Lumberjacks Set To Host Sam Houston
2/20/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 20, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
Sam Houston State at SFA
February 21, 2008 • 7:05 p.m.
William R. Johnson Coliseum (7,200) • Nacogdoches, Texas
Radio: KTBQ (107.7 FM) • Television: Fox Sports Net-SW
Game Information
How the West is Won: The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball team will square off with rival Sam Houston State Thursday night in a game with huge implications for the Southland Conference West Division. The Lumberjacks enter the game with a comfortable two-game lead in the SLC West standings. SFA is 21-3 overall and 9-2 in conference games. Sam Houston brings a 19-5 season mark to the game, and the Bearkats' 7-4 mark in SLC play has them in second place in the SLC West. Thursday's game is set for a 7 p.m. tip in Nacogdoches and will be televised regionally on Fox Sports Net-Southwest.
Last Game: SFA finished its regular-season competition against the SLC East Division Saturday by knocking off Northwestern State, 67-59. The win gave the Lumberjacks a 5-1 mark against teams from the East. SFA opened the game by knocking down nine of its first 10 shots and tied a season-high by finishing the first half at 60 percent from the field. The Lumberjacks took a 41-30 lead to the locker room and needed nearly all of it. SFA's shooting sagged to 37.5 percent in the second half and Northwestern cut the lead to as few as six points, but the Lumberjacks held off the Demons' late charge. Junior forward Josh Alexander hit 5-of-10 from 3-point range to score a game-high 21 points. Junior center Matt Kingsley scored 17 points, and senior guard Gerald Fonzie went 4-for-7 on 3-pointers to finish with 16 points. Fonzie and sophomore point gaurd Eric Bell had five assists each.
vs. Sam Houston State: SFA leads the all-time series with the Bearkats, 96-88. Under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks are 5-12 overall with a 4-6 record in the last 10 regular-season meetings. Sam Houston has won four of the last five regular-season games and four straight, including a 78-72 Bearkat win in the 2006 Southland Conference Tournament. Sam Houston swept both games last season and won the first meeting this year, knocking off the Lumberjacks, 58-56, on a late 3-pointer by Shamir McDaniel.
The Bearkats: Sam Houston State opened the season as the odds-on favorite to win the Southland Conference West Division and looked every bit the part early, as the Bearkats streaked out to a 10-0 start. But Sam Houston has faltered a bit in conference play, losing its SLC opener and dropping three more league games since. The Bearkats are tough to beat in SLC West action, though. Three of their four conference losses came at the hands of foes from the East with the only loss in the West Division being a three-point overtime verdict at Texas State.
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 129-93 (.581) at SFA and has a 348-145 (.706) overall record in his 17th season as a collegiate head coach. Sam Houston State is coached by Bob Marlin. Marlin is 178-108 (.622) in 10 seasons with the Bearkats and has a 301-143 (.678) mark in 14 seasons overall.
Up Next: SFA will take the weekend off before opening the stretch run of the regular season with a road trip to Texas State on Feb. 27. The game against the Bobcats is set to tip off at 7 p.m.
News and Notes
• ...AND KEEP YOUR ENEMIES CLOSER: Thursday's game against Sam Houston State will renew the most-played rivalry in SFA history. The Lumberjacks hold an all-time edge in the series, 96-88, but the Bearkats have won six of the last 10 meetings. Dating to a 69-66 overtime loss at Huntsville in the championship game of the 2003 Southland Conference Tournament, seven of the last 11 games have been decided by six points or fewer, including five verdicts of three points or less and a pair of one-point games.
• SPECIAL SEASON: SFA's 21-3 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 24 games for SFA since the Lumberjacks went 22-2 through the first 24 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. 11 to No. 9 in Monday's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. This is SFA's 11th 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 for the first time in school history a month ago. Monday's No. 9 ranking is the highest attained by SFA in the nine-year history of the Mid-Major Top 25.
• VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Lumberjacks received two votes in Monday's Associated Press Top 25 Poll, marking the first time in NCAA Division I history for the program to earn two votes in one of the two national polls. 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 2002-03 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 16.8 points per game in SFA's 21 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 53.6 points per game, which led the nation through games of Feb. 17. The next-best defensive team in the country, Wisconsin, is allowing 1.8 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 17 opponents 60 points or fewer and have only allowed one team to break 70. SFA has held opponents to 37.9 percent shooting from the field and ranked seventh in the country in that category, entering this week's action.
• 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 28th 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 35th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.27.
• 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 16 different occasions this season, including five performances with more than 20 points, and has three double-digit rebound efforts. His 16.4 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 73 3-pointers this season -- tying his career-high for triples in a season -- and has 218 for his career. He broke into the 1,000-point scorer list with his 14th point in SFA's loss at Nicholls State, where he finished with 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 10-3 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.
Scouting the Bearkats
• FOR THE RECORD: Sam Houston State enters Thursday's game with a 19-5 overall mark and a 7-4 record in Southland Conference games. After opening the season with 10 straight victories, the Bearkats have been hot and cold in SLC play. While its 10-game run to start the season is the best in the conference, Sam Houston has not been able to put together more than two consecutive wins since. The Bearkats have won three of their last four contests, including last Saturday's 71-58 verdict at Central Arkansas. Sam Houston is 7-3 in road games this season with a 3-2 road record in Southland play. The Bearkats have played in four overtime games -- two of which were SLC contests -- with a 1-3 record this season in overtime.
• LAST GAME: Sam Houston State rebounded from a 78-69 home defeat against Northwestern State by taking a 71-55 win at Central Arkansas Saturday. The Bearkats trailed, 29-28, at the half but outscored the Bears, 43-26, in the second period to take the easy win. After shooting a cool 38.5 percent from the field in the opening frame, the Bearkats hit a blistering 57.5 percent in the second half, while holding the Bears to a 34.4-percent showing for the game. Center John Gardiner scored 13 of his team-leading 15 points in the second half. Ryan Bright added 14 points and a game-high 14 rebounds.
• KEY NUMBERS: Sam Houston State is the second-stingiest defense in the Southland Conference. The Bearkats' 60.4 points per game allowed trail only SFA in the league, and they have held 16 different opponents to fewer than 60 points this season. Sam Houston leads the league in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to .377 from the floor and a conference-best .290 from 3-point range. The Bearkats are the top rebounding team in the SLC, beating their opponents on the boards by an average of 7.8 rebounds per game. Sam Houston ranks fifth in the SLC in overall field goal percentage at .447, but the Bearkats' free throw shooting (.643) and 3-point field goal shooting (.309) rank 11th and 10th, respectively, among conference teams.
• LEADERS: Senior guard Shamir McDaniel leads the Bearkats and ranks 10th in the Southland Conference with 12.9 points per game. He is also fourth in the league in 3-point field goal percentage at .426 and his 2.50 3-pointers per game rank fifth in the SLC. Senior forward Ryan Bright averages a double-double with 11.5 points per game -- 21st in the conference -- and a Southland-leading 11.3 rebounds per contest. Bright is also fifth in the SLC in assists with 4.17 per contest, right behind sophomore teammate Ashton Mitchell's pace of 4.21 per game. Mitchell is also ranked ninth in the conference in steals with 1.79 per game, while Bright stands 12th in that category with 1.58 thefts per outing. Senior center John Gardiner's 1.38 blocked shots per game stand fifth in the Southland.
• For the complete release, click on the "Sam Houston State Game Notes" link in the side bar of the Men's Basketball home page.
-- SFA --
