GAME NOTES: Huston-Tillotson
11/26/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 26, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
VITALS
Huston-Tillotson at Stephen F. Austin
Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009 • 7:00 p.m. (CST)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (7,200) • Nacogdoches, Texas
Radio: None • TV: None • Online: SFA All-Access
Lumberjacks
Record: 1-2
Last 5/Streak: 2-3/L1*
Coach: Danny Kaspar
Career: 378-158
At SFA: 159-106
SID: Brian Ross
E-mail: rossbrian@sfasu.edu
Web: sfajacks.com
Rams
Record: 0-3
Last 5/Streak: 0-5/L5*
Coach: Curtis Jones
Career: 19-44
At HTU: 19-44
SID: Ronnie Kaase
E-mail: rckaase@htu.edu
Web: athletics.htu.edu
* includes results from 2008-09
GAME INFORMATION
RUBBER MATCH: After going 1-1 through the first two games of their longest home stand of the season, the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks will take on Huston-Tillotson Saturday in the finale of the three-game set. The 'Jacks are 1-2, entering the game. Huston-Tillotson brings an 0-3 mark into the contest.
LAST GAME: SFA led by as many as eight points in the first half and outscored Texas Tech, 13-6, over the final four minutes, but ran out of time in a 63-61 loss to the Red Raiders on Monday. After Eddie Williams intentionally missed a free throw with four seconds left, Jordan Glynn came up with the offensive rebound, but his buzzer-beating attempt didn't fall, as SFA suffered its first home defeat in more than a year. Williams scored a game-high 19 points for the second time in as many contests. He set a career-high by going 4-for-4 from 3-point range and pulled down five rebounds to tie with Jereal Scott for the team lead. Scott scored 15 points to join Williams in double digits. For the game, SFA outrebounded the Red Raiders, 31-28, and finished with a 28-22 advantage in the paint.
THE RAMS: Huston-Tillotson is 0-3 on the season with three straight road losses, thus far. Saturday's game is officially listed as an exhibition for the Rams. They are coming off a close 69-65 loss at SMU on Monday.
vs. HUSTON-TILLOTSON: SFA is 2-0, all-time, against the Rams. The teams first met in the 1980-81 season with the 'Jacks taking a 92-75 verdict. Their second game didn't come until 2007-08. That year's SFA team finished second in the nation in scoring defense and held the Rams in check for a 79-33 win.
COVERAGE: Saturday's game can be followed online via GameTracker or SFA All-Access on the Lumberjacks' official athletics Web site, SFAJacks.com. The game will not air on the radio, due to a conflict with Saturday's playoff football game.
UP NEXT: SFA will play the second game of its in-season home-and-home series with Jackson State on Dec. 1, when the 'Jacks travel to Jackson, Miss. Following that game, SFA will be back home for the inaugural Etech Lumberjack Classic, a four-team tournament on Dec. 4 and 5.
NEWS AND NOTES
SLIGHT BLOCKAGE: Coming into its game with Texas Tech, SFA had gone the first two contests of the season without registering a blocked shot. But the 'Jacks swatted two attempts against Tech. The first Lumberjack to record a block in the 2009-10 campaign? Five-foot, three-inch Eric Bell. The SFA point guard knocked down a shot by Tech's John Roberson on the Red Raiders' second possession. It was Bell's fourth career rejection and his first since turning away a shot at Southeastern Louisiana in the 2007-08 season.Two of his four career blocks have come against Big 12 competition, as Bell registered a block in SFA's win at Oklahoma in 2007-08.
HOME-WRECKERS: SFA brought a 15-game homecourt winning streak into its game with Texas Tech, and the Lumberjacks had not lost a home, non-conference game since the 2006-07 campaign. But the Red Raiders left Johnson Coliseum with a 63-61 win, marking the first SFA home loss since a 75-65 defeat against UT Arlington in the second-to-last home game of the 2007-08 season. The Lumberjacks went 13-0 at home last season. SFA is now 27-2 in its last 29 home, non-conference match-ups.
CAREER HIGHS: Seniors Eddie Williams and Walt Harris posted a pair of career highs in the win over Jackson State. Williams pulled down a career-best nine rebounds, bettering his previous top mark by one. Harris' 13 points were also a career-best. His previous high was 11 points.
COMEBACK: SFA didn't hold a lead in the second half of its win against Jackson State until Jordan Glynn gave the Lumberjacks the lead with 1.1 seconds left. SFA came from behind in the final five minutes just one time in the 2008-09 season.
HOME OPENER: SFA knocked off Jackson State, 62-61, in the 2009-10 home opener. Head coach Danny Kaspar's teams are 10-0 in home openers at SFA. The last time an SFA team failed to win its home opener was a 67-55 loss to Texas A&M in 1998.
RECORD LOWS IN MINNESOTA: SFA's 82-42 loss at Minnesota goes into the books as the worst margin of defeat in nine-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. The previous record was a 31-point defeat (92-61) at Arizona in the first game of the 2001-02 season. In all, the 'Jacks have suffered just 12 losses by 20 or more points, and only two by 30 or more, in 264 games under Kaspar.
SEASON OPENERS: SFA is 6-4 in season-opening games under head coach Danny Kaspar. The Lumberjacks have compiled an 11-13 record in season openers as a Division I program (since 1986-87 season). SFA is 1-4 under Kaspar when opening on the road and is just 1-7, in all, as a Division I program when playing the season opener on the road. The Lumberjacks' only season-opening road win in the last 23 seasons was an 82-72 verdict at Tulsa to start the 2005-06 campaign.
FOUR OF A KIND: Former McLennan Community College players Walt Harris, Jordan Glynn, Orren Tims and Eric Bell make SFA the only Division I team in the country with four players from the same junior college on its roster.
PROVIDING ASSISTANCE: Eric Bell and Eddie Williams combined to account for nearly 45 percent of SFA's assists a year ago. Their total comprises almost 90 percent of the assists posted by returning players.
POINTS SPREAD THIN: With the graduation of four seniors, including two of the top scorers in Lumberjack history (Josh Alexander and Matt Kingsley), SFA enters the 2009-10 season missing 74 percent of its scoring production from last year. In all, the 'Jacks lost five of their top six scorers from 2008-09 with Eddie Williams' 7.4 points per game being the top returning average.
ON THE REBOUND: In addition to losing most of the scoring punch from a year ago, the Lumberjacks come into the new season missing 80 percent of their rebounding from 2008-09. SFA lost four of its top five rebounders to graduation. Jereal Scott's 2.4 boards per contest are the top returning average.
BIG WILL: At six feet, 10 inches tall, Will Reinke is the tallest player signed in Danny Kaspar's nine-year tenure at SFA. The only other Lumberjack over 6-9 to play under Kaspar is Stephen Cobb, a 6-11 center who was on the team when Kaspar took over.
ATTENDANCE: SFA ranked second in the Southland Conference last season in average attendance, drawing 3,140 fans per home game.
SITTIN' ON TWENTY: SFA's win over Central Arkansas last season on March 4 gave the Lumberjacks their second straight 20-win season and the fourth in nine seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. At 24-8 overall, SFA finished as the only team in the Southland Conference with single digits in the loss column.
SAFE AT HOME: In nine-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks have compiled a 102-28 (.785) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. SFA is 298-119 (.715) all-time in the Coliseum. The Lumberjacks finished the 2008-09 home slate with a perfect 13-0 record, marking the fourth straight season and the sixth time in seven years for SFA to post double-digit wins at home.
RANK AND FILE: The Lumberjacks received 15 votes in the first CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll of the season but did not earn any votes in this week's poll. SFA finished three spots outside the final poll of 2008-09 with 30 votes. Three weeks before that, the 'Jacks fell out of the poll for the first time in over a year. SFA spent 25 consecutive weeks in the poll after breaking in during December of the 2007-08 season. SFA began last season 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. In December of last season, SFA was ranked No. 10, marking the earliest move into the top 10 for the `Jacks since the poll began.
SCOUTING THE RAMS
FOR THE RECORD: Huston-Tillotson is 0-3 coming into Saturday's game with SFA. The Rams opened the season with an 87-69 loss at Oklahoma Christian on Nov. 7. They then took a 92-79 road loss against Incarnate Word in San Antonio before pushing SMU in a 69-65 squeaker Monday night. Huston-Tillotson went 10-20 with a 7-11 record in Red River Athletic Conference play last season.
LAST GAME: SMU exploited a significant size advantage to outscore the Rams, 38-8, in the paint and finish with a 44-29 edge in rebounding in Monday's 69-65 victory. But Huston-Tillotson connected on seven 3-point attempts while the Mustangs went 0-for-11 from range, helping the Rams come within four points of a major upset. SMU led by as many as 18 points in the second period, but Huston-Tillotson shot 44 percent in the second half, went 4-for-8 from behind the arc and connected on all eight of its second-half free throws to trim the lead as close as three points. Davetom Odom was 7-for-11 and hit four 3-pointers to lead all players with 20 points. He drained a three with 17 seconds left to make it a 68-65 game, but the Rams were forced to foul with seven seconds left, and SMU hit the second foul shot to put the game away. Darrell Glover joined Odom in double digits with 18 points and added a team-high nine rebounds. The Rams forced SMU into 16 turnovers against just 14 of their own, but were still outscored, 20-18, in points off turnovers.
KEY NUMBERS: The Rams shot well (41.7 percent) against SMU and have a solid .389 shooting percentage for the season. But their opponents have connected on 50 percent this year and hold a 15-rebound edge over Huston-Tillotson on average. The Rams are winning the turnover battle, forcing an average of 21 turnovers per game while giving it up just 15.3 times per contest. Huston-Tillotson is shooting just 19.6 percent from 3-point range, but has done a fair job of defending on the perimeter, holding the opposition to 24.5 percent.
LEADERS: Freshman guard Davetom Odom leads the Rams in scoring with 20 points per game. He is shooting 40 percent from the floor and is Huston-Tillotson's top 3-point shooter among players with at least 10 attempts, knocking down 33 percent from beyond the arc. Senior wing Darrell Glover averages 16.7 points per game and is the Rams' top rebounder with 6.7 boards per contest. Odom and Glover have gotten to the line more than any other players on the team, and both are effective at the stripe. Odom has knocked down 20 of his 22 attempts this season, and Glover is 16-for-19 at the line.
OF NOTE: In two previous meetings with Huston-Tillotson, the Lumberjacks have won by an average of 31.5 points. SFA's 46-point margin of victory in the game two seasons ago stands as the fifth-largest win margin in nine-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar.
-- SFA --
