Lumberjacks Head To Texas State
2/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 26, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas
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SFA at Texas State
February 27, 2008 • 7:00 p.m.
Strahan Coliseum (7,200) • San Marcos, Texas
Radio: KTBQ (107.7 FM) • Television: None • Internet: Yahoo! Sports
Game Information
Stretch Run: The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball team will make the first of two late-season trips to Central Texas Wednesday, when the Lumberjacks head to San Marcos to take on Texas State. The game against the Bobcats is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. SFA is 22-3 overall and leads the Southland Conference West Division with a 10-2 record in league action. The Lumberjacks are coming off a big 79-57 win over rival Sam Houston State last Thursday and are chasing Lamar for a shot at the SLC regular-season championship. But Texas State is the first of four more teams standing in the way of a strong finish. The Bobcats are 12-14 overall with a 5-8 mark in conference play.
Last Game: SFA dominated Sam Houston State in front of a five-state regional television audience, collecting a 79-57 win on FOX Sports Net-Southwest. The Lumberjacks survived a Bearkat rally late in the first half to take a 33-26 lead to the locker room, then turned up the heat in the second period. SFA shot 59.3 percent -- the third-best second-half showing this season -- while holding Sam Houston to 37 percent from the field after halftime and outscored the Bearkats, 46-31, in the decisive second half. In their most balanced offensive effort of the year, five different Lumberjacks reached double figures in scoring, while none of Sam Houston's five starters broke the double-digit barrier. Junior center Matt Kingsley scored a game-high 18 points and tied for the lead in rebounds with seven. Senior guard Gerald Fonzie added 17 points on a 5-for-9 effort from 3-point range, and junior forward Nick Shaw had 14 points and six rebounds. SFA forced the Bearkats into 13 turnovers, while the Lumberjacks committed just four themselves.
vs. Texas State: Texas State is the second-most frequently played opponent in SFA history, with nearly 160 meetings between the two teams. SFA leads the all-time series with the Bobcats, 93-66. Under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks are an impressive 12-2 against Texas State. SFA is 9-1 in the last 10 meetings, including an eight-game winning streak. The Lumberjacks are 5-1, under Kaspar, in games at Texas State's Strahan Coliseum. SFA won the first meeting this season, an 81-63 decision in Nacogdoches on Jan. 30 that still stands as Texas State's lowest point total of the season.
The Bobcats: Texas State is an explosive offensive team that has had trouble sustaining success this season. The Bobcats score more points than any other team in the league, but they have been just as consistent when it comes to giving up points at the other end, to the tune of an SLC-worst 85.3 points per game. Texas State has not put together back-to-back wins since a three-game streak at the end of November.
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 130-93 (.583) at SFA and has a 349-145 (.706) overall record in his 17th season as a collegiate head coach. Texas State is coached by Doug Davalos. He holds a 23-34 (.404) record in his second season at Texas State and is 93-69 (.574) in six seasons overall.
Up Next: SFA will open its final home stand of the season by hosting Texas-Arlington Saturday in a 6 p.m. match-up. The following Wednesday, March 5, the Lumberjacks will host Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in their home finale.
News and Notes
• SPECIAL SEASON: SFA's 22-3 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 the highest win total for a Kaspar-coached team to date. The mark is also tied for the best record through 25 games for SFA since the Lumberjacks went 23-2 through the first 25 games of the 1971-72 season. SFA finished that year 31-3.
• RANK AND FILE: A week after pushing past the 10th spot of the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 for the first time, SFA moved up from No. 9 to No. 6 in Monday's poll. In addition, the Lumberjacks received a first-place vote for the first time in school history. This is SFA's 12th 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. 6 ranking is the highest attained by SFA in the nine-year history of the Mid-Major Top 25.
• VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Lumberjacks received seven votes in Monday's Associated Press Top 25 Poll, marking most votes in the national poll in program history. This comes on the heels of SFA's earning two votes in last week's poll. 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 the players each average 16.5 points per game in SFA's 21 wins, 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 53.7 points per game, which led the nation through games of Feb. 24. 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 to 60 points or fewer and have only allowed one team to break 70. SFA has held opponents to 38.0 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.
• FOUR OF A KIND: The Lumberjacks have had at least four players hit double digits in scoring in a single game six times this season -- against Jackson State, Louisiana-Monroe, Southern, at Oklahoma and against Paul Quinn. The quadruple-double against Jackson State marked the first time four SFA players hit double digits in a single game since Jan. 11 of last season, when SFA took a 73-72 overtime victory at Lamar. In the Lumberjacks' 79-57 win over Sam Houston State, five players reached double digits -- the first time since SFA's Dec. 30, 2006, win over Howard Payne for SFA to put a quintet in double figures scoring.
• DIAL "1" FOR ASSISTANCE: Sophomore point guard Eric Bell (jersey number 1) leads the Southland Conference in assists and ranks 27th 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 27th in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.33.
• 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 16.2 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 74 3-pointers this season -- a new career-high for triples in a season -- and has 218 for his career. He broke into the 1,000-point scorers list with his 14th point in SFA's loss at Nicholls State, where he finished with a game-high 18 points.
• 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.
• 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 a 12-0 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 87-26 (.770) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum, including a 12-0 home mark this season. SFA is 283-117 (.708) 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 Bobcats
• FOR THE RECORD: Texas State opened the season by winning five of its first six games, but the Bobcats have not won back-to-back contests since. Dating to SFA's 81-63 victory over Texas State on Jan. 30, the Bobcats have lost five of their last seven games, including three of the last four. Texas State is coming off a 103-96 overtime loss against Texas-San Antonio. The Bobcats have played in four overtime games this season, going 2-2 in extra time.
• LAST GAME: Texas-San Antonio took a 103-96 verdict over Texas State Saturday in San Marcos. The game was back-and-forth with 14 lead changes and 11 ties. Both teams shot well -- Texas State hit 50.9 percent from the field, while UTSA knocked down 48.5 -- but the Bobcats were done in by their 27 turnovers. The Roadrunners outscored Texas State, 30-15, in points off turnovers, and punded the Bobcats down low, finishing with a 51-36 edge in the paint. Texas State got good scoring from its reserves, three of whom reached double digits, for a 59-34 advantage in bench production. But UTSA's Devin Gibson scored 27 points. He got to the foul line 14 times, knocking down 12 of those attempts. Brandon Bush and Brent Holder each scored 18 points to tie for the Texas State scoring lead, and Brent Benson added 16 points.
• KEY NUMBERS: The Bobcats lead the Southland Conference in scoring with 83.9 points per game, but Texas State gives up an SLC-worst 85.3 points per contest. Despite attempting the second-most 3-pointers in the league -- 593 -- the Bobcats have the third-best shooting percentage from behind the arc in the conference. Likewise, they defend the perimeter much better than they do the rest of the floor. Texas State's .309 3-point field goal percentage defense ranks fourth in the SLC, while the .472 opponents are shooting against the Bobcats overall ranks 11th in the conference. Texas State's 43.1 rebounds per game are the most in the SLC, but the Bobcats also give up the most boards in the conference at 41.7 per contest.
• LEADERS: Junior guard Brandon Bush leads the Bobcats and ranks seventh in the SLC with 14.5 points per game. Classmate Brent Benson is 10th in the conference with 13.0 points per outing. Bush is also ranked eighth in the league in rebounding, averaging 6.9 boards per game. Senior guard Brandon Thomas and junior guard Corey Jefferson stand sixth and ninth in the league, respectively, with 1.92 and 1.72 steals per game. Junior guard Brent Benson is ninth in the conference in both 3-point field goal percentage (.386) and 3-point field goals made (2.27).
• For the complete release, click on the "Texas State Game Notes" link in the side bar of the Men's Basketball home page.
-- SFA --
