Stephen F. Austin
Houston Baptist
SFA Confronts Houston Baptist at Home on Final Day of January
1/30/2018 5:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SFA has won 19 of 20 all-time meetings with Huskies
Stephen F. Austin (17-4, 6-2 Southland) vs. Houston Baptist (5-17, 1-8 Southland)
Wednesday, Jan. 31 | 7:00 p.m. | William R. Johnson Coliseum (7,203) | Nacogdoches, Texas
Live Stats | Watch (ESPN3/ESPN app) | Listen (Q107.7/TuneIn) | SFA Game Notes | HBU Game Notes
OPENING TIPS
• On the final day of January, the Stephen F. Austin men's basketball team concludes a two-game home stand by playing host to in-state and Southland Conference rival Houston Baptist at 7:00 p.m. Wednesday night inside William R. Johnson Coliseum. The game, which is presented by Pilgrim's, marks the 21st meeting between the Lumberjacks and Huskies on the hardwood.
• Narrating the action from his sideline seat will be Rob Meyers whose play-by-play and analysis will be provided on the ESPN3/ESPN app stream of the Southland Conference contest. Meyers' words can also be heard locally on Q107.7 FM in Nacogodches and around the globe via the TuneIn app.
• SFA shook off is eight-point setback at Central Arkansas last Wednesday night by blasting longtime Piney Woods adversary Sam Houston State Saturday night inside William R. Johnson Coliseum. The win pushed the 'Jacks up to fourth place in the Southland Conference standings.
• By dishing out three assists and committing only one turnover against Sam Houston State Saturday night, sophomore Aaron Augustin pushed his assist-to-turnover ratio in 2017-18 to 2.66 - the second-best average in the Southland Conference. Nationally, that assist to turnover ratio is the 39th-best among all NCAA Division I men's basketball players.
• It's conceivable that both senior Ty Charles and junior TJ Holyfield could reach the 1,000-point mark later in the month of February. Holyfield is 75 points shy of arriving at an even 1,000 for his career while Charles needs 84 more to get there. Currently, Holyfield ranks third on the team and 12th in the Southland Conference with a points per game average of 14.0.
• With their triumph over Sam Houston State Saturday night, SFA extended its winning streak inside William R. Johnson Coliseum to 13 games - the 14th-longest active home court winning streak in the nation. Since the start of the 2012-13 season, the 'Jacks have gone 83-3 inside their home facility, good for a nation-leading winning percentage of .965 throughout that span.
SFA vs. HOUSTON BAPTIST SERIES SPOTLIGHT
Games | 20
All-Time Series | SFA leads 19-1 (.950)
In Nacogdoches, Texas | 12-0 (1.000)
At William R. Johnson Coliseum | 8-0 (1.000)
In Houston, Texas | 5-1 (.833)
At Sharp Gymnasium | 5-1 (.833)
Last Win | at SFA 61, HBU 51 (12/31/16)
Last Home Win | at SFA 61, HBU 51 (12/31/16)
Last Road Win | at HBU 66, SFA 72 (2/6/16)
Last Loss | at HBU 70, SFA 67 (12/12/79)
Last Home Loss | none
Last Road Loss | at HBU 70, SFA 67 (12/12/79)
Largest Margin of Victory | 61, at SFA 122, HBU 61 (12/2/66)
Largest Margin of Defeat | 3, at HBU 70, SFA 67 (12/12/79)
Current Streak | SFA won 11
SFA Points (Avg.) | 1,695 (84.8)
Houston Baptist Points (Avg.) | 1,228 (61.4)
Keller vs. Houston Baptist | 1-0 (1.000)
At William R. Johnson Coliseum | 1-0 (1.000)
At Sharp Gymnasium | 0-0 (.000)
Keller vs. Cottrell | 1-0 (1.000)
Cottrell vs. SFA | 0-11 (.000)
SFA all-time on 1/31 | 14-3 (.824)
SCOUTING HOUSTON BAPTIST | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• All of the major rebounding categories in the Southland Conference are headed up by Houston Baptist who leads the nation in offensive rebounding at a rate of 16.1 per game. The Huskies' 883 total rebounds are another Southland Conference high and puts them 30th nationally in that category. In all, Houston Baptist secures 40.14 rebounds per game - the highest average in the Southland and the 18th-highest average among all NCAA Division I men's basketball teams.
• The frontrunner for Southland Conference Freshman of the Year, David Caraher leads the Huskies in scoring at 16.2 points per game and is one of three players in the Southland who rank among the top ten in both scoring and rebounding. Caraher, who hails from Chapel Hill, N.C., is pulling down 6.7 rebounds per game for the Huskies and ranks seventh in the league in both scoring and rebounding.
• With senior Josh Ibarra sidelined due to an injury suffered early in the Huskies' schedule, Houston Baptist has relied on redshirt junior Braxton Bonds to serve as the team's elder statesman. One of three Southland Conference players who have recorded a triple-double this season, Bonds leads Houston Baptist and ranks second in the Southland with 5.0 assists per game. He also ranks fourth in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.2) and fifth in steals (1.9/game).
• The Huskies rank last in the Southland Conference in four statistical categories including scoring defense (82.5 points per game to opponents), free throw percentage (62.2-percent), field goal percentage defense (46.9-percent opponent field goal percentage) and three-point field goal percentage defense (39.9-percent opponent three-point field goal percentage).
• Playing on the road has been a difficult task for Houston Baptist since the start of the 2012-13 season. In that time, the Huskies have gone just 14-75 in true road games - a winning percentage of just .157. Houston Baptist has lost 13-straight road games dating back to last season, too, and to top it off the Huskies are 0-12 all-time in Nacogdoches.
• Houston Baptist head coach Ron Cottrell will try and do something he has never done in his coaching career Wednesday night - defeat Stephen F. Austin. Cottrell is 0-11 in his career against the 'Jacks but his Huskies have played Southland foes tough this season. Five of HBU's eight league losses have been by 10 points or fewer.
LAST TIME OUT
• Stephen F. Austin and Sam Houston State locked horns on the hardwood for the 200th time last Saturday night, and although the 'Jacks received a meager offensive contribution from their starting five that didn't stop them from running over the Bearkats, 82-66, thanks to an impressive display of bench scoring.
• Buoyed by the point production of senior Ty Charles and junior Shannon Bogues - both of whom came off the bench - the 'Jacks received some 69 points from their bench in the victory. That bench scoring total represented 84.1-percent of SFA's point total.
• Bogues delivered a game-high 29 points on the strength of 9-of-11 shooting from the field. From the free throw stripe Bogues was flawless, finishing with a mark of 8-for-8 from that distance. Over his last two games, Bogues has racked up 60 points on 20-of-33 (60.6-percent) shooting from the field and is the first SFA player to amass 60 or more points in a two-game span since Thomas Walkup did so in March of 2016.
• In his finest performance of the season, Charles pumped in a season-high 20 points and rounded out his great night by grabbing a game-high nine rebounds. Although he finished one rebound shy of collecting a double-double, Charles did manage to become the 10th player in SFA's NCAA Division I history to reach the 500-rebound mark in a career when he grabbed his first rebound of the night early in the opening frame. For his career, Charles had 508 rebounds - the eighth-most by a single player in SFA's DI history.
• Charles' 20-point outing was his first since spring for 21 in SFA's home Southland Conference win over Incarnate Word on Feb. 9, 2017.
• For the game, SFA hit 66-percent (31-of-47) of its shots - the team's best single-game field goal percentage of the 2017-18 campaign. By themselves, Bogues and Charles put in 18 of SFA's 31 field goals - or 58.1-percent of them.
• The 'Jacks' victory over Sam Houston State was their 15th in the last 16 meetings between the two programs. Additionally, it was SFA's seventh-straight home win over the Bearkats and helped head coach Kyle Keller move to 2-1 all-time against Sam Houston State.
• Sophomore Nathan Bain also came off the bench and tied a season high by netting six points on a 2-of-3 showing from the field.
• Sam Houston State started the game on a 6-0 run but the 'Jacks responded with a 19-2 scoring surge over a seven-and-a-half minute stretch in the first frame to go up by double digits.
• After the Bearkats hit their first two field goals of the game, they didn't put in another one for a span of 10:06.
• Saddled with foul trouble for the majority of the game, junior TJ Holyfield finished the game with just two points. That scoring total represented the second-fewest number of points the Albuquerque, N.M., product scored in a single game in an SFA uniform. The only time Holyfield scored less than two points was in his freshman season when he was held to just one in a Southland Conference win at New Orleans (1/18/16).
• Sam Houston State committed just 10 turnovers - a season-low by an SFA opponent - but was only 20-of-51 (39.2-percent) from the field in the loss. In the Bearkats' last two visits to William R. Johnson Coliseum, they have gone a combined 7-of-42 (16.7-percent) from three-point range.
• Southeast Texas is the 'Jacks' next destination as SFA heads to the Golden Triangle for a Saturday afternoon showdown with Lamar. Tip-off inside the Montagne Center has been set for 4:30 p.m.
-SFA-
