'Jacks Host Texas Wesleyan
12/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 5, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
ESSENTIALS
Texas Wesleyan at SFA • Saturday, December 6, 2008 • 6:00 p.m.
William R. Johnson Coliseum (7,200) • Nacogdoches, Texas
Radio: None • Television: None • Internet: Yahoo! Sports
GAME INFORMATION
Last Chance: Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball fans will have their last chance for nearly a month to see the 'Jacks in action at home on Saturday. SFA hosts Texas Wesleyan in the final match-up of its three-game home stand before taking to the road for five straight contests, including a pair of tournaments. The Lumberjacks will not be in action at home again until Jan. 3. SFA brings a 3-2 record to Saturday's game, while Texas Wesleyan comes in with a 5-1 mark.
Last Game: Matt Kingsley scored a career-high 33 points on 15-of-16 shooting, and SFA held off a furious second-half rally to defeat Jackson State, 73-59, on Tuesday. The Tigers went on a 19-2 run in the second period to cut what had been a 25-point SFA lead to eight with 11:01 left to play. Jackson State would cut the margin to as few as four before the Lumberjacks bounced back with some timely shots down the stretch to put the game away. Kingsley was an amazing 12-for-12 from the field in the first period, when he scored 25 of his 33 points. Junior point guard Girod Adams went 4-for-4 from the field and 4-for-4 from the foul line for a career-high 14 points. Josh Alexander added 14 points of his own and led the team with seven rebounds. SFA outscored the Tigers, 40-22, in the paint.
vs. Texas Wesleyan: SFA owns a 23-9 all-time record against the Rams. While the teams will meet for the 32nd time Saturday, they've only played three times since the Lumberjacks made the jump to the NCAA Division I level in 1986-87. SFA has won seven of the last 10 meetings, with the last Rams win coming on the road in 1983-84. The only Texas Wesleyan win in Nacogdoches in the last 10 meetings was a 59-58 verdict the previous year. SFA has won six straight in the series, including an 82-73 home victory in 2005-06.
The Rams: Texas Wesleyan is 5-1 on the year and one of the top scoring offenses in the nation at the NAIA level. The Rams dropped a close exhibition game at Southland Conference foe UT-Arlington, 74-71, earlier this season. Texas Wesleyan is ranked No. 9 in the country in the most recent NAIA National Poll.
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 137-98 (.583) at SFA and has a 356-150 (.704) overall record in 17-plus seasons as a collegiate head coach. Texas Wesleyan is coached by Terry Waldrop, who is 165-114 (.591) in his 11th season with the Rams.
Up Next: The Lumberjacks will open their longest road swing of the season when they head to Des Moines, Iowa, next weeked for the Drake Invitational. The tournament features Drake, North Dakota State and Georgia Southern.
NEWS AND NOTES
KING FOR A DAY: With his career-high 33 points against Jackson State, Matt Kingsley took over the team scoring lead from classmate Josh Alexander. Kingsley's 17.0 points per game took him from 17th in the Southland Conference to fourth in one game. It was his second 30-point game.
MOVIN' ON UP: Matt Kingsley's 33 points against Jackson State moved him into a tie for 20th place on the all-time career scoring list at SFA. His 1,082 points are tied with Richard Dorsey, who played from 1970-83. Josh Alexander is already in the top 10 on the list. His 1,370 points rank 10th all-time and are just four off the mark set by Harvey Huffstetler from 1968-71.
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.
CAN'T-MISS: Kingsley's shooting performance may have overshadowed another impressive outing by junior point guard Girod Adams. Adams went 4-for-4 from the field against Jackson State, including a 2-for-2 showing on 3-point attempts, and was 4-of-4 at the foul stripe for a career-high 14 points. Adams has now connected on six straight field goals over the last two games and hasn't missed a 3-point attempt in seven tries, a run that spans three complete games and the second half of a fourth.
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.
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 29 times under Kaspar and are 27-2 in such contests. SFA held eight opponents under 20 points in a half during the 2007-08 campaign and has done so twice this season.
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.
TWENTY-TWENTY: Josh Alexander's game-high 21 points at Texas A&M marked the 20th time in his four-year career for him to break the 20-point barrier. He scored 20 or more points eight times in 2007-08. Alexander has led the team in scoring 39 times in his career.
OUTSTANDING ASSISTANCE: Through five games, the Lumberjacks have recorded 81 assists on 129 made field goals. That's a ratio of one dime for every 1.59 buckets. Junior point guard Eric Bell had eight assists at Texas A&M and leads the team with 18 for the season. Backup Girod Adams is second with 15 after debuting with seven assists against Howard Payne in the season opener, and freshman Jarrod McDaniel is third with 13 dimes.
MISFIRE: SFA shot just 29.8 percent from the field in its 55-48 loss at Texas A&M. That marked the first time since Feb. 14, 2007 for a Lumberjack team to shoot worse than 30 percent from the field. That game, SFA shot 29.6 percent in a 63-51 loss at Sam Houston State. The only time the 'Jacks shot worse than 35 percent in 2007-08 was a 34.1-percent showing at Texas Tech, their only non-conference defeat of the year.
WET PAINT: In a weird statistical quirk, SFA's shooting woes in the loss at Texas A&M went from bad to worse the closer the Lumberjacks got to the basket. In the first half, SFA was 4-for-13 from inside the 3-point line and 5-for-12 from outside of it. After halftime, the 'Jacks were completely shut out from inside the arc, going 0-for-13 on 2-point attempts, while knocking down 5-of-9 shots from 3-point range. A&M outscored SFA, 22-6, in the paint.
GRAND OPENING: With the Lumberjacks' 77-38 win over Howard Payne, SFA moved to 6-3 in nine season openers under head coach Danny Kaspar. SFA is perfect at 9-0 in home openers during Kaspar's tenure.
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.
RANK AND FILE: SFA was ranked No. 11 in the Preseason CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. This marks the first time in the poll's 10-year history for SFA to enter the season as a ranked team. In addition, the No. 11 ranking is the highest entry to the poll for a Lumberjack team to date. The 'Jacks are currently ranked 12th in the mid-major poll. 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.
STEADY EDDIE: Sophomore Eddie Williams made his first career start against Howard Payne, getting the nod at shooting guard. He played 25 minutes and tied career highs for points (16), field goals (7) and steals (3). In addition to his impact on the defensive end, Williams provided a spark in transition, as 10 of his 16 points came on fast breaks. He has started all five games this season.
THREE OF A KIND: Seniors Josh Alexander and Matt Kingsley tied with sophomore Eddie Williams for the high-point total in SFA's opener against Howard Payne. Each of the three accounted for 16 points. Combined, they would have outscored the Yellow Jackets, 48-38, on their own.
SHOOTING STRAIGHT: SFA opened the 2008-09 season with a .518 shooting percentage against Howard Payne. That figure is the best in a season opener under head coach Danny Kaspar.
DEFENSE FIRST: SFA was ranked third in scoring defense in the most recent NCAA statistical summary. The 'Jacks currently lead the Southland Conference in that category, giving up 50.8 points per game. No other league team is allowing fewer than 65 points per contest. The Lumberjacks got out to a good start defensively in 2008-09, posting a 77-38 win over Howard Payne. The 38 points are the fewest allowed to an SFA opponent since holding Huston-Tillotson to 33 on Dec. 21 of last year.
LOW POINT: While defense has always been emphasized by SFA head coach Danny Kaspar, recent history has seen an even stronger defensive performance by the 'Jacks. In eight-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, SFA has held 28 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.
SPECIAL SEASON: SFA's 26-6 mark in 2007-08 is the best record for a Lumberjack team since the program joined the NCAA Division I ranks in the 1986-87 season. The Southland Conference title is the first for the Lumberjack program since joining the league for the 1987-88 season. It marks the third 20-win season in head coach Danny Kaspar's tenure and is the highest win total for a Kaspar-coached Lumberjack team to date. SFA finished the regular season with a 25-4 (.862) mark. The last time an SFA team finished the regular season with a better winning percentage was 1972-73, when the Lumberjacks went 25-3 but failed to qualify for postseason play. Only four times in the 84-year history of Lumberjack basketball has a team won 25 or more games in a single season, with the 25-win total having been eclipsed in the regular season only twice -- 1969-70 and 1972-73.
SAFE AT HOME: In eight-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks have compiled a 91-27 (.771) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum, including a 13-1 home mark last season. SFA is 287-118 (.709) all-time in the Coliseum. SFA defeated Howard Payne, 77-38, in the season opener. Kaspar's teams are 9-0 in home openers at SFA.
HOME NON-CONFERENCE: In eight-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, SFA has put together a 42-3 record in home games against non-conference opponents. The Lumberjacks have never lost more than one non-SLC home game in a single season under Kaspar. The 'Jacks had a run of 13 straight home, non-conference wins between losses to Centenary in the 2002-03 season and to Jackson State in the 2004-05 campaign. That run was part of a 31-game home winning streak that stood as the longest in the nation when Jackson State ended it on Dec. 11, 2004.
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 and a .672 winning percentage in 19 seasons.
SCOUTING THE RAMS
• FOR THE RECORD: Texas Wesleyan brings a 5-1 record to Saturday's game. The Rams opened the season with a 106-63 win over Parker College before suffering their first defeat of the year, a 76-63 loss at Oklahoma Christian. Texas Wesleyan followed with a narrow exhibition loss (74-71) at UT-Arlington but has since won four straight. The Rams have scored at least 70 points in all but one contest.
• LAST GAME: Despite shooting a season-low 38.2 percent from the field, Texas Wesleyan erased a 10-point halftime deficit and came away with a 70-69 win over LSU-Shreveport. The Rams outscored LSUS, 44-33, in the second half, and a Chris Berry 3-pointer with 1:37 left set the final margin. Berry scored 13 of his game-high 22 points in the second half. Terrell Henry also scored 22 points, and Hector Mukweyi pulled down nine rebounds to edge Berry's eight for game-high honors. The Rams outscored LSUS, 15-2, in fast-break points with all 15 coming in the second period.
• LAST MEETING: SFA weathered a 15-0 second-half run by Texas Wesleyan to hold on for an 82-73 win when the teams got together in the 2005-06 season. The Lumberjacks shot 69 percent in the first half to open a 47-32 halftime advantage, but SFA slipped to 30 percent after the break. Center Antuane Miller scored 12 of his 14 points in the second half to help hold off the Rams. Point guard and eventual school-record-holder Marcus Clark scored 18 points, dished out seven assists and went 4-for-4 from 3-point range. Josh Alexander, then a freshman playing in just his second game, scored 15 points in 13 minutes of action.
• KEY NUMBERS: Texas Wesleyan ranks in the top six of the NAIA in three statistical categories. The Rams' 19.833 assists per game are third in the nation, while they rank fourth in the country in field goal percentage defense at .347. Wesleyan's 45.5 rebounds per game rank sixth in the country. The Rams' 83.3 points per game rank second in the Red River Athletic Conference, and they lead the league in scoring margin (plus-16.17), field goal percentage (.491), 3-point field goal percentage defense (.262) and blocked shots (4.50).
• LEADERS: The Rams are paced by senior forward Chris Berry's 20.3 points per game. Berry ranks third in the Red River Athletic Conference. Junior Terrell Henry is the other double-figure scorer with 13.5 points per contest. His 6.0 assists per game lead the RRAC. Senior Andy Laitinen registered 20 points in the season opener but hasn't played since. Sophomore Ryan Barnes leads Texas Wesleyan and ranks fifth in the RRAC with 8.2 rebounds per game.
• Click here for complete game notes in .pdf format.
-- SFA --
