'Jacks Open 2017-18 Season with Veterans Day Battle at Longwood

Saturday, November 11

Farmville, Va.

2:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

Longwood

'Jacks Open 2017-18 Season with Veterans Day Battle at Longwood

11/10/2017 1:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball

SFA begins 93rd season of basketball in Farmville, Va., and is 3-0 all-time against the Lancers

By: Charlie Hurley | Director of Athletic Media Relations

THE STARTING FIVE
• Farmville, Va., will serve as the backdrop for the start of SFA's 93rd season of men's basketball as the 'Jacks open their 2017-18 campaign with a Saturday afternoon battle at Big South Conference adversary Longwood inside Willett Hall. Tip-off is slated for 2:00 p.m. CT and each and every second of the 'Jacks' season opener will be streamed live on the Big South Network with Jay Burnham providing play-by-play and analysis of the action.
• All-time, the 'Jacks have posted a record of 55-37 (.598) in season openers and the team's tussle with the Lancers marks the second-straight season in which SFA will face off against a non-Texas team in its season opener. When taking a look at the 'Jacks' record in season openers against opponents from outside the state of Texas, SFA has gone 15-16 (.484).
• Once the 'Jacks tip off against the Lancers inside Willett Hall on Saturday afternoon, they'll be looking to emerge as the victors in a season opener for the first time since the 2014-15 season. That year, under the direction of first-year head coach Brad Underwood, SFA hammered Mississippi College 75-49 in the confines of William R. Johnson Coliseum.
• It's been even longer since SFA secured a season-opening win against an opponent from the ranks of NCAA Division I. Exactly six years ago, on Nov. 11, 2012, SFA blasted Centenary College, 84-43, inside William R. Johnson Coliseum in the season opener for both teams. Although Centenary is now classified as an NCAA Division III institution, at the time the Gents were in their final year as an NCAA Division I program.
• By sheer distance, the 'Jacks' trip to Farmville, Va., is the fourth-longest season-opening road trip in the history of the program. Nacogdoches, Texas, the home of SFA, is some 1,155 miles away from Farmville, Va., the home of Longwood University. Just three season-opening destinations were farther away for the 'Jacks than Farmville: Boise, Idaho (1,786 miles to play two teams in the Real Dairy Classic) in 1993-94, Long Beach, Calif., (1,596 miles to play Long Beach State) in 1989-90 and to Tempe, Ariz., (1,221 miles to play Arizona State) in 2001-02.

SCOUTING LONGWOOD | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | 2016-17 STATISTICS
• Winners of just six games a season ago, Longwood boasts a 17-man squad in 2017-18 as they tip off against the 'Jacks. Longwood is 2-0 when opening the season at home under current head coach Jayson Gee.
• When the Lancers get going against SFA on Saturday afternoon, they will be in search of their first win since January 4, 2017. After posting a 79-76 Big South win over Presbyterian that day, Longwood dropped its next 16 games to finish with an overall mark of 6-24 which included a 3-15 showing against Big South adversaries.
• Isaiah Walton is Longwood's top returner as he contributed 13.9 points and 3.9 rebounds per game one season ago.
• Both B.K. Ashe and Charles Glover are expected to play big roles for the Lancers. Those two transfers are now eligible to play after sitting out due to NCAA transfer rules the previous season. Ashe and Glover previously played at Mount St. Mary's and helped The Mount advance to the NCAA Tournament in 2014-15.

A COMMONWEALTH OF WINS
• History is on the side of the 'Jacks when they tip off against Longwood Saturday afternoon. In the all-time history of the program, SFA has never lost against a program from the state of Virginia.
• SFA is 3-0 all-time against Longwood and also carries perfect all-time records against James Madison (2-0) and VCU (1-0), putting their record against schools from Virginia at 6-0.

BIG SUCCESS AGAINST THE BIG SOUTH
• Saturday's matchup with Longwood is the seventh meeting between SFA and a representative from the Big South Conference and in that time the 'Jacks have come out on top more often than not.
• SFA is 6-1 (.857 winning percentage) against foes from the Big South which includes a 3-0 record against Longwood, a 2-0 record against High Point and a 1-0 record against UNC Asheville. The 'Jacks' only setback against a Big South opponent came back in 1972 when Gardner-Webb posted a 94-91 win over SFA when both schools were members of the NAIA.

PLAYING FROM BEHIND
• Dating back to last season, a little over eight months have passed since SFA has held a lead in a game.
• SFA's last lead came when the clock hit all zeroes against Lamar in the quarterfinal round of the Southland Conference Tournament.
• Since then, SFA was tied or trailed in both its Southland Conference Tournament semifinal bout against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (March 10, 2017) and its opening round game ofthe CIT at Idaho (March 15, 2017).

THAT 70's SHOW
• After completing a 2016-17 season defined partly by the sheer amount of firepower the 'Jacks lost from the year prior, SFA is now in the exact opposite position it was in last year in terms of retaining production from the year before.
• Of the 'Jacks' total amount of points, rebounds and assists from the 2016-17 season, SFA returns 70-percent or better from each of those statistical categories this season, giving them a leg up compared to the vast majority of the NCAA Division I men's basketball teams across the land.
• Including SFA, only 17 other programs return 70-percent or more of their points, rebounds and assists from last season. The full list of those teams can be found below.
Team | % points returning | % rebounds returning | % assists returning
Bradley | 96.8 | 95.8 | 98.4
Colgate | 93 | 93.5 | 90.1
Cornell | 74 | 83 | 71
Hawaii | 71 | 75 | 77
Idaho | 84.8 | 74.6 | 81.5
Iowa | 73.7 | 82 | 77
Lipscomb | 81 | 79 | 85
Minnesota | 87.1 | 91.8 | 90.9
Navy | 82 | 73 | 87
Northern Kentucky | 77 | 84 | 84
Oakland | 82 | 82 | 82
Penn State | 80.8 | 87.8 | 81.8
Saint Joseph's | 89 | 82 | 88
Seton Hall | 90.5 | 89.8 | 72
SFA | 75 | 84.1 | 70.7
USC | 97.9 | 96.6 | 99.3
Wichita State | 91.2 | 91.2 | 83.5

BACK FOR THE 'JACKS
• Each of SFA's top three scorers from a seaon ago are back again as TJ Holyfield, Ivan Canete and Leon Gilmore III represen a bulk of the 'Jacks' returning point total.
• All three averaged at least 10 points per game with Holyfield leading the way at a clip of 11.7 points per game. Gilmore III and Canete were tied for second on the team in scoring by averaging 10.6 points per game respectively.
• In all, SFA retains its top five scorers and its top five rebounds from a season ago. Also among that group are senior Ty Charles (9.3 points, 5.0 rebounds per game) and sophomore Kevon Harris (8.5 points, 3.6 rebounds per game).
• Charles, who enters his final season as a collegian, has a chance to become just the fifth player in the history of the program to reach 100 career wins. The Kennedale, Texas, product has 75 wins to his credit and needs 25 more to reach the century mark.
• Other milestones Charles is approaching are the 500-rebound mark and the 1,000-point mark. Charles needs 56 more rebounds to arrive at 500 and 183 more points for an even 1,000 in his collegiate career.

RAISE SOME KELL
• Year two of Kyle Keller's stint as the head coach of the SFA men's basketball team is set to begin in 2017-18. In his inaugural season of 2016-17, Keller helped SFA produce a record of 18-15 and led the program to its fifth-straight postseason berth when the 'Jacks were selected to play in the CIT.
• Keller's 18 wins during his first year in charge of the 'Jacks' are the second-most wins by a first year head coach in program history. On the national scene, thoe 18 victories were the eighth-most by any first-year head coach at the NCAA Division I level.

TAKING THE 'L' OUT OF COLISEUM
• Since it opened its doors as the Lumberjacks' home venue at the start of the 1974 campaign, the William R. Johnson Coliseum has gained a reputation as one of the toughest buildings for visiting opponents to play in throughout all of college basketball.
• That reputation has been especially well-deserved over the last five seasons. Since the start of the 2012-13 season, SFA has posted an incredible 71-3 record inside its home facility.
• The winning percentage that results from that record is an astounding .959. When stacked up against all other NCAA Division I men's basketball teams during that five-year span, the only other team that can boast about a higher home court winning percentage is the University of Kansas. The Jayhawks have gone 80-3 since the start of the 2012-13 season in Allen Fieldhouse - good for a winning percentage of .964.
• With two of SFA' s three losses over the last five seasons coming against non-conference opposition, that means Southland Confernece foes have had almost zero chance of winning inside William R. Johnson Coliseum in that span. Since February 16, 2012, SFA has rolled up a 45-1 record against league opposition on its home floor with the lone setback coming against Northwestern State on March 2, 2017.

ROAD WARRIORS
• Entering the 2017-18 season, just one NCAA Division I men's basketball team can claim to have won more true road games than SFA since the start of the 2011-12 season.
• SFA is one of three schools that have racked up 55 true road wins since the beginning of 2011-12. The 'Jacks' join Albany and Bucknell in that category, but all three of those programs trail Wichita State of the American Athletic Conference who has won 58 true road games during that stretch.
ROAD WINS SINCE 2011-12
1. Wichita State | 58
T2. SFA | 55
T2. Robert Morris | 55
T2. Bucknell | 55
5. Robert Morris | 53

FOUR OUT OF FIVE AIN'T BAD
• After seeing its streak of four-straight Southland Conference regular sesaon titles snapped in 2016-17, SFA has its sights set squarely on returning to the top of the league standings in 2017-18.
• Since the 2012-13 season, SFA is one of an elite group of 10 NCAA Division I men's basketball programs that have captured four or more regular season league titles.
• Other programs on that exclusive list include Belmont, Bucknell, Gonzaga, High Point, Kansas, Texas Southern, Valparaiso, Villanova and Wichita State.

COLLEGE BASKETBALL'S ELITE
• Although they did not reach the 20-win plateau for the first time in the 2010s during the 2016-17 campaign, that didn't prevent SFA from maintaining its standing as one of the nation's best men's basketball over the past few years.
• Since 2014-15 - a period of three years - SFA has amassed 75 wins - the 20th-most among all NCAA Division I men's basketball programs. The 'Jacks' are one of just seven non-power five teams to be among the top 20 in terms of total wins in the last three seasons and are the second-winningest program in the state of Texas in that same span.
• Since 2013-14 - a period of four years - SFA has amassed 107 victories - the 12th-most among all NCAA Division I men's basketball programs. The only other non-power five schools in the top 15 in that span are Gonzaga, Wichita State and San Diego State. Additionally, SFA is the winningest program in the state of Texas in that span.
• Since 2012-13 - a period of five years - SFA has racked up 134 wins - the 13th-most among all NCAA Division I men's basketball programs in that span. The only other non-power five schools in the top 15 in that span are Gonzaga, Wichita State and VCU. Additionally, SFA is the winningest program in the state of Texas in that span.

TEXAS' FINEST
• Of the 20 NCAA Division I men's basketball teams in the state of Texas, none have accumulated more victories over the past decade than SFA.
• SFA has racked up 245 wins in that span and is one of only six programs in the state that has amassed 200 or more wins over the last decade.
• When looking at that same 10-year span, SFA has more seasons of 25 or more wins (five) than any other team in the state and is the only team in the state that has fewer than 100 losses.
• The 'Jacks' win percentage through the last 10 years stands at an impressive .753 - the best in the state.
Team | Record since 2007-08
SFA | 245-80
Baylor | 243-113
Texas | 217-129
Texas A&M | 212-125
UTEP | 204-129
Sam Houston State | 203-126
UT Arlington | 191-131
SMU | 190-136
Houston | 187-140
Texas Southern | 164-166
North Texas | 154-152
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi | 153-168
Texas Tech | 145-176
TCU | 144-183
Texas State | 142-163
UTSA | 140-175
Lamar | 136-176
Prairie View A&M | 126-196
Rice | 113-207
UTRGV | 104-207

CLASS WARFARE
• A name long associated with roping in some of the best roundball recruits from all corners of the nation, second-year SFA head coach Kyle Keller maintained his reputation in that area by bringing in one of premier recruiting classes both in all of college basketball.
• According to 247Sports.com, SFA's 2017-18 class stands as the 74th-highest among all NCAA Division I college basketball programs. That puts SFA just above the lowest quarter of the top 100 recruiting classes nationally and ahead of power five programs such as Georgia Tech (75th), St. John's (76th), North Carolina State (77th), Baylor (79th), Connecticut (81st), Oklahoma State (85th), Kansas State (91st) and Virginia (97th).
• That class also gives the 'Jacks' the best recruiting class in the Southland Conference by a wide margin. The next closest Southland team on the 247Sports.com list is Houston Baptist which checks in with a 154th-best recruiting class - over 80 spots below SFA.

CONFERENCE CALL
• Over the past five seasons, no NCAA Division I men's basketball team in the nation owns a better in-conference record - or more in-conference wins - than the 'Jacks.
• Since the start of the 2012-13 campaign, SFA has posted an 81-9 record in Southland Conference games. The only program that has come close in that span is Wichita State - formerly of the Missouri Valley Conference. The Shockers posted an 80-10 record in MVC tilts in the last five seasons.
• Of the 'Jacks' nine league losses over the last five seasons, only two of them have come by 10 or more points.

THE FATHER, THE SON AND THE HOLYFIELD
• When the Southland Conference unveiled its list of 2017-18 preseason all-league performers, a face to familiar to SFA followers appeared on it.
• Junior TJ Holyfield earned Preseason All-Southland Conference First Team honors, becoming the first Lumberjack to do so since Thomas Walkup prior to the start of SFA's 2015-16 season. Holyfield was the only junior to appear on the five-man Preseason All-Southland Conference First Team.
• All junior TJ Holyfield did during his sophomore season was serve as SFA's leading scorer (11.7 points per game) and rebounder (7.2 rebounds per game) - something not done by a Lumberjack underclassman since Matt Kingsley did so in the 2005-06 season.
• As he enters his first season as an upperclassman, Holyfield is poised to move up the 'Jacks' all-time records in a number of categories and has a good chance to hit a pair of impressive statistical milestones.
• So far, the Albuquerque, N.M., product 89 blocked shots to his credit through his first two seasons in Lumberjack colors. With 44 more Holyfield would become the program's all-time leading shot blocker with 133, surpassing Taylor Smith's career total of 132.
• In order to reach 500 rebounds for his career, Holyfield needs to add 128 more to his career total of 372. To get to 1,000 career points, he requires 370 points - roughly an average of 11 per game through SFA's regular season schedule. Should he hit both of those plateaus, he would be just the eighth player in the program's NCAA Division I history to score at least 1,000 points and grab at least 500 rebounds.

COMING UP NEXT
• A pair of old Lone Star Conference adversaries are set to rekindle a rivalry that has lain dormant for almost a quarter-century as SFA welcomes NCAA Division II opponent St. Edward's to William R. Johnson Coliseum Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. The first meeting between the 'Jacks and Hilltoppers since 1995 will serve as SFA's home opener while also beginning a three-game home stretch for SFA.

-SFA-