GAME NOTES: at Arkansas
12/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 18, 2009
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
VITALS
Stephen F. Austin at Arkansas
Saturday, Dec. 19, 2009 • 3:00 p.m. (CST)
Walton Arena (19,200) • Fayetteville, Ark.
Radio: KTBQ 107.7-FM • TV: None • Online: RazorVision
Lumberjacks
Record: 6-2
Last 5/Streak: 5-0/W5
Coach: Danny Kaspar
Career: 383-158
At SFA: 164-106
SID: Brian Ross
E-mail: rossbrian@sfasu.edu
Web: sfajacks.com
Razorbacks
Record: 5-5
Last 5/Streak: 3-2/W3
Coach: John Pelphrey
Career: 122-100
At UA: 42-33
SID: Phil Pierce
E-mail: ppierce@uark.edu
Web: arkansasrazorbacks.com
GAME INFORMATION
BACK-TO-'BACKS : The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack basketball team will take its five-game win streak back on the road Saturday to take on Arkansas. The 'Jacks bring a 6-2 mark to the contest and have not lost since dropping a two-point decision to Texas Tech on Nov. 24. SFA's current win streak includes two road victories. The Razorbacks come into Saturday's game with a 5-5 mark, having won three straight contests.
LAST GAME: Jereal Scott scored a career-high 22 points, including the go-ahead bucket with 38 seconds to play, as SFA took a 73-69 win at Longwood on Dec. 12. Jordan Glynn posted his third straight double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds. His 11th board was a tip-out to Eddie Williams on a missed free throw with eight seconds left that helped seal the win. The 'Jacks trailed, 43-40, at halftime, after Longwood connected on 67 percent from 3-point range in the opening period. But the Lancers hit just three of their 10 3-point attempts in the second half, and SFA outscored them, 24-5, in points off turnovers. Williams finished with 14 points after scoring 12 in the first half, and Eric Bell added a season-best eight assists.
THE RAZORBACKS: Arkansas is on a three-game win streak after a slow start to a season that has been marked by injuries and suspensions. In all, the Razorbacks have combined to miss 55 games by players either serving suspensions or recovering from injury.
vs. ARKANSAS: SFA is 0-3, all-time, against the Razorbacks. The series started in the 1935-36 season with a 54-23 Lumberjack loss. The two teams didn't play again until the 2006-07 campaign but have met twice since then with Arkansas winning both contests. According to available records, Arkansas is the only current member of the Southeastern Conference that SFA has ever played.
COVERAGE: Saturday's game will be broadcast live on the Lumberjack Sports Network via KTBQ 107.7-FM. Rob Meyers has the call. The broadcast is available online at Q1077.com. Fans can also track the game via live stats on the Arkansas athletics Web site.
UP NEXT: SFA will host East Central (Oklahoma) on Tuesday in a 7 p.m. game. The Lumberjacks will then take a short break for the Christmas holiday before returning to action for the two-day St. Mary's Shamrock Classic, starting Dec. 29, in Moraga, Calif. SFA will take on Binghamton and Howard in the tournament.
NEWS AND NOTES
WIN STREAK: SFA's win at Longwood marked the Lumberjacks' fifth straight win. SFA hasn't lost a game since its two-point defeat against Texas Tech on Nov. 24. The streak includes home victories against Huston-Tillotson, Southern and Cal State Fullerton, along with road wins over Jackson State and Longwood. SFA's longest winning streak last season was eight games, a run that went through the end of the regular season and Southland Conference Tournament before ending in a first-round NCAA Tournament loss against Syracuse.
TRIPLE THREAT: The Lumberjacks defended the 3-point arc better than any team in the country in 2008-09. SFA led the nation by holding opponents to 26.6 percent from 3-point range last season. Through eight games in 2009-10, Lumberjack foes are hitting 44.3 percent from behind the arc. That figure ranks 331st out of 334 Division I teams in the country.
ROAD-TESTED: SFA is 2-1 so far in road games with the only loss having come in the season opener against No. 18 Minnesota. The Lumberjacks have since defeated Jackson State and Longwood on the road. SFA was 1-4 in road, non-conference games a year ago with the only win coming at Drake. In 10 seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, the only other time a Lumberjack team has won more than one road non-conference contest in a single season was 2007-08, when the 'Jacks went 5-2 in such games.
FIRST-TIMERS: SFA has four first-time opponents on its 2009-10 schedule -- Cal State Fullerton, Longwood, Howard and Binghamton. So far, the 'Jacks are 2-0 against the first-timers with wins over Fullerton and Longwood. SFA will meet Binghamton and Howard on Dec. 29 and 30 in the St. Mary's Shamrock Office Supplies Classic.
DOUBLING UP: Junior forward Jordan Glynn has put together a streak like none yet seen in Danny Kaspar's 10 seasons as head coach at SFA. Including his 11-point, 11-rebound performance at Longwood, Glynn has posted three straight double-doubles and four consecutive games with at least 10 rebounds.
TOURNAMENT TRENDS: SFA went 2-0 in the inaugural Etech Lumberjack Classic, taking wins against Southern and Cal State Fullerton. That performance moved the 'Jacks to 8-0, all-time, in home regular-season tournament contests. The Etech Classic marked SFA's first home tournament since the Tall Pines Classic in the 1976-77 season.
CAREER-HIGH: Senior Walt Harris put up career-highs in scoring twice in a three-game stretch earlier this season. Harris scored 15 points in SFA's win at Jackson State on Tuesday, then led the team with 20 points in the win over Cal State Fullerton on Saturday.
PERFECTION: Junior point guard Denzel Barnes put up the most efficient performance of the young season in SFA's win over Southern. Barnes came off the bench and hit all six of his field goal attempts, including two 3-pointers, to put up a game-high 14 points in just 13 minutes of action. In three games that week, Barnes shot .632 from the field, .714 from 3-point range and went 7-for-7 at the foul stripe to average 12 points per contest.
TWENTY-SOMETHING: Eddie Williams scored 24 points against Jackson State. That marked the first 20-point performance by a Lumberjack this season and the first since Matt Kingsley put up 20 against UTSA in the championship game of last year's Southland Conference Tournament. Williams has broken the 20-point barrier three times in his career, twice hitting a career-high 25 points last season.
HALF FULL: SFA trailed at halftime in both its games against Jackson State, but the 'Jacks came back to win in both contests, as they did in their victory at Longwood. SFA is now 3-2 this year when trailing at the half. The 'Jacks went just 1-4 in such situations all of last season.
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 during 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 30-2 in its last 32 home, non-conference match-ups.
COMEBACK: SFA didn't hold a lead in the second half of its home 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.
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. So far this season, the 'Jacks average 2,394 fans per contest.
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 105-28 (.789) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. SFA is 301-119 (.717) 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.
SCOUTING THE RAZORBACKS
FOR THE RECORD: Arkansas is 5-5 heading into Saturday's game. The Razorbacks went 2-1 to open the season before losing four straight games to fall to 2-5 on the year. Arkansas has since reeled off three straight wins, evening its record. The Razorbacks are 5-3 in home games this season with losses in Fayetteville against Morgan State, East Tennessee State and South Alabama. Arkansas is 0-2 in games outside of Bud Walton Arena, having dropped a neutral-site game to Louisville and a road contest against Oklahoma.
LAST GAME: Arkansas held Alabama State to 19 first-half points Wednesday in a 76-51 win over the Hornets. Alabama State shot just 17 percent in the opening period and 27 percent for the game. Mike Washington scored 22 points to lead all players and pulled down a team-high eight rebounds, leading an effort that saw Arkansas out-rebound the Hornets, 45-34. Marshawn Powell scored 13 points, and Glenn Bryant added 11 points. The Razorbacks were just 3-of-9 from 3-point range but dominated the paint, outscoring the Hornets, 48-14, down low. Alabama State failed to hit a shot from inside the arc in the first half.
KEY NUMBERS: The Razorbacks average a healthy 80.2 points per game, but that figure is skewed slightly by their season-opening 130-68 win over Alcorn State. In the nine games since, Arkansas has averaged 74.7 points per contest with a high of 94 in a three-point loss to Morgan State. Arkansas' 48.6-percent average from the field ranks No. 30 in the nation, and the Razorbacks stand 48th in the country in 3-point shooting at 39.6 percent. But Arkansas ranks 313th nationally in 3-point shooting defense, allowing opponents to hit 40 percent from beyond the arc.
LEADERS: Sophomore guard Rotnei Clarke leads Arkansas and ranks 19th in the nation in scoring with 21.1 points per game. Clarke is one of the deadliest 3-point threats in the nation, leading the country in 3-pointers made with 4.6 per contest, and ranking third nationally in 3-point shooting at 53.9 percent. Freshman forward Marshawn Powell leads the team in rebounding with 7.0 boards per contest. Senior Mike Washington and junior Jemal Farmer each average 5.4 rebounds per game. Freshman point guard Julysses Nobles averages 5.4 assists per game and ranked 33rd in the nation coming into Wednesday's game.
-- SFA --
