SFA Set To Open NIT Play
3/17/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 17, 2008
AMHERST, Mass. -
SFA at Massachusetts
National Invitational Tournament • March 18, 2008 • 5:00 p.m.
Mullins Center (9,493) • Amherst, Mass.
Radio: KTBQ (107.7 FM) • Television: ESPNU • Internet: Yahoo! Sports
Game Information
March Madness in Massachusetts: The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball team will make its first appearance in a national tournament in over 20 years Tuesday, when the 'Jacks take on Massachusetts in the first round of the National Invitational Tournament. The game is set for a 5 p.m. (central) start from the Mullins Center in Amherst, Mass., and will be aired live on ESPNU. The Lumberjacks bring a 26-5 record to the tournament and are fresh off their first-ever Southland Conference championship. UMass enters with a 21-10 mark and went 10-6 to finish third in the Atlantic 10 Conference. SFA is the No. 7 seed in its portion of the bracket, while UMass enters as the No. 2 seed.
Last Game: Despite holding a decisive edge in both rebounding and shooting percentage, Stephen F. Austin was done in by a rash of late turnovers and wound up on the wrong side of a 69-66 loss to Northwestern State Friday in the semifinals of the Southland Conference Tournament. SFA shot 50 percent for the game while holding Northwestern State to a 41.1-percent showing, and outrebounded the Demons, 35-28. But the 'Jacks gave up 12 second-half turnovers that Northwestern turned into 18 points to help erase SFA's 13-point halftime lead. The Lumberjacks were also betrayed by their outside game in the second half. After knocking down 6-of-10 from 3-point range in the opening period, SFA went 0-for-7 from beyond the arc in the second half. Junior center Matt Kingsley polished off the best two-game stretch of his career by scoring 22 points and ripping down eight rebounds to lead SFA in both categories. He was named to All-SLC Tournament team for his effort after averaging 24 points and 9.5 rebounds in two games. Senior guard Gerald Fonzie added 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from 3-point range.
vs. Massachusetts: Tuesday's game will mark the first meeting between Stephen F. Austin and UMass.
The Minutemen: Massachusetts won the last six games of the regular season to take the No. 3 seed heading into the A-10 Tournament. But UMass was ousted from tourney play with a 69-65 loss to Charlotte. The 65 points were the lowest total for the Minutemen since a 71-59 loss at Saint Louis on Feb. 2. UMass opened the season by winning 11 of its first 13 games. Those 11 victories include road verdicts over Big East foe Syracuse and Boston College of the ACC.
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 134-95 (.585) at SFA and has a 353-147 (.706) overall record in his 17th season as a collegiate head coach. UMass is coached by Travis Ford. In three seasons with the Minutemen, Ford has compiled a 58-34 (.630) record and is 186-145 (.331) in his 11th season overall as a head coach.
Up Next: With a win over the Minutemen, SFA would advance to the second round of the NIT, where the winner of Monday night's game between No. 3 Florida State and No. 6 Akron will await.
News and Notes
• SPECIAL SEASON: SFA's 26-5 mark is the best record for a Lumberjack team since the program joined the NCAA Division I ranks in the 1986-87 season. The Southland Conference title is the first for the Lumberjack program since joining the league for the 1987-88 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 posted a better win total than Stephen F. Austin, through the end of the regular 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 regular-season percentage. Of the 18 other D-I programs in the Lone Star State, only five had posted 20 or more wins through the end of SFA's regular 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 1-1 all-time in the National Invitational Tournament. The Lumberjacks have made one appearance in the NIT, having earned a bid and hosted a first-round game in 1987. SFA defeated James Madison, 70-63, in the William R. Johnson Coliseum in the tournament's first round, then suffered a 54-48 loss at Arkansas-Little Rock in the second round. The Lumberjacks went 22-8 overall that season with a perfect 10-0 run to the Gulf Star Conference championship. SFA moved to the Southland Conference the following season.
• RANK AND FILE: SFA was ranked ninth in last Monday's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll, marking the second straight week for the Lumberjacks to hold that spot. The week before, SFA moved from No. 6 -- the program's highest ranking ever that included a No. 1 vote -- back to No. 9. Last week was SFA's 14th straight 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 five losses this season have one thing in common: the Lumberjacks' top two scorers have been contained offensively, on average, in the five losing verdicts. While Kingsley has averaged 16.7 points per game in SFA's 26 victories and Alexander has scored 16.1 points per win, they combined for an average of just 27.0 ppg, in the Lumberjacks' five losses. The scoring averages for SFA's next three highest scorers fluctuate less than a full point per game from wins to losses. The Lumberjacks are 19-1 this season when both Kingsley and Alexander reach double figures, and SFA is undefeated at 10-0 when they both score their average.
• DEFENSE FIRST: SFA's defense has been dominant this season. The Lumberjacks have held opponents to an average of 55.6 points per game, and ranked second in the nation through games of March 13. 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 21 opponents to 60 points or fewer and have only allowed three teams to break 70. SFA has held opponents to 39.2 percent shooting from the field and ranked 14th in the country in that category, entering this week's action.
• EARLY BIRDS: SFA excells at getting the jump on the competition in the first half of games. The Lumberjacks have held the lead at halftime in every game but two -- their 60-44 loss at Texas Tech and their 71-60 win over UTSA in the first round of the Southland Conference Tournament. SFA is 25-4 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 more than doubled that mark this year with seven 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, then recorded his fifth career double-double with 26 points and 11 rebounds -- including nine offensive boards -- in SFA's win over UTSA on March 13.
• 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) averages 5.7 assists 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 ranks 23rd in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.41.
• 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. He needs just 22 more points to crack the top 12 on SFA's list of career scoring leaders, and he recently became the school's all-time leader in career 3-point field goals. Alexander has hit 91 3-pointers this season -- a new career-high for triples in a season -- and has 236 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 have gone 13-4 in games outside of William R. Johnson Coliseum, including a six-game road winning streak against Southland Conference foes.
• STINGY ON THE GLASS: The Lumberjacks gave up the fewest rebounds per game in the Southland Conference this season. SFA is currently allowing its opponents just 30.8 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.
• For the complete release, click on the "NIT First Round Game Notes" link in the side bar of the Men's Basketball home page.
-- SFA --
