GAME NOTES: at Jackson State
11/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 30, 2009
JACKSON, Miss. -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
VITALS
Stephen F. Austin at Jackson State
Tuesday, Dec. 1, 2009 • 7:00 p.m. (CST)
Williams Center (8,000) • Jackson, Miss.
Radio: KTBQ 107.7-FM • TV: None • Online: None
Lumberjacks
Record: 2-2
Last 5/Streak: 2-3/W1*
Coach: Danny Kaspar
Career: 379-158
At SFA: 160-106
SID: Brian Ross
E-mail: rossbrian@sfasu.edu
Web: sfajacks.com
Tigers
Record: 0-4
Last 5/Streak: 0-5/L5*
Coach: Tevester Anderson
Career: 198-156
At JSU: 95-104
SID: Wesley Peterson
E-mail: wesley.peterson@jsums.edu
Web: jsutigers.com
GAME INFORMATION
'JACKS IN JACKSON: The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball team will head to Jackson, Miss., to wrap up a home-and-home series against Jackson State on Tuesday. The 'Jacks are coming off a three-game home stand -- their longest of the season. The set opened with a 62-61 win over the Tigers. SFA is 2-2 coming into Tuesday's game. The Tigers bring an 0-4 record to the contest.
LAST GAME: Four Lumberjacks reached double digits in scoring for the first time this season Saturday, as SFA rolled to an 82-54 home win over Huston-Tillotson. Eddie Williams scored 15 points to lead the 'Jacks for the fourth time in four games. He also dished out a career-high seven assists. Junior forward Orren Tims came off the bench for 14 points, freshman center Will Reinke scored 11 points, and junior forward Jordan Glynn added 10. Glynn ad Reinke each recorded career-highs with nine rebounds apiece. SFA shot a season-best 58.5 percent from the field.
THE TIGERS: Jackson State is 0-4 with four road losses this season. The Tigers are playing without the services of last year's leading scorer and SWAC Preseason Player of the Year Grant Maxey, who is injured. Tuesday's game marks Jackson State's first home contest of the season.
vs. JACKSON STATE: SFA is 5-3, all-time, against the Tigers. Four of the five wins have come in the last four meetings, and all eight games in the series have been played during Danny Kaspar's tenure as head coach at SFA. The 'Jacks are 1-2 in three previous road games against Jackson State, having won the last such meeting during the 2007-08 season.
COVERAGE: Tuesday's game will be broadcast live on KTBQ 107.7-FM. SFA assistant director of media relations Ben Rikard will have the call.
UP NEXT: SFA will host the inaugural Etech Lumberjack Classic on Dec. 4 and 5. The event features Central Arkansas, Southern and Cal State-Fullerton. The 'Jacks will take on Southern on Friday and Fullerton on Saturday in the nightcaps. The early game Friday features Central Arkansas against Fullerton, with UCA taking on Southern in Saturday's early contest.
NEWS AND NOTES
HIGH PERCENTAGE: SFA shot a season-best .585 from the field in its win over Huston-Tillotson. The 'Jacks achieved that mark by taking high-percentage shots. SFA outscored the Rams, 52-24, in the paint. Eddie Williams scored a game-high 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting from the floor. All but one of his field goals came on layups. The .585 shooting percentage is SFA's best since shooting .630 in an 82-67 win at Jackson State in the 2007-08 season.
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 five 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 103-28 (.786) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. SFA is 299-119 (.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 TIGERS
FOR THE RECORD: Jackson State comes into Tuesday's game still looking for its first win at 0-4 on the season. All four of the Tigers' losses have come on the road. Tuesday's contest marks their first home game of the season. Jackson State is coming off a 10-point loss at North Texas.
LAST GAME: North Texas held off a late Jackson State charge last Tuesday night to take a 68-58 win over the Tigers. The Mean Green led by as many as 15 points in the second half before Jackson State cut the margin to four points with just under four minutes to play. But North Texas shot 52 percent in the second half to hold on for the win. The Tigers held UNT to 37 percent in the first half but were unable to take advantage, as they shot just 29 percent before halftime themselves. Senior guard Garrison Johnson scored a game-high 19 points to lead Jackson State.
KEY NUMBERS: The Tigers are shooting a healthy 42 percent for the season but have allowed their opposition to connect on 46 percent from the field. Jackson State isn't helped by its 65-percent average at the foul stripe or its negative rebounding margin. The Tigers also carry a minus-3.5 margin in turnovers.
LEADERS: Jackson State has played the last two games without the services of SWAC Preseason Player of the Year Grant Maxey, who is recovering from an ankle injury. In Maxey's absence, the Tigers have relied on senior guard Garrison Johnson. His 20.5 points per game are nearly double his average coming into this season and leads the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Junior forward Tyrone Hanson is second on the team in scoring with 9.5 points per game and leads the squad in rebounding. Sophomore guard Rod Melvin leads the team and is fourth in the SWAC with 4.0 assists per contest.
OF NOTE: This season marks the second time in three years for SFA and Jackson State to play an in-season home-and-home series. The teams squared off twice in the 2007-08 campaign with SFA sweeping both ends of the contest. The 'Jacks took a 70-55 win over the Tigers at home in the first game, then went on the road for an 82-67 rout to finish off the sweep. SFA shot .630 from the field in that contest, its best shooting percentage in a road game in nine-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. In all, SFA has won four straight games against the Tigers.
-- SFA --
