'Jacks Clash with Abilene Christian in 2017-18 Home Finale

Wednesday, February 28

Nacogdoches, Texas

7:00 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin

Abilene Christian

'Jacks Clash with Abilene Christian in 2017-18 Home Finale

2/27/2018 5:50:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Senior class of Canete, Charles and Gilmore III play their final game in Nacogdoches

By: Charlie Hurley | Director of Athletic Media Relations

OPENING TIPS
• On the final day of February, the Stephen F. Austin men's basketball team makes its final 2017-18 appearance in William R. Johnson Coliseum as the 'Jacks host Southland Conference foe Abilene Christian for a 7:00 p.m. showdown Wednesday night. The game is sponsored by Woodland Hills Golf Club.
• ESPN3 and the ESPN app are set to carry each and every second of the action between the 'Jacks and Wildcats Wednesday night with play-by-play and analysis being supplied by longtime voice of the 'Jacks Rob Meyers. Learfield's Lumberjack Sports Network - churning out the sound on Q107.7 FM in Nacogdoches and worldwide via the TuneIn app - will also carry Meyers' call of the 34th meeting between the two teams.
• Not only does the SFA/ACU showdown mark the last home game of the season for the 'Jacks, it is also the last home game for SFA's three seniors - Ivan Canete, Ty Charles and Leon Gilmore III. The trio will be honored for their contributions to Lumberjack basketball with a postgame ceremony.
• Should the 'Jacks win Wednesday night, they would tie the record for most wins in a single season inside William R. Johnson Coliseum. Since SFA began playing their home games in the 7,203-seat complex, it has won 16 games there in three seasons - 1983-84, 1985-86 and 2003-04. Currently the 'Jacks have 15 home wins to their credit in 2017-18.
• Coming into Wednesday night's game as the nation's leader in steals, the 'Jacks need only four more thefts in Wednesday night's game to establish a new season-high in steals. As of this writing, SFA has 308 steals to its credit - three shy of the program record of 311 set in the 2015-16 season.
• A third milestone - this one of the individual variety - has an excellence chance of occurring Wednesday night as well. Senior Ty Charles is only four points away from reaching 1,000 for his career. Should he get there Wednesday night, he would become just the 30th player in program history to amass 1,000 or more points and only the 14th player ever to post 1,000 points and 500 rebounds in a career.
• Already assured a spot in the upcoming Southland Conference Tournament, the 'Jacks are playing for seeding. SFA and Sam Houston State are tied for third place in the league standings, one game back of second place Southeastern Louisiana and two games behind league-leading Nicholls with two regular season games to go. In order to gain the number-two seed, SFA would have to go 2-0 and Southeastern Louisiana would have to go 0-2.

SCOUTING ABILENE CHRISTIAN | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• In their first season as a full-fledged NCAA Division I member, the Wildcats have wasted no time in putting together a great season as they try to make the cut for postseason play. The team's 15 wins are the most in a single season since 2007-08 and the highest number in the Joe Golding coaching era. Despite all that, the Wildcats have not yet clinched a spot in the Southland Conference Tournament. ACU is tied with McNeese for the eighth and final spot, but McNeese holds the tiebreaker between the two squads by virtue of a 1-1 record against Southeastern Louisiana.
• Now an upperclassman, Jaren Lewis has continued to serve as one of the Wildcats' key cogs. The junior leads the Southland Conference and ranks 25th nationally with a field goal percentage of 58.3-percent. Most of those makes come from in close and as a result Lewis leads the team in scoring at 13.6 points per game. Not only a scorer, Lewis is the squad's best rebounder and ranks fourth in the Southland in that category by ripping down 7.7 per game.
• A highly accurate shooting team, the Wildcats are third only to SFA and Nicholls in the Southland Conference when it comes to field goal percentage. ACU is hitting 47.2-percent of its shots which ranks 54th in all of NCAA Division I men's basketball. That collective number gets a huge boost from Lewis and Jaylen Franklin who are both shooting .564 or better.
• For all of their accuracy from the field, one area where the Wildcats do not rank high is in terms of rebounding. Abilene Christian ranks last in the Southland in offensive rebounding at 9.1 per game while leads to a league-low rebounding average of 33.6 per tilt. Aside from Lewis' 7.7 boards per game, no other ACU player averages over 4.9 rebounds per tilt.
• Possessing a diverse offensive attack, four ACU players average 10 or more points per game led by Lewis' scoring average of 13.6. Jalone Friday (13.3), Tevin Foster (12.6) and Jaylen Franklin (10.9) round out that quartet but none of those players rank among the top 15 in the Southland in scoring. They all shoot at a clip of .440 or better from the field, however.
• Manning the point for ACU, Jaylen Franklin ranks third in the Southland in assists, dishing out an average of 4.5 per game. His 1.9 steals lead the team and represent the third-highest average in the Southland and help ACU rank fourth in the Southland in steals per game (8.2) and 13th nationally in turnovers forced per game (16.38).

LAST TIME OUT
• SFA's chances at a fifth Southland Conference regular season title in the last six season took a major hit Saturday night as Lamar came into William R. Johnson Coliseum and led for all but 2:52 in the 'Jacks' 71-66 loss. SFA entered the 2017-18 season winners of 10 in a row against Lamar but have now dropped back-to-back games against the Cardinals for the first time since 2002.
• The 'Jacks' setback to Lamar marked the first time since the 2006-07 season that SFA was swept in the regular season by a current Southland Conference opponent. That year, the 'Jacks lost both of their regular season games to Piney Woods and in-state rival Sam Houston State.
• With the setback, the nation's fourth-longest active home court winning streak came to an end. SFA entered the game having won each of their last 16 games on the floor of William R. Johnson Coliseum - a streak that at the time was bettered only by South Dakota State (20), Rhode Island (17) and Texas Tech (17).
• By slowing down the tempo, the Cardinals were able to dictate the tempo of the game. Coming into the game with one of the top 20 highest tempos in the nation according to college basketball statistics guru Ken Pomeroy, the 'Jacks were held to 66 points which was the team's lowest point total in a Southland Conference game since a 64-56 win over Sam Houston State on March 4, 2017.
• Junior TJ Holyfield turned in his second double-double of the 2017-18 campaign, posting a team-high 14 points to go along with a game-best 11 rebounds. Both of Holyfield's double-doubles this season have come at the expense of Southland Conference opposition. The Albuquerque, N.M., product also played all 40 minutes, marking the first time this season an SFA player did not get a breather in a game.
• Nine of the rebounds Holyfield snared in the 'Jacks' loss were of the defensive variety which tied an SFA season high in that statistical category. The junior also amassed a trio of blocked shots in the setback, marking the second time in 2017-18 Holyfield rejected three shots in a single game.
• In all, five 'Jacks finished with 10 or more points led by Holyfield's 14. Kevon Harris and Ivan Canete each had 11 while Leon Gilmore III and Ty Charles added 10 apiece. Charles' 10 points represented two-third of SFA's total bench scoring tally as the 'Jacks' reserves totaled just 15 points. It marks just the fourth time in 2017-18 that SFA's reserves have been held to 15 or fewer points in a game and two of those occasions have come against Lamar.
• At the half, SFA had just 26 points - the fewest in the first half in any of the 'Jacks' games this season - and finished the opening stanza with only seven field goal makes.
• Junior Shannon Bogues saw his six-game streak of double-digit scoring outings come to an end Saturday night, too. Headed into the game, Bogues was averaging 24.4 points on 66.7-percent shooting from the field and 71.9-percent shooting from three-point range over his last five games. Saturday the Killeen, Texas, product finished with only three points on 1-of-7 shooting.
• Lamar guard Nick Garth drilled six of his team's 10 three-pointers en route to a game-high 23 points. Three of the 'Jacks' six losses this season have come when their opponents have drained 10 or more shots from long distance.
• Despite the loss, SFA maintained its status as the nation's most dominant team in conference play since 2012-13. Since that season the 'Jacks have gone 93-13 in Southland Conference play, good for a nation-leading win percentage of .877 in that span. Joining the 'Jacks with the nation's best in-conference winning percentage since 2012-13 is Wichita State. The Shockers have also gone 93-13 in conference play through that same stretch.
• Below is a full breakdown of where Stephen F. Austin's points came from in its home loss to Lamar:
Two-pointers | 48.5% (32-66)
Three-pointers | 27.3% (18-66)
Free throws | 24.2% (16-66)
Points in the paint | 42.4% (28-66)
Points off turnovers | 16.7% (11-66)
Second chance points | 12.1% (8-66)
Fast break points | 6.0% (4-66)
Starters points | 77.3% (51-66)
Bench Points | 22.7% (15-66)

BOGUES IN BUNCHES
• In twenty-two of the 29 games junior Shannon Bogues has taken part in he has finished with 10 or more points. Because of that, he's currently tied with sophomore Kevon Harris for the team's leading scorer at 15.7 points per game.
• Unique in the fact that he has come off of the bench in all but three games, Bogues is the nation's second-leading bench scorer. Only UTSA's Jhivian Jackson (18.4 ppg, 29 games, 10 starts) has exceeded Bogues' scoring average as a bench player.
• The Killeen, Texas, product ranks seventh in the Southland Conference in scoring and 11th in the 13-team league with a field goal percentage of .520. His free throw percentage of .798 is the eighth-highest in the Southland, too.
• In all, Bogues has poured in 456 points this season and needs 44 more to become just the 10th player in SFA's NCAA Division I history to score 500 points in a single season.

FOLLOW THE LEADERS
• SFA leads the Southland Conference in 10 separate statistical categories including field goal percentage (49.4-percent, 20th nationally), free throws made (485, 32nd nationally), rebounding margint (+3.4, 71st nationally, scoring margin (+12.9, 14th nationally), steals per game (10.6, first nationally), three-point field goal percentage (37.5-percent, 69th nationally), total steals (307, first nationally), turnover margin (+4.8, fifth nationally), turnovers forced per game (20.55, first nationally) and win percentage (79.3, 22nd nationally).
• TJ Holyfield ranks fourth in the Southland in field goal percentage (55.4-percent), while Kevon Harris is second in the league in three-point field goal percentage (51-of-113, 45.1-percent).

STEAL THE SHOW
• With 128 steals in his career, senior Ty Charles has moved up to seventh in program history.

YOU'RE A WINNER
• Only 22 NCAA Division I men's basketball teams in the nation have more wins than the 'Jacks at this point.
• SFA's 23 wins are at least three more than any other Southland Conference team so far this season.
• With two more, the 'Jacks would reach the 25-win mark for the fifth time in the last six seasons and would also give senior Ty Charles exactly 100 wins in his SFA career.

THE .500 MARK
• Lots of NCAA Division I men's basketball teams around the nation boast three players who are averaging greater than 10 points per game, but not many of them have a trio like SFA does.
• Each of SFA's top three scorers - Kevon Harris (15.7 ppg), Shannon Bogues (15.7 ppg) and TJ Holyfield (14.1 ppg) are hitting at least 50-percent of their shots from the field.
• Both Holyfield (fourth, .554) and Bogues (11th, .520) are among the top 15 players in the Southland Conference in terms of field goal percentage while Harris (.504) ranks 16th.

POMEROY'S POINTS
• Noted basketball analytics guru Ken Pomeroy is known far and wide as one of the foremost authorities of NCAA Division I men's basketball and when taking a look at his numbers it's abundantly clear that the 'Jacks possess one of the finest defenses in the nation
• The 'Jacks' turnover percentage - or the percentage of opponent possessions which result in a turnover - sits at a nation-leading mark of 26.5. The team's steal percentage - or the percentage of opponent possessions which end with a steal by SFA - stands at 13.1. That's second only to Fordham in all of NCAA Division I men's basketball
• SFA's defensive efficiency rating of 102.3 ranks 99th nationally and the 'Jacks get 38.8-percent of their minutes from their bench - the 30th-most nationally
• Opponents of SFA, however, are getting 26.2-percent of their points from free throws. That's the highest percentage in all of NCAA Division I men's basketball.
• The 'Jacks' tempo is ranked as the 26th-fastest in the nation according to Pomeroy.

RECORD BOOK RUN
• The 2017-18 edition of the 'Jacks - as well as the players who make up the team - have a good chance to rewrite a number of single-season and career program records by the time the season comes to a close
• Junior TJ Holyfield currently ranks sixth on SFA's NCAA Division I-era career rebounding charts with 556. The Albuquerque, N.M., product will also become the program's all-time leader in blocked shots by registering 10 more rejections.
• Senior Ty Charles sits in seventh place on the 'Jacks' all-time steals chart with 128 of them. He needs 17 more to move up to sixth place.
• With at least three more games to play in 2017-18, SFA's point total of 2,395 so far already ranks as the fifth-highest in the program's NCAA Division I history. The team's 854 total field goal makes are the fourth-most in its DI history while the 1,729 field goal attempts are the seventh-most in a single season.
• Currently, the 'Jacks' 2017-18 field goal percentage of .494 is tied with the 1986-87 squad for the team's best in its DI history.
• SFA's 202 three-pointers are the sixth-most in a single season and mark just the sixth time in program history that the 'Jacks have hit 200 or more triples in a season.
• At the free throw line, the 'Jacks have drilled 485, or the fifth-most in a single season in their DI history. The team's 691 attempts are the seventh-most in a single season in their DI history, too.
• Defensively, SFA's 308 steals are just three shy of tying the program's record of 311 set in 2015-16. On average, the 'Jacks get 10.6 steals per game this season, just a shade below the 10.7 the 1996-97 team averaged to set a single-season record.

TWO OF A KIND
• Few NCAA Division I college basketball team in America possesses an advantage quite as unique as the one SFA does. Two 'Jacks rank among the top ten in the Southland Conference in terms of three-point field goal percentage.
• Sophomore Kevon Harris ranks second in the league, having connected on 45.1-percent (51-of-113) of his long range tries while senior Ivan Canete, has hit 40.8-percent (40-of-98) of his downtown baskets. That's the seventh-highest percentage in the league and makes SFA one of only two Southland Conference teams who have two of the league's top ten three-point threats.

LIFE'S GOOD FOR LG
• Down to his last few weeks of college basketball, SFA senior Leon Gilmore III has focused on becoming a much more prominent part of the 'Jacks offense as of last.
• Through his last five games, the Houston, Texas, product ranks third on the team in scoring, putting in points at a rate of 12.4 per game while shooting am impressive 61.5-percent from the field.
• In that same span he's also the team's leading rebounder, averaging seven boards per game.
• Gilmore III currently ranks 15th in the Southland with his season field goal percentage of .508 and in league game's he's hitting 53-pecent of his shots - the 10th-best field goal percentage in the conference.

IF SFA WINS
• The 'Jacks' record would improve to 24-6 and 13-4 in Southland Conference play.
• The 'Jacks' would move within one win of their fifth season of 25 or more wins in the last six seasons.
• SFA would post its second-straight victory over Abilene Christian and its sixth consecutive win over the Wildcats in Nacogdoches.
• It would give SFA head coach Kyle Keller the first win of his career over ACU inside William R. Johnson Coliseum and up his winning percentage to .667 - fourth-highest by an SFA coach in program history.

IF SFA LOSES
• It would drop the 'Jacks' record to 23-5 and 12-5 in Southland Conference play.
• It would be the team's second-straight loss to Abilene Christian and the first consecutive losses to ACU in Abilene since 1979 and 1980.
• SFA would drop back-to-back Southland Conference games at home first the first time since the 2010-11 season.
• SFA would drop back-to-back Southland Conference games for the first time since January of 2017.

COMING UP NEXT
• For their final regular season game of 2017-18, SFA heads to Huntsville to do battle with longtime Piney Woods rival Sam Houston State Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. The Bearkats have yet to lose a Southland game at home this season.

-SFA-