Saturday, January 27
Nacogdoches, Texas
6:00 p.m.
Stephen F. Austin
vs
Sam Houston State
SFA Set to Battle Sam Houston State Saturday in Latest Edition of Piney Woods Rivalry
1/26/2018 5:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Meeting will be the 200th between the two Southland Conference foes
Game Twenty-One
Stephen F. Austin (16-4, 5-2 Southland) vs. Sam Houston State (12-9, 6-2 Southland)
Saturday, Jan. 27 | 6:00 p.m. | Nacogdoches, Texas | William R. Johnson Coliseum
Live Stats | Watch (ESPN3/ESPN app) | Listen (Q107.7/TuneIn) | SFA Game Notes | SHSU Game Notes
Stephen F. Austin (16-4, 5-2 Southland) vs. Sam Houston State (12-9, 6-2 Southland)
Saturday, Jan. 27 | 6:00 p.m. | Nacogdoches, Texas | William R. Johnson Coliseum
Live Stats | Watch (ESPN3/ESPN app) | Listen (Q107.7/TuneIn) | SFA Game Notes | SHSU Game Notes
OPENING TIPS
• Saturday night at 6:00 p.m. inside William R. Johnson Coliseum, the Stephen F. Austin men's basketball team will do battle with age-old Piney Woods rival Sam Houston State on the hardwood. The 200th meeting between the Lumberjacks and Bearkats (SFA leads 108-91 and 72-21 in Nacogdoches) will be streamed nationwide on ESPN3 and the ESPN app with Rob Meyers providing play-by-play and analysis of the latest chapter in the storied Southland Conference series. The game is sponsored by the City of Nacogdoches - the oldest town in the state of Texas and home of SFA.
• Entering Saturday's clash with the Bearkats, SFA owns a pair of records that no other program in the nation can claim. The 'Jacks' 82-3 (.965) record at home since 2012-13 represents the highest winning percentage in college basketball throughout that span. Additionally, since that same season the 'Jacks have gone 86-11 (.887) in Southland Conference games, giving them the best in-conference winning percentage and the most in-conference wins in the nation in that span.
• Sensational sophomore Kevon Harris continued to lead the 'Jacks in scoring at a clip of 16.9 points per game. That's the fourth-highest scoring average in the Southland Conference and the Ellenwood, Ga., product has been especially dangerous from beyond the arc. Harris is connecting on three-pointers at a clip of 45.9-percent - the second-highest percentage in the 13-team Southland.
• Second behind Harris in terms of scoring for the 'Jacks is junior TJ Holyfield. The Albuquerque, N.M., product is putting in 14.7 points per game on the strength of a .551 shooting percentage. Both Holyfield (54th) and Harris (79th) rank among the top 100 NCAA Division I men's basketball players in the nation in terms of field goal percentage and are among the top ten players in the Southland Conference in that category as well.
• By grabbing just one more rebound, senior Ty Charles will become just the 11th player in SFA's NCAA Division I history to reach 500 in his career. He snared five in the 'Jacks' Wednesday night setback at Central Arkansas and is SFA's fourth-leading rebounder at 3.9 per contest.
• For just the second time this season, SFA will be trying to bounce back from a Southland Conference loss. In head coach Kyle Keller's tenure, the 'Jacks are 6-1 in games directly following a conference setback having lost back-to-back league games just twice since 2011-12.
SCOUTING SAM HOUSTON STATE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Just one game out of first place in the Southland Conference standings, Sam Houston State has risen to one of the top teams in the league thanks to its defense. The Bearkats lead the league and rank 42nd nationally in terms of scoring defense, allowing only 66.1 points per game to the opposition. That defense extends out beyond the arc, too, as the Bearkats also boast the league's best and the nation's 15th best three-point field goal defense, letting foes hit only 30.4-percent of their long range shots.
• Taking care of the basketball has been a key to the Bearkats' success as well. Sam Houston State leads the Southland and ranks 124th nationally by committing only 12.7 turnovers per game. Junior John Dewey III, the team's primary ball handler, possesses the league's ninth-best assist-to-turnover ratio (1.69) and ranks second in the Southland with 5.1 assists per game. • Now in his final season of college basketball, all Chris Galbreth, Jr., has done is emerge as one of the most dominant players in the Southland Conference. The Chicago, Ill., product leads the Bearkats in both scoring (15.2 ppg) and rebounding (8.9/game), putting him ninth and second respectively in those statistical categories in the Southland. His nine double-doubles this season are the most in the Southland and the 25th-most nationally.
• Not only does he excel at running the Bearkats' offense, John Dewey III represents the Bearkats' second-leading scorer. The junior averages 10.5 points per game and is the best free throw shooter in the Southland Conference as well. Dewey III has gone 71-of-81 (.877) from the stripe so far this season.
• Four players on the Bearkats' roster have connected on 20 or more three-pointers this season, making the long ball an important part of Sam Houston State's offense. Albert Almanza and Josh Delaney have each drilled 30 triples while Dewey III (26) and Marcus Harris (24) have also hit over 20. Sam Houston State ranks fourth in the Southland with 7.6 three-pointers per game.
• Under head coach Jason Hooten, the Bearkats have won 21 or more games in three of the past four seasons. They need eight wins to reach 20 this season, but in Hooten's tenure he has yet to solve SFA consistently. SHSU's bench boss is 3-15 (.167) against the 'Jacks in his seven-plus seasons in charge in Huntsville.
LAST TIME OUT
• The longest Southland Conference winning streak produced by the 'Jacks in head coach Kyle Keller's tenure ended Wednesday night in Conway, Ark., as the 'Jacks ran into a hot-shooting Central Arkansas team led by Jordan Howard who finished with 43 points in SFA's 100-92 setback to the Bears.
• It marked SFA's first loss to Central Arkansas in the history of the program, dropping the 'Jacks' all-time record against the Bears to 16-1. Additionally, Cenral Arkansas did something no Southland Conference team had done against SFA since 1999 - score 100 or more points. The last Southland squad to reach the century mark against SFA was McNeese when the Cowboys defeated the 'Jacks 103-86 on Feb. 27, 1999.
• SFA led for just 38 seconds in the Southland Conference matchup. Seven of those were the final seven seconds of the first half when sophomore Aaron Augustin drained a corner three-pointer to cap a 14-2 Lumberjack surge over the last 4:03 of the frame. The three-pointer was Augustin's first field goal make in a Southland Conference game in 2017-18.
• Unfortunately, the 'Jacks could find few answers for the Bears' lights-out three-point shooting. Central Arkansas drilled 16 triples in the win, receiving six from Howard and a game-high seven from Thatch Unruh. At the end of the game, the Bears' three-point field goal percentage settled at a smoldering 59.3-percent (16-of-27).
• Shannon Bogues turned in the single-best scoring outing of his SFA career thus far in the setback. The junior out of Killeen, Texas, netted 31 points on an 11-of-22 night from the field. That surpassed his previous high of 30 in the 'Jacks' non-conference win over Howard Payne earlier in the season and ties the team mark for most points scored in a single game this season.
• Senior Ivan Canete continued his recent stretch of accuray at the foul line in the loss. The Lake Worth, Fla., native drilled all three of his free throw attempts and has now hit 23 of his 25 tries at the charity stripe through his last six games. That has raised his free throw percentage in Southland Conference games to 82.8-percent - the 10th-best in the 13-team league.
• The 'Jacks' 92 total points were the most by the team in a Southland Conference regular season game since expooding for 95 in a 95-55 whipping of Northwestern State back on March 3, 2016.
• TJ Holyfield finished one rebound shy of a double-double, springing for 15 points and a game-best nine rebounds in the eight-point loss. With his first rebound of the game, the Albuquerque, N.M., product became the 10th player in SFA's NCAA Division I history to record 500 in a career and currently he has 508 to his credit which puts him in a tie for seventh place all-time on the program's DI rebounding charts.
• The 'Jacks' trailed by as many as 16 points in the second half before whittling the Bears' lead down to four on a pair of occasions. Holyfield hit a layup with 2:19 left to trim Central Arkansas's lead to 90-86, but the Bears hit four of their next six free throws to open up a 94-87 lead with 57 seconds to go in order to effectively seal the game.
• Ty Charles fouled out for the second-straight game, but still went for 10 points and five rebounds before doing so. It was Charles' third double-digit scoring effort of the season and puts him 104 points shy of reaching an even 1,000 for his career.
• Kevon Harris added 14 points and two of the 'Jacks' six three-pointers. Over the last two games, Harris has gone 6-of-9 (.667) from long range while the rest of SFA's team has gone just 4-of-27 (.148).
• Below is a full breakdown of where Stephen F. Austin's points came from in its loss at Central Arkansas:
Two-pointers | 58.7% (54-92)
Three-pointers | 19.6% (18-92)
Free throws | 21.7% (20-92)
Points in the paint | 56.5% (52-92)
Points off turnovers | 27.2% (25-92)
Second chance points | 18.5% (17-92)
Fast break points | 15.2% (14-92)
Starters points | 47.8% (44-92)
Bench Points | 52.2% (48-92)
COMING UP NEXT
• SFA concludes its two-game home stand - as well as the month of January - by playing host to Southland Conference adversary Houston Baptist Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. inside William R. Johnson Coliseum.
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