SFA's Two-Game Road Swing Starts Wednesday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

Wednesday, February 14

Corpus Christi, Texas

7:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

Texas A&M - Corpus Christi

SFA's Two-Game Road Swing Starts Wednesday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi

2/13/2018 5:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball

'Jacks remain one game back of first place in Southland standings

By: Charlie Hurley | Director of Athletic Media Relations

OPENING TIPS
• Down to only six regular season games on its schedule, the Stephen F. Austin men's basketball team heads south to Corpus Christi, Texas, for a Valentine's Day battle with Southland Conference adversary Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. Tip-off in the American Bank Center is set for 7:00 p.m.
• Rob Meyers, SFA's venerable play-by-play man, will deliver his play-by-play and analysis of the 24th meeting between the 'Jacks and Islanders on Learfield's Lumberjack Sports Network. That commentary can be heard locally on Q107.7 FM in Nacogdoches and nationwide on the TuneIn app.
• As of this writing, the 'Jacks remain one game behind league-leading Nicholls for the top spot in the Southland Conference standings. SFA currently sits in fifth place behind the Colonels and a trio of other teams that include Sam Houston State, Southeastern Louisiana and New Orleans - all of whom have a 10-3 record in league play.
• Over the last five games, SFA's field goal percentage has risen steadily and currently stands at 49.6-percent - the 18th-best in all of NCAA Division I men's basketball. The 'Jacks have put in 55.6-percent (155-of-279) of their shots over their last five games and are 5-1 in that span.
• Hard as it may be to believe, junior Shannon Bogues started the season shooting only 13.2-percent (7-of-53) from three-point range. Over the last six games, however, the Killeen, Texas, product has sizzled from downtown, going 16-of-27 (59.3-percent) to up his season percentage to 29.9-percent.
• Already at 2,064 total points this season, the 'Jacks need only 35 more to break into the top ten in terms of total points in a season in the program's NCAA Division I history. By adding 35 to their total, they would have 2,099 points - the 10th-most in a single season in the team's DI history.
• All three of the 'Jacks' leading scorers - Kevon Harris (15.9 ppg), Shannon Bogues (15.4 ppg) and TJ Holyfield (13.9 ppg) - are shooting over 50-percent from the field. Holyfield leads the way, ranking second in the Southland and 49th nationally with a field goal percentage of 55.7. Harris ranks 84th nationally with a mark of .519 while Bogues is 90th in the land with his shooting percentage of .515.

SCOUTING TEXAS A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• The engine the makes the Islanders go is, without a doubt, senior Joe Kilgore. The Houston, Texas, product is one of four Southland Conference players who have posted a triple-double this season and it's no wonder as he is the team's do-all player. Kilgore leads the squad in scoring (17.2 ppg), rebounding (5.7/game), assists (3.1/game) and steals (1.6/game) and has totaled 26.4-percent of the Islanders' point total. Kilgore has been held under 10 points on only two occasions this season - against Northwestern State (nine) and against New Orleans (four).
• Attributed somewhat to their slower pace of play, the Islanders boast the Southland's second-best scoring defense. Opponents of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi are averaging only 68.9 points per game and none of their last six foes have exceeded 66 points. Another reason behind the Islanders' stingy scoring defense is the fact that their opponents have trouble holding onto the ball. The Islanders force 15.68 turnovers per game - the 28th-most nationally.
• Much of the Islanders' damage on offense comes from their starters who produce 75-percent of the team's points. That leaves the nine players left on the bench to pick up the remaining 25-percent and no player among Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's group of bench performers averages over 5.3 points per game.
• A relatively small percentage (23-percent) of the Islanders' points come by way of the three-pointer. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi has hit only 110 triples this season - the second-lowest total in the nation - and has attempted an NCAA Division I men's basketball low 322 three-pointers through 2017-18 so far.
• The second-leading scorer among the Islanders' ranks, Kareem South puts in 10.5 points per game and has drilled 28 of the team's 110 three-pointers. Between he and Kilgore, 59 of the team's 110 - or 53.6-percent - of the Islanders' total three-point makes are represented.
• February 14 is a day well-known in Islander basketball lore as it was on that day in 2015 that Texas A&M-Corpus Christi defeated SFA 71-63. That loss was the 'Jacks' lone Southland Conference regular season setback from the 2013-14 to the 2015-16 seasons and it occurred in Corpus Christi. That night, Joe Kilgore put in five for the Islanders while Ty Charles finished with 10 points and nine rebounds for SFA.

LAST TIME OUT
• With just one win separating them from an even 20 for the season, the 'Jacks laid waste to Southland Conference bottom-feeder Northwestern State, 97-50, Saturday night inside William R. Johnson Coliseum and registered their most lopsided win over the Demons in the 129-game all-time series between the two programs.
• It was SFA's 15th-straight victory inside William R. Johnson Coliseum, giving the Lumberjacks the nation's fifth-longest active home winning streak. Only Cincinnati (39), Vermont (21), South Dakota State (18) and Texas Tech (16) have lengthier home court winning streaks than SFA.
• Saturday's win was SFA's third by 40 or more points in the 2017-18 campaign and its first over an NCAA Division I opponent. The last time the 'Jacks beat an NCAA Division I foe by 40 or more points came on March 3, 2016 in Natchitoches, La., against the very same Northwestern State Demons (95-55).
• The individual who victimized the Demons most was junior Shannon Bogues. The Killeen, Texas, product reset his career-high by pumping in a game-best 35 points on 13-of-17 shooting from the field. Those 13 makes from the field were also a career-best for Bogues as were his six three-point field goal makes - all of which came in the first half.
• With his 35-point outing, Bogues upped his number of 30+ point games in 2017-18 to three - the msot on the team. Additionally, he became the first Lumberjack to go for 35 or more in a game since Thomas Walkup racked up 38 in a Southland Conference victory at Sam Houston State on March 5, 2016.
• Bogues' six first-half three-pointers helped the junior total 24 points in the first half - three more than Northwestern State's team was able to amass in that same span. With that, Bogues became the first NCAA Division I men's basketball player this season to score more points than his team's opponent in the first half of play.
• For the game, the 'Jacks shot 66.7-percent from the field (34-of-51) which is the team's season-high for a game and the 19th-highest in a game by an NCAA Division I men's basketball team this season. That's the best single-game field goal percentage by the 'Jacks in Kyle Keller's tenure as head coach and the team's best since putting in 72.2-percent (39-of-54) of its shots in a 97-62 home win over Abilene Christian on Jan. 16, 2016. That field goal percentage was the best in a single game in the history of the progarm.
• Sophomore Kevon Harris returned to the starting lineup for the first time since Jan. 27 and netted 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field. The Ellenwood, Ga., product had previously missed most of the 'Jacks' game against Sam Houston State (1/27) and their tilts against Houston Baptist (1/31) and at Lamar (2/3) with an injury.
• All 12 of the 'Jacks' available players totaled at least two points in the win. That marks the first time in 2017-18 that all of SFA's players have put in points in a game.
• For the fourth time in 2017-18, SFA's bench exceeded 50 points. In all, the 'Jacks' reserves totaled 53 points, or 54.6-percent of the team's total. Most of those came courtesy of Bogues but both Ty Charles and Stefon Fisher added five apiece in the victory.
• SFA continued to narrow the gap in the all-time series between the two schools with the win. Northwestern State, who is the only Southland Conference team who has a winning record against SFA, now holds a 66-63 lead over the 'Jacks in the all-time series.
• Since 2007-08, the 'Jacks have accumulated at least 20 wins in nine of the 11 seasons in that span. That's something that only 18 other NCAA Division I men's basketball programs besides SFA can claim to have done. The other teams who have won at least 20 games in nine of the last 11 seasons are Akron, Butler, Belmont, BYU, Duke, Gonzaga, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan State, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Purdue, VCU, Vermont, Villanova, Wisconsin and Xavier.
• With the win, SFA maintained its status as the nation's most dominant team in conference play since 2012-13. Since that season the 'Jacks have gone 90-12 in Southland Conference play, good for a nation-leading win percentage of .882 in that span. The only team in the land that is close to having the same in-confernece winning percentage as SFA in that span is Wichita State who has gone 89-13 (.873) in league games since 2012-13.
• Below is a full breakdown of where Stephen F. Austin's points came from in its lopsided victory over Northwestern State:
Two-pointers | 51.5% (50-97)
Three-pointers | 27.8% (27-97)
Free throws | 20.6% (20-97)
Points in the paint | 47.4% (46-97)
Points off turnovers | 37.1% (36-97)
Second chance points | 3.1% (3-97)
Fast break points | 22.7% (22-97)
Starters points | 45.4% (44-97)
Bench Points | 54.6% (53-97)

29 & 30 TO 1,000
• Exactly 28 Stephen F. Austin men's basketball players have netted at least 1,000 points in their careers and with just a few more buckets senior Ty Charles and junior TJ Holyfield will be joining that club as well.
• Charles needs 34 more points to make it to 1,000 while Holyfield requires 23 more to arrive at that benchmark. By getting there, the duo will also enter a highly exclusive club of players who have accumulated 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in their careers.
• Currently that group has only 12 members in it including the likes of Thomas Walkup, Jacob Parker, Pete Harris and George Johnson.

THE LINE STARTS HERE
• Through 25 of their 31 regular season games, the 'Jacks are leading the 13-team Southland Conference in seven statistical categories.
• SFA is tops in the league in field goal percentage (.496, 18th nationally), scoring margin (+12.5, 18th nationally), steals per game (10.7, first nationally), total steals (268, first nationally), turnover margin (+4.9, seventh nationally), turnovers forced per game (21.00, first nationally) and winning percentage (.800, 20th nationally).
• Another area where SFA is the best in the Southland is in terms of total wins. The 'Jacks' 20 wins are at least four more than any other team in the league and makes SFA one of 16 teams with exactly 20 triumphs this season. Just 19 other NCAA Division I men's basketball teams have posted more wins than the 'Jacks thus far in 2017-18.

COMING UP NEXT
• A Saturday afternoon battle in the Alamo City pits Stephen F. Austin against Incarnate Word inside the McDermott Convocation Center. Tip-off between the 'Jacks and Cardinals is set for 3:00 p.m.

-SFA-