Stephen F. Austin
Nicholls
SFA's First Action of 2018 Comes at Home Against Southland Foe Nicholls
1/2/2018 5:59:00 PM | Men's Basketball
'Jacks have won nine in a row over the Colonels and are in search of their first Southland Conference win
Stephen F. Austin (11-3, 0-1 Southland) vs. Nicholls (8-7, 2-0 Southland)
Wednesday, Jan. 3 | 7:00 p.m. | Nacogdoches, Texas | William R. Johnson Coliseum (7,203)
Live Stats | Watch (ESPN3/ESPN app) | Listen (Q107.7/TuneIn) | SFA Game Notes | Nicholls Game Notes
OPENING TIPS
• Seeking its first Southland Conference victory of the 2017-18 campaign, the Stephen F. Austin men's basketball team returns home to William R. Johnson Coliseum for a Wednesday night showdown with current league frontrunner Nicholls. Tip-off has been set for 7:00 p.m.
• ESPN3 and the ESPN app will carry the Southland Conference tilt nationwide with longtime voice of the 'Jacks Rob Meyers narrating each second of the action. Meyers' play-by-play and in-game analysis can also be heard over the radio waves on Q107.7 FM in Nacogdoches and around the globe via the TuneIn app.
• Even though they dropped their Southland Conference opener at Southeastern Louisiana last Thursday night, the 'Jacks can take solace in the fact that back-to-back league losses have been a rare things in the 2010s. Since the decade started, SFA has lost consecutive Southland tilts just four times and has never dropped more than two league tilts in a row.
• As of late, a new year has also meant a fresh start for SFA. In seven of the last eight seasons, the 'Jacks have won their first game of the new year with an average margin of victory of 19.5 points.
• By forcing another 22 turnovers in their Southland Conference opener at Southeastern Louisiana, the 'Jacks took over as the nation's top team in terms of forcing turnovers. SFA leads the land in that category, forcing 22.79 opponent turnovers per game.
• TJ Holyfield and Kevon Harris both rank among the top ten players in the Southland Conference in terms of field goal percentage, making SFA one of two teams in the 13-team league who boast a pair of student-athletes in the top ten. Holyfield (15.6 ppg) is hitting 57.7-percent of his field goal tries, good for third in the league, while Harris (17.4 ppg) has connected on 53.2-percent of his shots - the eighth-highest percentage in the conference.
• Junior Shannon Bogues has taken over as the top free throw shooter in the Southland Conference. The guard has converted 87.9-percent (29-of-33) of his tries from ther foul line and is the only player in the league shooting above 85.1-percent from there. Holyfield (84.1-percent) ranks third in the Southland in terms of free throw shooting, too.
• For the second straight season, Nicholls has started its 18-game Southland Conference schedule with consecutive wins. One of the reasons why has been the Colonels' high-octane offense which is averaging 88.5 points per game. That scoring average leads the Southland and ranks 10th in the nation.
• It's been anyone's guess as to who will lead the Colonels in scoring on a nightly basis. Nicholls boasts four players who all average more than 10 points per game and topping that list is Roddy Peters who averages 17.2 per game - the fourth-best average in the league. Tevon Saddler (16.1 ppg), Lafayette Rutledge (11.2 ppg) and Jahvaughn Powell (10.3 ppg) also score north of 10 per game for the Colonels.
• The three-pointer is a big weapon for the Colonels as lead the Southland Conference in both three-point field goals made (147) and three-point field goals attempted (259). Those figures are the 23rd and 21st highest totals among all NCAA Division I men's basketball teams, too.
LAST TIME OUT
• For the first time since the 2010-11 season, SFA fell in its Southland Conference opener as it gave up a 12-0 run to Southeastern Louisiana through the final 1:26 of the game which resulted in a 73-62 setback to the Lions last Thursday night in the University Center.
• It was Southeastern Louisiana who handed the 'Jacks their previous loss in a Southland Conference opener, too. On Jan. 8, 2011, the Lions bested SFA 64-54 in Hammond but the 'Jacks bounced back to win three of their next four Southland Conference contests.
• SFA's 11-point loss was its most lopsided of the season. The 'Jacks' only two other losses of 2017-18 came by one points to Missouri (82-81) and by five points to Mississippi State (80-75).
• The only SFA player to reach double-digits in the loss was junior TJ Holyfield who finished with a team-high 17 points. No other 'Jack finished with more than nine points in the loss marking the first time in 2017-18 that the team had only one player post 10 or more points in a game.
• Despite finishing with four more field goal makes and 13 more field goal tries than the Lions, the 'Jacks were hurt in a big way by Southeastern Louisiana's free throw shooting. The Lions finished with 14 more free throw makes (26-12) and 19 more free throw attempts (37-18) than SFA to earn the win. Those 37 free throw tries were the most the 'Jacks gave up to a Southland Conference foe since New Orleans attempted 38 on Feb. 23, 2017.
• For the fourth time in 2017-18, SFA finished with fewer than 10 assists in a game. The 'Jacks dished out only eight helpers in the loss, the third-fewest in a game this season. When passing out fewer than 10 assists, the 'Jacks are 2-2 this season.
• Turnovers came back to haunt SFA in the loss, too, as the 'Jacks tied their season high with 22 throwaways. Headed into their tilt with the Lions in Hammond, La., the 'Jacks had averaged only 13.1 turnovers through their last nine games.
• Southeastern Louisiana started the game on an 8-0 run - the largest run to start a game by an SFA opponent this season. Additionally, the 'Jacks racked up just 12 points in the paint which stands as the fewest in a game this season. Prior to last Thursday, SFA had not finished with fewer than 22 points in the paint in a game during the 2017-18 season.
• Once the final horn had sounded, the 'Jacks found themselves with only six steals in the loss. It was the second-fewest steals in a single game by SFA during the 2017-18 campaign but the 'Jacks remain number two nationally in both steals per game (12.3) and total steals (172).
• Below is a full breakdown of where Stephen F. Austin's points came from in its road loss at Southeastern Louisiana:
Two-pointers | 61.3% (38-62)
Three-pointers | 19.4% (12-62)
Free throws | 19.4% (12-62)
Points in the paint | 19.4% (12-62)
Points off turnovers | 38.7% (24-62)
Second chance points | 17.7% (11-62)
Fast break points | 0.0% (0-62)
Starters points | 64.5% (40-62)
Bench Points | 35.5% (22-62)
COMING UP NEXT
• A short two-hour bus ride awaits the 'Jacks Saturday as they head across state lines to Natchitoches, La., for a 3:30 p.m. encounter with longtime Louisiana rival Northwestern State. The 128th all-time meeting between the two squads will see SFA take aim at its fifth consecutive triumph over the Demons inside Prather Coliseum.
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