Lumberjacks Travel To Take On Demons
2/15/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 15, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
SFA at Northwestern State
February 16, 2008 • 2:00 p.m.
Prather Coliseum (3,600) • Natchitoches, La.
Radio: KTBQ (107.7 FM) • Television: None • Web: Yahoo! Sports
Game Information
Last Trip East: The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball team will play its last game of the regular season against a team from the Southland Conference East Division Saturday, when the Lumberjacks head to Natchitoches, La., to take on Northwestern State. The game against the Demons is set to start at 2 p.m. from Northwestern's Prather Coliseum. SFA is 20-3 on the season -- the third 20-win campaign in head coach Danny Kaspar's eight-year tenure -- and the Lumberjacks lead the SLC West with an 8-2 mark against conference foes. The Demons enter the game with an 11-13 overall mark, and their 7-3 league record has them second in the SLC East.
Last Game: SFA strengthened its position as the top scoring defense in the nation Wednesday with a 57-43 win over Central Arkansas. The Lumberjacks held UCA to 23.1 percent shooting -- the second-worst percentage put up by an SFA opponent this season -- including an 11.5-percent effort in the first half, when the Lumberjacks built a 32-19 lead. Junior center Matt Kingsley scored 13 points and pulled down nine rebounds to lead SFA in both categories. His classmate and understudy, Benson Akpan, scored 10 points with a career-high two assists, and junior forward Josh Alexander added 12 points and six rebounds.
vs. Northwestern State: SFA is 45-58 all-time in its series with the Demons. Under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks are 5-8 against Northwestern. The series is knotted at five wins apiece in the last 10 regular-season meetings, but Northwestern State has won four of the last five regular-season showdowns and five straight games overall. SFA is 2-3 under Kaspar in games at Northwestern's Prather Coliseum, but the Lumberjacks have not played the Demons on the road since the 2004-05 season. Northwestern collected a 67-57 win in last year's regular-season meeting, and the Demons knocked SFA out of the SLC Tournament with an 85-76 verdict in the first round.
The Demons: Northwestern State has shown a streaky side this season, having put together three separate winning streaks of three or more games, as well as three different losing skids of three contests or more. The Demons are currently riding a four-game win streak that began on the heels of a three-game Southland Conference swoon.
The Coaches: SFA is led by head coach Danny Kaspar. Kaspar is in his eighth season at the helm for the Lumberjacks. He holds a record of 128-93 (.579) at SFA and has a 347-145 (.705) overall record in his 17th season as a collegiate head coach. Northwestern State is coached by Mike McConathy. McConathy is 141-130 (.520) in nine seasons with the Demons and 493-289 (.630) in 25 seasons overall.
Up Next: SFA will host rival Sam Houston State Thursday in a pivotal Southland Conference West Division showdown. The Bearkats won the first meeting of the year, 58-56, on a late 3-pointer. Thursday's game will be broadcast regionally on Fox Sports Net-Southwest. The contest is set to tip off at 7 p.m.
News and Notes
• SPECIAL SEASON: SFA's 20-3 mark is the best record, to this point, for a Lumberjack team since becoming a Division I program in the 1986-87 season. It marks the third 20-win season in head coach Danny Kaspar's tenure and is also tied for the best record through 23 games for SFA since the Lumberjacks went 21-2 through the first 23 games of the 1971-72 season. SFA finished that year 31-3.
• FAST START: SFA opened the season with a 12-1 record, the best start to a season since the program joined the NCAA Division I ranks. The fantastic start was the best 13-game mark for the program since the 1981-82 season, when the Lumberjacks opened the season with seven straight wins and went on to post a 14-1 record before finally recording their second loss of the season in the 16th game. SFA's 10-game winning streak earlier this season was the program's first double-digit run since the 'Jacks won 13 in a row during the 2002-03 season.
• RANK AND FILE: SFA moved up from No. 16 to No. 11 in Monday's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. This is SFA's 10 straight week in the rankings -- the longest stay in school history -- after entering the poll at No. 25 on Dec. 10, following the Lumberjacks' upset win at Oklahoma. SFA then moved up in the poll each week, jumping to 22nd, 16th, then 11th, before cracking the Top 10 a month ago.
• VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: SFA received a vote in the USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll in each of the last two weeks of December. This marked the first time since the 2003-04 season for the Lumberjacks to earn a vote in a national Top 25 poll. That year, SFA earned one vote in the Associated Press poll.
• TOP GUNS: As Josh Alexander and Matt Kingsly go, so go the Lumberjacks. SFA's three losses this season have one thing in common: the Lumberjacks' top two scorers have been contained offensively, on average, in all three losing verdicts. While Alexander averages 16.5 points per game in SFA's 20 wins, along with Kingsley's 16.4 points per win, their averages dip to 14.3 and 11.3 points per game, respectively, in the Lumberjacks' three defeats. The scoring averages for SFA's next three highest scorers fluctuate less than a full point per game from wins to losses.
• DEFENSE FIRST: SFA's defense has been dominant this season. The Lumberjacks have held opponents to an average of 53.3 points per game, which leads the nation through games of Feb. 14. The next-best defensive team in the country, Wisconsin, is allowing two points per game more than the Lumberjacks. While good defense has long been a mark of Danny Kaspar-coached teams, the Lumberjacks have never finished higher than 12th in the national rankings in terms of scoring defense. This season, the Lumberjacks have held 15 opponents to fewer than 60 points and have only allowed one team to break 70. SFA has held opponents to 37.7 percent shooting from the field and ranked seventh in the country in that category, entering Saturday's game.
• STINGY ON THE GLASS: The Lumberjacks give up the fewest rebounds per game in the Southland Conference. SFA is currently allowing its opponents just 30.6 rebounds per game.
• DOUBLE-UP: SFA posted just three double-doubles all of last season -- Josh Alexander had two, and Matt Kingsley recorded one. The Lumberjacks have already surpassed that mark this year with five double-doubles -- each of the first four coming from a different player. Kingsley posted the first with 22 points and 13 rebounds against Jackson State. Nick Shaw then scored 17 points and pulled down 16 rebounds against Louisiana-Monroe, and Eric Bell had 18 points with 11 assists at Northern Illinois three days later. Alexander finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds at Jackson State, then recorded his seventh career double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds at Nicholls State.
• DIAL "1" FOR ASSISTANCE: Sophomore point guard Eric Bell (jersey number 1) leads the Southland Conference in assists and ranks 26th in the nation with 5.9 assists per game. He posted a career-high 11 assists at Northern Illinois. That marked the first double-digit assist effort for a Lumberjack since Marcus Clark dished out 10 in a game during the 2005-06 season. Bell also leads the Southland and ranks 32nd in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.34.
• ALEXANDER THE GREAT: Junior forward Josh Alexander is enjoying a record year in 2007-08. The Shreveport, La., native has scored 15 or more points on 15 different occasions this season, including four performances with more than 20 points, and has three double-digit rebound efforts. His 16.2 points per game average has him on pace to crack the top 12 on SFA's list of career scoring leaders, and he recently became the all-time leader in career 3-point field goals. Alexander has hit 68 3-pointers this season -- well on his way to a career-high -- and has 213 for his career. He broke into the 1,000-point scorer list with his 14th point in SFA's loss at Nicholls State, when he scored a game-high 18 points.
• ON A ROLL ON THE ROAD: SFA's 10-game winning streak earlier this season included five straight victories in non-conference road games and a neutral-site win. This marks the first time in program history for the Lumberjacks to win five straight road games against Division I, non-conference opponents. It's the first time since the 1981-82 season for SFA to win more than three straight out-of-conference road games against any level of competition. Overall, the Lumberjacks are 9-3 in games outside of William R. Johnson Coliseum this season.
• PERFECT IN THE WRJ: The Lumberjacks are out to an 11-0 start in home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum. The last time a Lumberjack team won more than three in a row at home to start a season was in 2003-04, when SFA went 16-0 at home as part of a 31-game home winning streak that dated to the previous season and was the longest active streak in the nation by the time it was finally broken.
• SAFE AT HOME: In seven-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks have compiled an 86-26 (.768) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum, including an 11-0 home mark this season. SFA is 282-117 (.707) all-time in the Coliseum. The 'Jacks went 10-5 (.667) at home in 2006-07. SFA defeated UT-Tyler, 63-47, in the 2007-08 season opener. Kaspar's teams are a perfect 8-0 in home openers at SFA.
• EARLY SIGNINGS: SFA signed three recruits during the fall's early signing period. The Lumberjacks added shooting guard Walt Harris, small forward Zach Williams and power forward Lu Griffin. Harris and Griffin are top-flight junior college players -- Harris from McLennan J.C. and Griffin from South Plains J.C. -- while Williams, a Dallas Skyline product, is a Top 15 prep recruit for his class in the state of Texas. The trio has been ranked tops in the Southland Conference among early signing classes by The Hoop Scoop, with a league-best average player rating of 3.0. Rivals.com rates Harris and Williams as the best shooting guard and small forward, respectively, signed in the Southland Conference in the fall.
Scouting the Demons
• FOR THE RECORD: Northwestern State has been a streaky team this season. The Demons dropped their first four games of the season, then won three in a row. They have since posted two more streaks of three or more wins and two losing streaks of three-plus games. Northwestern State is currently on a four-game winning streak, including three straight on the road. The Demons have gone to overtime twice in Southland Conference play, winning once and losing the other. Northwestern is coming off a 78-69 win at Sam Houston State.
• LAST GAME: Northwestern State shot 54.2 percent from the field in collecting a 78-69 victory at Sam Houston State Wednesday night. Sam Houston took the game's initial lead on a 3-pointer, but Northwestern State answered with a three to tie it, then took the lead for good and went on to collect the wire-to-wire victory. The Demons held the Bearkats to 35.1 percent from the floor and capitalized on Sam Houston's mistakes, outscoring the Bearkats, 24-7, in points off turnovers. Northwestern owned the space around the basket, outrebounding the No. 2 rebounding team in the conference, 36-34, and scoring 40 points in the paint to 26 for Sam Houston. Colby Bargeman scored 23 points on 10-of-14 shooting to pace the Demons, and Trey Gilder just missed a double-double with 10 points and nine rebounds.
• KEY NUMBERS: The Demons' 74 points per game rank third in the Southland Conference, but they give up 81.4 points per contest -- second from the bottom in the league -- putting them last in the SLC in scoring margin at minus-7.4 points per game. Northwestern leads the conference in free throw percentage, and, at .709, is the only team in the SLC shooting above 70 percent at the stripe. But the Demons are just 31.7-percent shooters -- eighth in the league -- when they take aim from behind the 3-point line. They rank second from the bottom of the conference in defending the three, allowing opponents to hit 36.5 percent from downtown.
• LEADERS: Senior forward Trey Gilder leads the Demons and ranks second in the Southland Conference with 16.7 points per game. The only other Northwestern State player to crack the league's top 25 scorers this week is classmate Colby Bargeman, who stands 25th with 11.1 points per contest. Bargeman is also 13th in the conference in rebounding, averaging 6.3 boards per game, and his 1.92 steals per game have him fifth in the league in that category. Freshman forward Devin White ranks 10th in the Southland with 1.25 blocked shots per game.
• For the complete releas, click on the "Northwestern State Game Notes" link in the side bar of the Men's Basketball home page.
-- SFA --
