'Jacks Set To Host Nicholls State
1/16/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 15, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
ESSENTIALS
Nicholls State at SFA
Saturday, January 17, 2009 • 6:00 p.m.
Johnson Coliseum (7,200) • Nacogdoches, Texas
Radio: Q107.7 FM • Television: None • Internet: Yahoo! Sports
GAME INFORMATION
Colonels Come Calling: The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball team will try to build on its three-game win streak Saturday, when the 'Jacks take on Nicholls State. SFA sits atop the Southland Conference East Division standings with a 2-0 record, and the Lumberjacks, at 10-4, are one of three teams in the league with double figures in the win column. The Colonels are 8-7 on the season and tied for second in the SLC East with a 1-1 record against league competition.
Last Game: SFA got 16 points and 11 rebounds from senior center Matt Kingsley, as the Lumberjacks knocked off Central Arkansas, 72-55, Wednesday. SFA was up by seven at halftime but held the Bears to 31 percent from the field and didn't allow a 3-point basket in the second half, pushing its lead to as many as 20 points. Kingsley added four blocked shots, leading the team to eight blocks total, two off SFA's season-high. Senior forward Nick Shaw joined Kingsley in double digits with a season-best 14 points and just missed a double-double with eight boards. Senior forward Josh Alexander scored 13 points, and junior guard Girod Adams added 12 points -- nine coming in the second half. SFA shot 43.6 percent from the field and went 20-for-26 at the foul line.
vs. Nicholls State: SFA is 27-21 all-time against the Colonels. The Lumberjacks have won eight of the last 10 meetings, but are only 3-2 over the last five games. The home team has won each of the last four times the teams have met. The last Nicholls win in Nacogdoches was a 58-55 verdict in 2000-01, Danny Kaspar's first season as head coach at SFA.
The Colonels: Nicholls State is coming off a home loss to UTSA, but the Colonels have won two of their last three contests. Five of Nicholls' eight wins this season have come at home. The Colonels are 2-4 in true road games and 3-6, in all, away from Thibodaux.
The Coaches: SFA is led by head coach Danny Kaspar. Kaspar is in his ninth season at the helm for the Lumberjacks. He holds a record of 144-100 (.590) at SFA and has a 363-152 (.705) overall record in 17-plus seasons as a collegiate head coach. J.P. Piper is 41-89 in his fifth season as head coach of the Colonels.
Up Next: SFA will head to Arlington, Texas, for a key showdown against UT-Arlington on Wednesday, Jan. 21. The game against the Mavericks is set for a 7 p.m. start. The Lumberjacks will then travel to Hammond, La., for a Saturday meeting with Southeastern Louisiana. That game is set to start at 3 p.m.
NEWS AND NOTES
HISTORY IN THE MAKING: Senior forward Josh Alexander is already the career leader in points, rebounds and field goals in SFA's Division I era. He also ranks in the top 10 in both scoring and rebounding on the all-time list. With his next point, he will have recorded 1,500 for his career. Combined with his 592 rebounds, he will be just the sixth player in SFA history to score 1,500 points and pull down 500 rebounds.
SPRAINED ARCHES: SFA held Central Arkansas to a 1-for-11 showing from 3-point range and didn't allow the Bears to hit a 3-pointer after halftime. This marks the second time this season for the 'Jacks to hold an opponent to just one 3-pointer. SFA leads the SLC and ranks 19th in the nation in 3-point field goal percentage defense at .277.
DOUBLE-DOUBLE: Matt Kingsley scored 16 points and had 11 rebounds at Central Arkansas to post his second double-double of the season and the seventh of his career. The senior center had 23 points and pulled down 13 rebounds against North Dakota State. The 13 rebounds were a season high for Kingsley and tied the career-best he set last November.
QUADRUPLE-DOUBLE: Four different Lumberjacks reached double figures in scoring in SFA's win over Central Arkansas. That marked the seventh time this season for the Lumberjacks to accomplish that feat. SFA is a perfect 9-0 in games when at least three Lumberjacks reach double digits in scoring.
ON THE DOWN-LOW: SFA scored 34 points in the paint against Central Arkansas. The Lumberjacks are undefeated at 10-0 when they score at least 28 points in the paint. SFA is outscoring the opposition down low by an average of nearly 10 points per game.
WIDE-OPENER: SFA's 75-73 win over Sam Houston State in the Southland Conference opener marked the highest combined point total of the season for a game that ended in regulation. The 73 points allowed are the most given up by SFA outside of its 112-111 triple-overtime win against North Dakota State. The game also marked the just the second time this season for the Lumberjacks to give up 60 or more points in regulation and win. SFA had been 1-3 in such situations coming into its game against Sam.
WELL, FOR STARTERS...: Four SFA starters reached double digits in scoring, and the starting lineup accounted for all but six points in the Lumberjacks' 75-73 win over Sam Houston State. Josh Alexander played all 40 minutes -- the second time this season he's played every minute of a game -- and Nick Shaw and Eddie Williams each logged 39 minutes. The only subs to take the floor in the contest were Girod Adams, Walt Harris and Benson Akpan.
MIS-FIRE: SFA held Jarvis Christian to 22.4 percent shooting in the Lumberjacks' 69-46 win. That marks the lowest shooting percentage of the season for an SFA opponent.
EXPECT LOWS IN THE SINGLE DIGITS: Jarvis Christian's poor shooting led to another season-low for SFA opponents. Not a single Bulldogs player reached double figures in scoring, marking the first time since Dec. 21 of last season for the Lumberjacks to hold the opposition without a double-figure scorer.
BLOCK PARTY: The Lumberjacks contributed to Jarvis Christian's poor shooting by blocking a season-high 10 shots. This marks the first time in nine seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar for an SFA team to record double-digit blocked shots. Matt Kingsley posted a career-high five blocked shots, and Benson Akpan tied a season-best with three blocks.
DOUBLE-TROUBLE: SFA's 69-55 loss at Texas Tech came on the heels of a 16-point defeat at Arkansas, marking the first time since the 2004-05 season for the Lumberjacks to suffer double-digit loss margins in consecutive games. That season, SFA lost three straight games by 10 points or more, starting with a 78-64 defeat against Sam Houston State and ending with a 52-41 loss to Southeastern Louisiana.
OFF-BALANCE: Sophomore Eddie Williams scored 12 points to lead SFA in scoring against Texas Tech. This marked the second straight game and the third time this season SFA has had just one player reach double figures in scoring. All four of the Lumberjacks' losses this season have come when fewer than three players reached double digits.
STREAK: SFA's 93-54 win over Austin Peay in the first round of the Arkansas Jim Thorpe Classic took the Lumberjacks' win streak to six straight games, the longest of the season. The run began with an 83-42 verdict over Texas College on Nov. 29 and included three home wins, one true road victory and a pair of neutral-site wins.
SCORE!: The 93 points SFA put up against Austin Peay are the most scored in regulation by a Lumberjack team this season and the most points in regulation against a Division I opponent since SFA beat Centenary College, 94-57, in the 2005-06 campaign.
ALL IN: Every SFA player touched the floor in SFA's win over Austin Peay, marking the first and only time this season that all 14 players on the Lumberjack roster have entered a game.
STEADY EDDIE: Sophomore guard Eddie Williams tied his career-high with 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting against Austin Peay. This marked the second time in three games for Williams to reach 25 points and the third time this season for him to lead the team in scoring. He first eclipsed the mark in SFA's triple-overtime win against North Dakota State. Williams' 11 field goals also tied the career-high he posted against the Bison.
RANK AND FILE: SFA is ranked No. 16 in the most recent CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll. SFA began the year at No. 11, the first time in the poll's 10-year history for SFA to enter the season as a ranked team and the highest entry to the poll for a Lumberjack team to date. A month ago, SFA was ranked No. 10, marking the earliest move into the top 10 for the 'Jakcs since the poll began. SFA spent a program-best 15 consecutive weeks ranked in last year's Mid-Major Top 25. The 'Jacks climbed as high as No. 6, including a first-place vote, on Feb. 25, and finished the season ranked 14th.
SCORING SPREE: The 223 combined points SFA and NDSU scored is the highest combined total in an SFA game since the Lumberjacks' 123-103 loss to San Francisco in the 1994-95 season.
HIGH POINT: The 111 points scored by North Dakota State are the most given up by a Lumberjack team in nine seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. The previous best for an opponent during the Kaspar era was the 92 scored by Arizona State in the season opener of the 2001-02 season, Kaspar's second at SFA. The 78 points the Bison scored in regulation are the most allowed by SFA in a regular-season game since the Lumberjacks beat Northern Illinois, 86-78, in 2006-07.
WORKING OVERTIME: SFA's triple-overtime win against North Dakota State is the longest game in SFA's 23 years as a Division I program and the longest contest played by an SFA team since the Lumberjacks took a quadruple-overtime win against Southwestern, 101-99, in 1983. SFA is now 28-33, all-time, in overtime games. The Lumberjacks are 6-4 in their last 10 overtime contests.
TAKE WHAT'S FREE: Junior point guard Girod Adams leads SFA in free throw percentage at .850. He's been perfect from the stripe in five of his last seven games with a foul shot attempt and has hit 16 of his last 18 attempts, including a streak of 12 straight. At the Drake Hy-Vee Classic, Adams went 6-for-6 at the stripe, giving him seven straight makes dating to the Texas Wesleyan game. For the season, he is 17-of-20 on free throws.
TWENTY-SOMETHING: Josh Alexander joined Kingsley above the 20-point barrier with 24 points against NDSU. He has now registered 20 or more points 22 times in his career.
MOVIN' ON UP: In a recent five-game stretch, senior center Matt Kingsley jumped five slots on the list of career scoring leaders at SFA. He was 20th all-time heading into the Drake Hy-Vee Classic but came away from the Arkansas Jim Thorpe Classic 16th and moved into a tie for 15th with 1,151 career points following SFA's game at Texas Tech.
BETTER HALF: SFA held Texas College to 11 points in the second half of the Lumberjacks' 83-42 win. This ties for the lowest one-half point total given up to an opponent in nine seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar and is the best second-half point total allowed in that time span. The 'Jacks have held opposing teams below 20 points in a single half 30 times under Kaspar and are 28-2 in such contests. SFA held eight opponents under 20 points in a half during the 2007-08 campaign and has done so three times this season.
NO SHOT: The Lumberjacks dominated Texas College in the second half of their 83-42 victory. The Steers were just 2-for-22 from the field -- both 3-pointers -- in the final 20 minutes for a second-half shooting percentage of .091. That's the lowest single-half average of the season, and it left Texas College with a .308 shooting percentage for the game, the third time in four contests an SFA opponent had shot worse than 35 percent.
LOW POINT: In eight-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, SFA has held 30 opponents to 50 points or fewer. SFA held the competition below that level nine times in 2007-08. The previous best under Kaspar was four games in a single season with fewer than 50 points. So far this season, the Lumberjacks have held four opponents to fewer than 50 points.
REMEMBERING A LUMBERJACK LEGEND: In memory of Marshall Brown, who passed away over the summer, the Lumberjacks will wear a black band on their game jerseys during the 2008-09 season. Brown coached men's basketball at SFA from 1959-1978.
SCOUTING THE COLONELS
• FOR THE RECORD: Nicholls State brings an 8-7 overall mark and a 1-1 record in conference games to Saturday's meeting. The Colonels opened the season by losing thee of their first four games with all three losses coming away from home. Nicholls followed that up with a season-best five-game win streak. The Colonels then hit another skid with three losses against teams from the SEC, but by an average margin of only 10 points. Nicholls rebounded with consecutive wins against Southern-New Orleans and at Northwestern State in the SLC opener. The Colonels are coming off a 62-55 home loss to UTSA. It is their only home defeat of the season. Including neutral-site games, Nicholls is 3-6 away from home.
• LAST GAME: UTSA scored 27 points off 20 Nicholls turnovers in a 62-55 win over the Colonels Wednesday in Thibodaux. Omar Johnson scored 17 points to lead four Roadrunners in double figures, and Josh Bonney added 15 points and 13 rebounds. He was one of two UTSA players to record double-figure rebounds as the Roadrunners beat Nicholls, 40-31, on the boards. Anatoly Bose and Ryan Bathie paced the Colonels with 19 and 18 points, respectively, but no other Nicholls player scored more than six. The Colonels went 0-for-10 from 3-point range, despite shooting 44.7 percent from the floor.
• LAST MEETING: Ryan Bathie tipped in a missed 3-pointer at the buzzer as Nicholls State took a 58-57 overtime win in Thibodaux last season. The loss in the SLC opener snapped a 10-game win streak for SFA and ended the best start to a season in 26 years. The 'Jacks came into the game with a 12-1 record in non-conference play. After scoring just eight points through the first 15 minutes of the second period, SFA put together a 10-0 run over the final 2:15 to tie the score at 50 and send the game to overtime. The 'Jacks built a 57-50 lead over the first two minutes of the overtime, but couldn't answer Nicholls' late rally. Josh Alexander led SFA with 18 points and 10 rebounds.
• KEY NUMBERS: Nicholls is ninth in the SLC in scoring with 67.3 points per game. But the Colonels are second only to SFA defensively, holding the opposition to 60.8 points per contest, despite ranking in the lower half of the league in field goal percentage defense and 3-point field goal percentage defense. Nicholls leads the SLC with a .486 shooting percentage and ranks second in the conference in steals with 10.1 thefts per game.
• LEADERS: Senior Ryan Bathie and sophomore Anatoly Bose rank ninth and 16th in the SLC with 15.0 and 12.9 points per game, respectively. The duo are also ranked in the top 25 in the conference in rebounding. Bose's 5.7 boards per game stand 18th, and Bathie ranks 24th with 4.9 rebounds per contest. Freshman Fred Hunter is third in the league in field goal percentage at .566. Senior Justin Payne's 2.5 steals per game rank fourth in the Southland.
• Click here for complete game notes in .pdf format.
-- SFA --
