SFA Set To Open SLC Tournament
3/11/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 11, 2008
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
SFA vs. Texas-San Antonio
SLC Tournament • March 13, 2008 • 6:00 p.m.
Merrell Center (7,200) • Katy, Texas
Radio: KTBQ (107.7 FM) • Television: None • Internet: Yahoo! Sports
Game Information
Southland Tourney Time: Just days after capturing its first Southland Conference championship in program history, the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball team will begin the road toward earning the program's first-ever berth in the NCAA Championships. The Lumberjacks open play in the SLC Tournament Thursday by taking on Texas-San Antonio in the first round. The game is set for a 6 p.m. tip. SFA enters the tournament with a 25-4 overall record and earned the league tournament's No. 1 seed with its 13-3 SLC mark. No. 8 UTSA went 13-16 on the year and 7-9 in conference action.
Last Game: SFA secured a share of its first SLC title by knocking off Texas-San Antonio Saturday on the last day of the regular season. With the help of Southeastern Louisiana's win over Lamar, the Lumberjacks finished the year in a tie with the Cardinals for the leauge title and earned the No. 1 seed in this week's tournament by virtue of their head-to-head win against Lamar. In Saturday's game, the Lumberjacks overcame 14 turnovers and a strong showing at the foul stripe by UTSA to take a 58-52 win. The 'Jacks shot 45 percent for the game, while holding the Roadrunners to 30 percent from the floor and just 13.3 percent on 3-point field goals. Junior center Matt Kingsley scored a team-best 17 points and led the Lumberjacks in rebounding with eight boards. Senior guard Gerald Fonzie added 12 points, and junior forward Josh Alexander scored 11.
vs. Texas-San Antonio: SFA is 11-22 all-time against the Roadrunners. The Lumberjacks swept the season series, but SFA had dropped six straight to the Roadrunners coming into the first meeting of this season. Under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks are 6-9 against UTSA. The series is split at five wins apiece over the last 10 regular-season meetings, but the Roadrunners hold a 3-2 edge in the last five games. The two teams have met just once in SLC Tournament play, with UTSA taking a last-second 74-70 win in the championship game of the 2004 Southland Conference Tournament.
The Roadrunners: Texas-San Antonio started slowly but won five of its last eight games down the stretch to squeeze into the eight-team SLC Tournament field. The Roadrunners have been hobbled by injuries this season and used only eight players in Saturday's loss against SFA.
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 133-94 (.586) at SFA and has a 352-146 (.707) overall record in his 17th season as a collegiate head coach. Texas-San Antonio is coached by Brooks Thompson. Thompson is 15-38 (.283) in his second season with the Roadrunners and 75-52 (.591) in five years as a collegiate head coach.
Up Next: With a win, SFA would move to the semifinals and await the winner of Thursday night's game between No. 4 Southeastern Louisiana and No. 5 Northwestern State. The semifinal game is scheduled for an 8:30 p.m. start Friday.
News and Notes
• SPECIAL SEASON: SFA's 25-4 mark is the best regular-season record for a Lumberjack team since the program joined the NCAA Division I ranks 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 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.
• TOPS IN TEXAS: Only one NCAA Division I basketball program in the state of Texas finished with a better win total than Stephen F. Austin this season. The University of Texas posted a 26-5 record, while SFA finished at 25-4. At .862, SFA's winning percentage is slightly better than the Longhorns' .839. Of the 18 other D-I programs in the Lone Star State, only five have posted 20 or more wins this season. That list includes Sam Houston State (22), the University of Houston (22), Texas A&M (22), Baylor (21) and North Texas (20).
• PLAYING THE PERCENTAGES: SFA finished the regular season with the 10th-best record in the nation. The Lumberjacks' .862 winning percentage was tied for 10th in the country through games of March 9.
• TOURNEY TRENDS: SFA is 6-10 all-time in the Southland Conference tournament with two appearances in the SLC championship game. The Lumberjacks dropped a 69-66 overtime decision at Sam Houston in the 2003 SLC Tourney finals and lost at Texas-San Antonio, 74-70, in the title game the following year. Since that game, the Lumberjacks are 1-2 in tournament competition. SFA is 1-4 all-time in neutral-site tournament games.
• RANK AND FILE: SFA stayed at No. 9 in Monday's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll for the second straight week. Last week, SFA moved from No. 6 -- the program's highest ranking ever that included a No. 1 vote -- back to No. 9. This is SFA's 14th 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 earlier this season.
• VOTE OF CONFIDENCE: The Lumberjacks have received at least one vote in one of the two major national basketball polls -- Associated Press and USA Today/ESPN Coaches Poll -- five times this season. SFA picked up one vote in last Monday's AP Top 25 Poll. The 'Jacks got a school-record seven votes in the previous week's AP poll and landed two votes in the Feb. 25 balloting. 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 four losses this season have one thing in common: the Lumberjacks' top two scorers have been contained offensively, on average, in all four losing verdicts. While Alexander and Kingsley each average 16.4 points per win this season, they combined for an average of just 26.0 ppg, in the Lumberjacks' four losses. 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 55.0 points per game, which ranked second in the nation through games of March 9, just seven-tenths of a point off the pace of national leader Wisconsin. While good defense has long been a mark of Danny Kaspar-coached teams, the Lumberjacks have never finished better than 12th in the national rankings in terms of scoring defense. This season, the Lumberjacks have held 20 opponents to 60 points or fewer and have only allowed three teams to break 70. SFA has held opponents to 38.6 percent shooting from the field and ranked 12th in the country in that category, entering this week's action.
• EARLY BIRDS: SFA excelled in getting the jump on the competition in the first half of games this season. The Lumberjacks have held the lead at halftime in every game but one -- their 60-44 loss at Texas Tech. SFA is 25-3 this year when the Lumberjacks go to the locker room with the lead.
• DOUBLE-UP: SFA posted just three double-doubles all of last season -- Josh Alexander had two, and Matt Kingsley recorded one. SFA has doubled that mark this year with six 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. Kingsley scored 13 points with 10 rebounds against Texas State on Feb. 27 for his fourth career double-double.
• 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, versus Paul Quinn and against Sam Houston State. 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 at 5.6 per game and ranked 31st in the nation entering this week. 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 in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.40 and ranked 24th in the nation in that category when the week began.
• 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 19 different occasions this season, including seven performances with at least 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 89 3-pointers this season -- a new career-high for triples in a season -- and has 234 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.
• ROAD WARRIORS: 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 finished the regular season at 12-3 in games outside of William R. Johnson Coliseum, including a five-game road winning streak against Southland Conference foes.
• STINGY ON THE GLASS: The Lumberjacks give up the fewest rebounds per game in the Southland Conference. SFA is currently allowing its opponents just 31.2 rebounds per game.
• HOME-COOKED: The Lumberjacks posted a 13-1 record in home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum and began the season with a 12-game home winning streak. 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 88-27 (.765) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum, including a 13-1 home mark this season. SFA is 284-118 (.706) 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 Roadrunners
• FOR THE RECORD: Texas-San Antonio brings a 13-16 overall mark Thursday's first-round showdown in the Southland Conference Tournament. The Roadrunners went 7-9 in Southland play to finish fourth in the SLC West and enter the tournament as the No. 8 seed overall. The Roadrunners opened conference play by losing six of their first eight games, but UTSA had won five of its last seven, before suffering a 58-52 home loss to Stephen F. Austin in Saturday's season finale.
• LAST GAME: Texas-San Antonio gave a valiant effort in Saturday's regular-season finale, but the Roadrunners suffered a 58-52 loss to Stephen F. Austin. UTSA went 20-of-26 from the foul stripe, led by an 11-for-16 effort there by freshman point guard Devin Gibson, who played all 40 minutes, despite his questionable injury status before the game. Other injuries helped seal the Roadrunners' fate. UTSA used just eight players in the game, and 3-point specialist Joey Shank -- who sat out with an ankle sprain of his own -- was sorely missed, as the 'Runners went just 2-of-15 from 3-point range. Gibson finished with 17 points and nine rebounds, both team highs, in addition to five assists. UTSA forced the Lumberjacks into 14 turnovers, their most since coughing it up 15 times in a win at Northwestern State on Feb. 16.
• KEY NUMBERS: Texas-San Antonio turns the ball over an average of 15.6 times per game, but the Roadrunners force more than their share of miscues by the opposition. Their 19.5 turnovers forced per game is the second-best total in the SLC, and UTSA is second in the league in turnover margin at plus-3.93. UTSA is also third in the conference in steals, averaging 8.93 thefts per game. But the Roadrunners are in the bottom of the SLC in scoring, ranking last with 63.6 points per contest. UTSA shoots .409 from the field, which is 11th in the SLC, and the Roadrunners allow opponents to shoot .485 from the floor, which ranks last in the league. At 28.6 rebounds per game, UTSA is the only team in the conference to average fewer than 30 boards.
• LEADERS: Freshman point guard Devin Gibson helped lead the Roadrunners into the SLC Tournament in his rookie season. Gibson paces the Roadrunners and ranks ninth in the league in scoring with 13.7 points per game. Gibson is also second in the conference in assists with 5.11 per contest and leads the SLC with 3.41 steals per game. Senior forward Keith Spencer leads UTSA and ranks 17th in the SLC in rebounding with 5.9 boards per game. Freshman forward JohnMark Ludwick is fifth in the conference in 3-point field goal percentage, knocking down 41.2 percent of his treys, and junior guard Joey Shank ranks fifth in the league in 3-pointers made with 66.
• For the complete release, click on the "UT-San Antonio Game Notes" link in the side bar of the Men's Basketball home page.
-- SFA --
