.
KING FOR A DAY: With his career-high 33 points against Jackson State, senior Matt Kingsley briefly took over the team scoring lead from classmate Josh Alexander. Kingsley's jump to 17.0 points per game took him from 17th in the Southland Conference to fourth in one game. It was his second career 30-point game. Kingsley is currently fifth in the SLC with 16.3 points per game.
ON THE MONEY: Kingsley did most of his damage in his career game against Jackson State with high-percentage shots in the paint. In fact, high-percentage may be an understatement. He posted a career-best 15-for-16 performance from the field. Kingsley was 12-for-12 with 25 points in the first half.
MOVIN' ON UP: In the last four games, senior center Matt Kingsley has jumped four slots on the list of career scoring leaders at SFA. He was 20th all-time heading into the Drake Hy-Vee Classic but now stands 16th with 1,147 points and is just six points shy of taking over the No. 15 spot.
THREE-FOR-ALL: Josh Alexander tied a career-high with seven 3-point field goals in SFA's loss at Texas A&M. Alexander was 7-for-10 from downtown and 7-for-12 overall to finish with 21 points. That marked the 11th time in Alexander's career for all his field goals in a game to come from 3-point range. Coming into that contest, the most 3-pointers he had ever hit in a game without scoring from inside the arc was six at Sam Houston Sate during the 2007-08 season. With no attempts at the free throw line, that effort marked just the fifth time in Alexander's career for all his points to come on threes. The previous best total in that scenario was the 12 points he scored on 4-of-7 shooting at Missouri in 2006-07.
BETTER HALF: SFA held Texas College to 11 points in the second half of the Lumberjacks' 83-42 win. This ties for the lowest one-half point total given up to an opponent in nine seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar and is the best second-half point total allowed in that time span. The 'Jacks have held opposing teams below 20 points in a single half 30 times under Kaspar and are 28-2 in such contests. SFA held eight opponents under 20 points in a half during the 2007-08 campaign and has done so three times this season.
NO SHOT: The Lumberjacks dominated Texas College in the second half of their 83-42 victory. The Steers were just 2-for-22 from the field -- both 3-pointers -- in the final 20 minutes for a second-half shooting percentage of .091. That's the lowest single-half average of the season, and it left Texas College with a .308 shooting percentage for the game, the third time in four contests an SFA opponent had shot worse than 35 percent.
BIG 12: In eight seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, SFA is 2-6 against teams from the Big 12 Conference. The 'Jacks have played at least one Big 12 foe in all but two seasons of Kaspar's tenure -- 2001-02 and 2004-05. SFA's two wins were at Baylor (79-57) in 2003-04 and at Oklahoma (66-62) last season. Last week's game at Texas A&M marked the first of two contests against Big 12 opponents this season. SFA will also take on Texas Tech on New Year's Day.
LOW POINT: In eight-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, SFA has held 29 opponents to 50 points or fewer. SFA held the competition below that level nine times in 2007-08. The previous best under Kaspar was four games in a single season with fewer than 50 points. So far this season, the Lumberjacks have held four opponents to fewer than 50 points.
REMEMBERING A LUMBERJACK LEGEND: In memory of Marshall Brown, who passed away over the summer, the Lumberjacks will wear a black band on their game jerseys during the 2008-09 season. Brown coached men's basketball at SFA from 1959-1978 and is the school's all-time winningest coach with 345 career victories.
SCOUTING THE RED RAIDERS
• FOR THE RECORD: The Red Raiders are 9-4 coming into their game with SFA. Texas Tech opened the season with a five-game winning streak before Pittsburgh notched an 80-67 win over the Red Raiders in their first game outside of Lubbock. The five-game run included a 167-115 win over East Central University on Nov. 20. The 167 points stand as the highest single-game total in Division I this season. Texas Tech suffered back-to-back road losses to Lamar and UTEP but has since defeated New Mexico and Centenary in consecutive games at home. The Red Raiders are coming off a 111-66 loss at Stanford on Sunday. Texas Tech is 8-0 in home games this season.
• LAST GAME: Stanford took a big lead early and coasted to a 111-66 win on Sunday that stands as the second-worst defeat in Texas Tech history. The Cardinal shot 56 percent from the floor and outrebounded the Red Raiders, 48-28, to stay unbeaten this season. Texas Tech never had the lead in the contest, and Stanford led by as many as 47 points late in the second half. The Cardinal forced 20 turnovers while giving up just nine and outscored Texas Tech, 35-2, in points off turnovers. Forward Mike Singletary led the Red Raiders with 13 points, and D'walyn Roberts added 11 points.
• LAST MEETING: Texas Tech handed SFA its only pre-conference loss of the season last year, taking a 60-44 verdict in Lubbock. The Lumberjacks' 23 turnovers led to 16 points for the Red Raiders, and that proved to be the final margin. SFA was down nine at halftime but opened the second period with an 11-2 run to tie the score at 29 with 14:40 to play. Matt Kingsley led SFA with 19 points on 5-of-8 shooting, but no other Lumberjack reached double digits. Guard Martin Zeno, who has since departed, scored 23 points to pace Texas Tech.
• KEY NUMBERS: The Red Raiders rank second in the Big 12 in scoring with 84.5 points per game, but the 79.2 points per game Texas Tech opponents are averaging put them last in the league in that category. The Red Raiders rank in the top four of the conference in field goal percentage, 3-point field goal percentage, assists and 3-pointers per game. Texas Tech ranks 11th in the Big 12 in field goal percentage defense and 10th in the league in defending the 3-point shot. Red Raider opponents are pulling down a leagu-high 39.8 rebounds per contest.
• LEADERS: Sophomore guard John Roberson leads the Red Raiders and ranks 11th in the Big 12 with 15.5 points per game and paces the Big 12 with his 6.62 assists per contest. Senior guard Alan Voskuil's 14.1 points per game rank 17th in the league, and he stands fifth in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage, knocking down 46.2 percent from downtown. Voskuil is second in the Big 12 with 3.23 3-pointers per contest. Sophomore forward Mike Singletary's 5.5 rebounds per game lead Texas Tech and rank 17th in the conference.
• Click here for complete game notes in .pdf format.
-- SFA --
