SFA Hits Road To Take On Islanders
2/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
SFA at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi
February 6, 2008 • 7:00 p.m.
American Bank Center (8,500) • Corpus Christi, Texas
Radio: KTBQ (107.7 FM) • Television: None • Web: Yahoo! Sports
Game Information
On the Road Again: The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball team will make its longest trip of the Southland Conference season for Wednesday's game at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. The game is set for a 7 p.m. tip. The Lumberjacks are 17-3 on the year and 5-2 in SLC play, good enough for the lead in the West Division standings. SFA is looking for its third straight win. The Islanders are 6-13 overall with a 3-3 mark in conference action.
Last Game: SFA broke an 11-year regular-season losing streak at Texas-Arlington with Saturday's 71-49 victory over the Mavericks. The 49 points are a season-low for UTA, and the loss ended what was an 18-game home win streak for the Mavericks. Every Lumberjack who suited up saw the floor, and each of SFA's regulars scored at least four points in one of the Lumberjacks' most balanced offensive efforts of the season. Senior guard Gerald Fonzie scored 14 points to lead all players. Sophomore point guard Eric Bell added 12 on a career-best 3-for-5 effort from 3-point range, and junior forward Josh Alexander scored 11 points with a game-high seven rebounds. At the other end of the floor, SFA held UTA -- the top shooting team in the SLC -- to 38.3 percent from the field, nearly 10 percentage points lower than the Mavericks' season average.
vs. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi: SFA trails the all-time series with the Islanders, 2-0. A&M-Corpus won both meetings last season in the Islanders' first year as a Southland Conference school. A&M-Corpus notched a 69-65 victory in the game played in Corpus Christi last year. Josh Alexander scored 24 of his 29 points in the second half of that contest and tied a career mark for 3-pointers with seven, but the 'Jacks turned the ball over 20 times and couldn't overcome the Islanders' 51-percent effort from the floor.
The Islanders: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi is coming off a wildly successful first season as a Southland Conference school. The Islanders went 26-7 overall with a 14-2 mark in SLC play on their way to winning both the SLC regular-season and tournament championships. A&M-Corpus has a different look this season, under new head coach Perry Clark. The Islanders returned just one starter -- 2007 SLC Player of the Year Chris Daniels -- after losing 10 lettermen in all from that senior-laden team, and struggled early this season before seeming to find their feet in recent weeks.
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 125-93 (.573) at SFA and has a 344-145 (.703) overall record in his 17th season as a collegiate head coach. A&M-Corpus Christi is coached by Perry Clark. Clark is 6-13 (.316) in his first season with the Islanders and 256-212 (.547) in 16 years as a collegiate head coach.
Up Next: SFA will wrap up the first round of SLC West Division play Saturday, when the Lumberjacks host Texas-San Antonio. The game against the Roadrunners is set for a 6 p.m. start from William R. Johnson Coliseum.
News and Notes
• 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. 20 to No. 16 in Monday's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. This is SFA's ninth 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 17.1 points per game in SFA's 17 wins, along with Kingsley's 15.8 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.
• D-UP: SFA's defense has been dominant this season. The Lumberjacks have held opponents to an average of 54.2 points per game, which leads the Southland Conference and ranks second in the nation -- one-tenth of a point off the pace set by national leader Wisconsin. 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 13 opponents to fewer than 60 points and have only allowed one team to break 70. SFA ranks 15th in the country in field goal percentage defense, holding opponents to 38.1 percent shooting from the field.
• STINGY ON THE GLASS: The Lumberjacks give up the fewest rebounds per game in the Southland Conference. SFA is currently allowing its opponents just 31.3 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 17th in the nation with 6.10 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 52nd in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.18.
• ALEXANDER THE GREAT: Junior forward Josh Alexander has hit a hot streak that has the Shreveport, La., native on pace for a record year in 2007-08. Alexander is 28-for-58 (.483) on field goals, including an 18-of-39 (.462) showing from 3-point range in the Lumberjacks' last five games. He has scored 18 or more points four times in that span, including a season-high 26 against Lamar and 22 points at Sam Houston State. Alexander broke the 1,000-point barrier with his 14th point in SFA's loss at Nicholls State, when he scored a game-high 18 points. He currently ranks 19th in career scoring at SFA, and, if he continues his current scoring pace, he could rank as high as 11th on the school's all-time scoring list by the end of the season. Alexander is also tied with the school's top mark for career 3-point baskets and will break it with his next field goal from downtown.
• 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 8-3 in games outside of William R. Johnson Coliseum this season.
• PERFECT IN THE WRJ: The Lumberjacks are out to a 10-0 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 84-25 (.771) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum, including a 10-0 home mark this season. SFA is 280-116 (.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 Islanders
• FOR THE RECORD: Texas A&M-Corpus Christi enters Wednesday's game with a 6-13 overall mark and a 3-3 record in Southland Conference play. The Islanders opened the season by losing six of their first seven games -- the lone win being an overtime verdict against Oral Roberts. But A&M-Corpus has hit a hot streak lately, winning three of its last four games with the only loss coming in a two-point decision against Texas-Arlington. In those three wins, the Islanders averaged 77 points per game -- over 10 points per game higher than their season average. A&M-Corpus is coming off a 73-61 win over Texas-San Antonio, but the Islanders have only won back-to-back games once this season.
• LAST GAME: A&M-Corpus shot 53.1 percent from the field Saturday, while holding Texas-San Antonio to a 30-percent effort in a 73-61 Islanders win. Freshman guard Kevin Perkins scored a game-high 22 points, and senior center Chris Daniels pulled down 11 rebounds to help A&M-Corpus overcome 22 turnovers. Daniels added nine points, and freshman forward Demond Watt chipped in with 10. San Antonio got 20 points from Devin Gibson and 17 from John-Mark Ludwick, but no other Roadrunner scored more than six points.
• KEY NUMBERS: The Islanders are one of the top rebounding teams in the Southland Conference. A&M-Corpus pulls down 39.4 boards per game, which ranks third in the league, and the Islanders allow 34.5 rebounds per contest to the opposition, giving them a plus-4.9 advantage on the boards, good enough for fourth in the SLC. They also give themselves plenty of second chances, averaging 15.58 offensive rebounds per game, which ranks second in the league. But A&M-Corpus stands last in the league in field goal percentage (.406) and 3-point field goal percentage (.294). The Islanders also own the worst turnover margin in the SLC at minus-4.95 turnovers per game. Their 18.4 turnovers per contest is tied for third most in the league, while they force the fewest in the conference at 13.5 per outing.
• LEADERS: The Islanders have three players among the Southland Conference's top 25 scorers, but none in the league's top 10. Senior center Chris Daniels leads the team and ranks 15th in the conference with 12.5 points per game. Freshmen Kevin Perkins and Justin Reynolds are the Islanders' next best scoring options, averaging 11.8 and 11.6 points per game, respectively, good enough for 20th and 21st in the SLC. Reynolds' 7.7 rebounds per game lead the team and rank fourth in the conference, and his 3.58 offensive boards per contest lead the league. Daniels stands 13th in the conference with 6.4 boards per game and averages 1.74 blocked shots per game, good enough to rank fourth in the SLC.
