GAME NOTES: UT Arlington
1/19/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 19, 2010
NACOGDOCHES, Texas -
Complete Release in PDF Format 
VITALS
UT Arlington at Stephen F. Austin
Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010 • 7:00 p.m. (CST)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (7,200) • Nacogdoches, Texas
Radio: None • TV: None • Online: SFA All-Access
Lumberjacks
Record: 11-5 (1-2)
Last 5/Streak: 3-2/L1
Coach: Danny Kaspar
Career: 388-161
At SFA: 169-109
SID: Brian Ross
E-mail: rossbrian@sfasu.edu
Web: sfajacks.com
Mavericks
Record: 8-7 (1-2)
Last 5/Streak: 3-2/W1
Coach: Scott Cross
Career: 58-50
At UTA: Same
SID: Gregg Elkin
E-mail: gelkin@uta.edu
Web: utamavs.com
GAME INFORMATION
HOME STAND: After going 0-2 in its first two road games of the Southland Conference season, the Stephen F. Austin basketball team will get the chance to host two straight in Johnson Coliseum this week, as the Lumberjacks take on UT Arlington and Southeastern Louisiana. SFA is 11-5 on the year and 1-2 coming into Wednesday's game against the Mavericks. UT Arlington is 8-7 on the season and sports an identical 1-2 mark in league play.
LAST GAME: SFA saw its road losing streak against Nicholls extended to four straight Saturday, as the Colonels took a 70-63 decision in Thibodaux. Nicholls played slowly and deliberately on offense and shot 51 percent, wiping out the 48-percent effort SFA put up at the other end. Anatoly Bose scored all 19 of his points in the second half and went 10-for-10 at the foul line, leading an effort that saw the Colonels finish with a big advantage in free throw shooting. Nicholls went 26-for-34 at the stripe, while SFA was just 15-of-24. The Lumberjacks turned the ball over 17 times versus just 11 for the Colonels, matching the highest turnover margin for an SFA foe this season. Jereal Scott led SFA with 18 points on 7-for-11 shooting, and Walt Harris hit a career-high four 3-pointers to finish with 16 points. Eddie Williams pulled down eight rebounds to lead all players.
THE MAVERICKS: UTA opened Southland play with back-to-back losses before regrouping for a big 72-66 win over SLC West Division contender UTSA on Saturday. The Mavericks are 1-3 in road games this season and boast one of the top offensive players in the nation in senior guard Marquez Haynes.
vs. UT ARLINGTON: SFA is 27-27, all-time, against UT Arlington in a series that has largely depended on the site of competition. The Lumberjacks are 18-9 against the Mavericks in home games, but SFA is just 9-18 in contests played at UTA's Texas Hall. SFA is 7-10 against the Mavs in 10 seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. UTA has won six of the last 10 meetings, including two straight and three of the last five. SFA's last home win against the Mavs was a 65-54 decision in the 2006-07 season.
COVERAGE: The audio play-by-play of Wednesday's game will be available online through Yahoo! sports with a subscription. The game will be streamed live online through SFA All-Access on SFAJacks.com with a paid subscription. Fans can follow the action for free via GameTracker on SFAJacks.com.
UP NEXT: The 'Jacks will host Southeastern Louisiana Saturday before hitting the road for a pair of games next week. SFA plays at Northwestern State on Jan. 27, then travels to Lake Charles, La., to take on McNeese State on Jan. 31.
NEWS AND NOTES
STRAIGHT SHOOTING: SFA shot 47.6 percent (20-of-42) in its loss at Nicholls. That marks the first time in more than a season for the 'Jacks to hit at least 45 percent from the field in a losing effort. SFA went 14-0 in such performances last season and had an 8-0 mark in such games heading into the Nicholls match-up. The only other time in the last three seasons a Lumberjack team has shot that well and lost came in the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals in 2008, when SFA shot 50 percent in a defeat against Northwestern State. The 'Jacks went 16-1 that season when shooting better than 45 percent and, in all, are 38-2 in such games over the last three seasons.
BEAR TRAP: SFA took a 64-49 win at home against Central Arkansas. That moved the 'Jacks to 5-0, all-time, against the Bears and 3-0 in home games. In those three games, UCA has never scored more than 50 points, and the Bears have a combined shooting percentage of .257. In all three games, UCA has been held below 20 points in the first half, including a seven-point first half in last year's meeting.
HOME IS WHERE CHAMPIONSHIPS ARE WON: Over the course of their two Southland Conference championship campaigns in the previous two seasons, the Lumberjacks went 15-1 in home conference games, including a perfect 8-0 record last season. This season, the 'Jacks are out to a 1-0 start in home league games. In all, SFA is 58-24 in Southland games at home in 10 years under head coach Danny Kaspar.
SOUTHLAND STREAK: SFA's loss at Sam Houston State snapped a streak of eight straight wins against Southland Conference foes. Including three victories at the Southland Tournament last March, the 'Jacks had not lost against a league opponent since a 59-56 defeat at McNeese State on Feb. 14. The Bearkats are also the first Southland Conference West Division team to defeat SFA since UT Arlington knocked off the 'Jacks early in last year's conference slate. SFA had won six straight and 10 of its last 11 games against SLC West foes.
TEN WINS: SFA entered Southland Conference play with double figures in the win column this season for just the second time in the program's tenure at the Division I level. The Lumberjacks' only other 10-win pre-conference slate came in 2007-08, when they went 12-2 before opening league play.
ON THE REBOUND: Junior Jordan Glynn pulled down a career-high 21 rebounds against Texas College. This marks the first time since 1995 for a Lumberjack to grab at least 20 boards. That performance was turned in by Javan Rouzan in an 80-75 win over Baylor. Glynn has posted seven double-doubles and eight double-figure rebounding games.
STEADY EDDIE: A back injury forced junior guard Eddie Williams to miss SFA's game against Texas College. That marked the first time in his three-year career for Williams to miss action. He had played in all 76 games -- including 32 in each of his first two seasons -- coming into the contest against the Steers. He has now played in 79 total games as a Lumberjack.
ALL-TOURNAMENT: After leading SFA in scoring in both its games at the Saint Mary's Shamrock Classic, junior guard Eddie Williams was named to the all-tournament team. This marks the third all-tournament team selection in the last two seasons for Williams. He was chosen to the Drake Hy-Vee Classic squad last season and then earned All-SLC Tournament honors in the postseason.
TOURNAMENT TEAM: Following wins over Howard and Binghamton in the Saint Mary's Shamrock Classic, SFA is 7-1 in four regular-season, tournament-style events over the last two campaigns. The Lumberjacks won two games to capture the Drake Hy-Vee Classic championship last season, then split a pair of contests at the Arkansas Jim Thorpe Classic. Earlier this season, SFA notched wins over Southern and Cal State Fullerton to win the inaugural Etech Lumberjack Classic.
HITTIN' A HUNDRED: The Lumberjacks' 102-point outburst against East Central marks SFA's first triple-digit scoring performance in a regulation game since defeating Paul Quinn, 101-48, in the 2005-06 season. In all, SFA has broken 100 points in regulation six times in 10 seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar. The only Division I opponent to give up triple digits against SFA in that span is Jackson State, who suffered a 103-79 defeat in the 2002-03 campaign. The Lumberjacks' highest-scoring regulation game was a 108-51 win over Oklahoma Panhandle State in the 2003-04 campaign.
BLOCKED UP: Freshman Will Reinke blocked a career-high four shots in SFA's win over East Central. He knocked down three attempts against Texas College. Reinke now has 14 blocks for the season, an average of 0.9 per game, which ranks eighth in the Southland. He has posted four multi-block games this season. Assuming he can maintain his current pace, Reinke will finish the season among the top six on SFA's Division I-era single-season blocks list.
BAD BREAK: The halftime break in SFA's game at Arkansas hurt the Lumberjacks' momentum. SFA went to the locker room with a 33-28 lead but was outscored, 44-36, in the second period of a 72-69 defeat. After shooting 48 percent in the opening half, the 'Jacks slumped to 39 percent after halftime, while the Razorbacks went from 34 percent in first frame to 67 percent following the break. The defeat marks the only time in nine games this season for SFA to lose a game that it led at the break.
DOUBLING UP: Earlier this season, junior forward Jordan Glynn put together a streak never before seen in Danny Kaspar's 10 seasons as head coach at SFA. Finishing with his 20-point, 13-rebound performance against East Central, Glynn posted five straight double-doubles and six consecutive games with at least 10 rebounds. Prior to this season, no other Lumberjack on a Kaspar-coached team had put together more than two consecutive double-digit rebounding efforts.
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 16 games in 2009-10, Lumberjack foes are hitting 37.4 percent from behind the arc. That figure stands 302nd out of 334 Division I teams in the country, as ranked by the NCAA through games of Jan. 16.
WIN STREAKS: The loss at Arkansas ended SFA's early-season win streak at five games. 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.
ROAD-TESTED: SFA finished non-conference play with a 2-2 record in road games with the only losses coming in the season opener against No. 18 Minnesota and at Arkansas. The Lumberjacks 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 opened 2009-10 season with four first-time opponents on the schedule -- Cal State Fullerton, Longwood, Howard and Binghamton. With two wins at the Saint Mary's Shamrock Classic, the 'Jacks finished 4-0 against their first-time foes.
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.
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. Including his 20 points at Sam Houston State, Williams has broken the 20-point barrier four times in his career, twice hitting a career-high 25 points last season. Walt Harris has scored 20 or more twice this year, hitting 20 against Cal State Fullerton and 22 at Arkansas. Junior forward Jordan Glynn scored 20 points against East Central.
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 3-4 this year when trailing at the half. The 'Jacks went just 1-4 in such situations all of last season.
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. The 'Jacks are 2-5 this season in games when they trail in the final five minutes. SFA came from behind in the final five minutes just one time in the 2008-09 season.
HIGH PERCENTAGE: SFA shot a season-best .585 from the field in its win over Huston-Tillotson. The .585 shooting percentage is SFA's best since shooting .630 in an 82-67 win at Jackson State during the 2007-08 season. The 'Jacks are 8-1 this season when shooting 45 percent or better, including six wins with a shooting percentage above .500.
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, and the 'Jacks are 53-4, overall, in such games during 10 seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar.
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 10 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.
SAFE AT HOME: In nine-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks have compiled a 108-28 (.794) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. SFA is 304-119 (.719) 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 MAVERICKS
FOR THE RECORD: UT Arlington comes into Wednesday's game as the sixth-place team in the Southland Conference West Division. The Mavericks have a 1-2 record in league play and are 8-7 on the season. After dropping two of its first three games, UTA went on a three-game win streak that is its longest of the season and included the Mavs' lone road win of the season -- an 80-75 verdict at Houston Baptist. In all, UTA is 2-4 in games away from Texas Hall with a 1-1 mark in neutral-site contests. The Mavericks have won three of their last five and are coming off a win over UTSA that stands as their first in Southland play.
LAST GAME: Marquez Haynes scored a career-high 38 points, including 30 in the second half, as he led UTA to a 72-66 comeback win against UTSA on Saturday. The Roadrunners led, 31-28, at halftime and led by as many as 12 in the game. UTA trailed 44-37 in the middle of the second half, when Haynes scored 19 straight points -- including six consecutive 3-pointers -- to lead a 19-7 run that ended with the Mavs ahead, 56-51, with 8:50 to play. UTSA never regained the lead. Haynes finished 13-for-19 from the field and 6-of-9 from 3-point range. No other Maverick scored more than 10, and Haynes outscored the rest of his teammates, 38-34. After a 30-percent effort in the first half, UTA hit 61.5 percent from the floor and 63.6 percent from 3-point range after halftime. Four of five Roadrunner starters scored in double digits, led by 15 from Demarco Stepter.
KEY NUMBERS: The Mavs rank second in the Southland Conference in scoring offense with 76.1 points per game, but are 10th in the league at the other end of the floor, allowing 75.4 points per contest. Due largely to some injuries in the frontcourt, UTA is last in the conference in rebounding margin at minus-4.9. The Mavs rank third in the league in turnover margin at plus-2.4. UTA's 7.3 3-pointers per contest stands fourth in the Southland.
LEADERS: Senior guard Marquez Haynes leads the league and ranks second in the country with 24.5 points per game. Haynes has attempted 26 percent of his team's field goals and is shooting .487 for the season with a team-best .493 average on 3-pointers that ranks second in the Southland. He is also 10th in the SLC with 3.5 assists per game, and his 1.5 steals per contest ranks 10th in the league. Sophomore center Ishmael Awange ranks ninth in the league in blocked shots with 0.9 per outing.
-- SFA --
