Stephen F. Austin
McNeese
SFA Matches Up with McNeese Wednesday Night in William R. Johnson Coliseum
2/12/2019 5:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball
'Jacks remain 2.5 games back of second place in Southland standings
Game Twenty-Three | Sponsored by Southside Bank
SFA (12-10, 5-5 Southland) vs. McNeese (7-16, 3-7 Southland)
Wednesday, Feb. 13 | 6:30 p.m. | William R. Johnson Coliseum (7,203) | Nacogdoches, Texas
Tickets | Watch (ESPN+/ESPN app) | Listen (Q107.7/TuneIn) | Live Stats | SFA Game Notes | McNeese Game Notes
THE OPENING TIP
• With just eight more regular season games on its schedule, the SFA men's basketball team aims to gain ground in the Southland Conference standings when it plays host to McNeese Wednesday evening inside William R. Johnson Coliseum.
• Tip-off in 84th meeting between the 'Jacks and Cowboys is set for 6:30 p.m. with ESPN+ and the ESPN app carrying each and every second of the action. Additionally, the play-by-play and analysis of longtime Lumberjack play-by-play man Rob Meyers can be heard on the Learfield/IMG College Lumberjack Sports Network available in Nacogdoches on Q107.7 FM and nationwide via the TuneIn app.
• The 'Jacks currently sit in fifth place in the Southland Conference standings and are 2.5 games back of Abilene Christian for the second-place spot in the league standings. In all, only 3.5 games separate the second through eighth-place squads in the Southland standings.
• After averaging 30 points per game last week, junior Kevon Harris now leads the Southland Conference in scoring. The Ellenwood, Ga., product is pumping in points at a rate of 18.1 per
game and in Southland play that averages goes even higher. Through SFA's 10 league games this season, Harris is averaging 22.8 points per game to make him the top scoring threat in conference play, too.
• With his 25-point outing against Lamar last Saturday, Harris hiked his career point total to 1,157. That puts him in 20th place on SFA's all-time scoring charts and the junior needs just three more points to pass current SFA assistant coach Desmond Haymon for 19th place on that list.
THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE…
• Are, as Barrett Strong sang in the 1959 hit single Money (That's What I Want), free. For SFA junior Kevon Harris, free throws have been a big part of his game over the last week.
• Through his last two games, Harris has gone 25-of-31 at the foul line. That's the most free throws attempted by an SFA player over a two-game stretch since Thomas Walkup visits the foul line 27 times over a two-game stretch in the 'Jacks' two-game run in the NCAA Tournament in 2016.
• Harris' 25 free throw makes over that span are the most over a two-game stretch since that impressive run by Walkup, too. Over SFA's two games in the NCAA Tournament, Walkup went 26-of-27 from the free throw line.
• For his career, Harris has gone 289-of-411 from the foul line. His total number of free throw attempts is the fifth-most by a player in SFA's NCAA history while his total number of free throws made are the eighth-most.
RECORD BOOK WATCH
• All throughout this season, Kevon Harris has been rewriting SFA's record books.
• The junior now ranks seventh all-time in three-point field goals made (118) and ninth all-time in three-point field goal attempts (298).
• Harris is also 50 rebounds away from reaching 500 for his collegiate career. If and when he gets there, he would be just the 11th player in SFA's NCAA history to amass 500 or more rebounds in a career.
1,000-POINT WATCH
• SFA senior Shannon Bogues is fast approaching the 1,000-point mark for his SFA career and has a good chance to get there before the month is finished.
• The Killeen, Texas, product has accumulated in 917 points in less than two seasons in a Lumberjack uniform and needs just 83 more points to become the 32nd player in program history to get to 1,000.
UP THE WIN CHARTS
• This season, senior Jovan Grujic has risen into the top ten in terms of all-time winningest players at SFA.
• For his career, the Pancevo, Serbia, product has won 86 games which is the eighth-most by a player in SFA's NCAA history. Those 86 wins put him ahead of the likes of Jereal Scott (85), Josh Alexander (82) and Matt Kingsley (82).
SFA vs. McNEESE | SERIES HISTORY
Overall vs. McNeese | 45-38 (.542)
In Nacogdoches, Texas | 26-12 (.684)
At William R. Johnson Coliseum | 17-9 (.654)
In Lake Charles, La. | 18-26 (.409)
At McNeese H&HP Complex | 0-0 (.000)
At neutral sites | 1-0 (1.000)
Last meeting | SFA 99, at McNeese 95 | Feb. 8, 2018
Last SFA win | Feb. 8, 2018 | 99-95
Last SFA home win | Jan. 2, 2016 | 86-57
Last SFA road win | Feb. 8, 2018 | 99-95
Last McNeese win | Jan. 2, 2017 | 69-54
Last McNeese home win | Jan. 2, 2017 | 69-54
Last McNeese road win | Feb. 9, 2002 | 65-49
Largest margin of victory (SFA) | 33 | 99-66 on Dec. 8, 1969
Largest margin of defeat (SFA) | 34 | 79-45 on Feb. 3, 1990
Current Streak | SFA won one
Last five games | 4-1 (.800)
Last five home games | 5-0 (1.000)
Last five away games | 3-2 (.600)
Last 10 games | 8-2 (.800)
Last 10 home games | 10-0 (1.000)
Last 10 away games | 6-4 (.600)
SFA points | average | 5,675 | 68.4
McNeese points | average | 5,458 | 65.8
Average scoring margin | +2.6
Keller vs. McNeese | 1-1 (.500)
At William R. Johnson Coliseum | 0-0 (.000)
At McNeese H&HP Center | 0-0 (.000)
Keller vs. Schroyer | 0-0 (.000)
Schroyer vs. SFA | 0-0 (.000)
SFA all-time on Feb. 13 | 18-3 (.857)
SCOUTING McNEESE | ROSTER | SCHEDULE | STATISTICS
• Getting hit with a bit of bad news, McNeese recently found out it would be without the services of leading scorer Roydell Brown for the next two weeks. The junior guard went down with a severe ankle sprain during last Saturday's home setback to Northwestern State and has been the Cowboys' leading scorer (14.5 ppg) and rebounder (9.5 per game) in the 2018-19 campaign.
• McNeese has been one of the most personal foul-averse teams in the nation in 2018-19. So far this season, the Cowboys have committed just 357 personal fouls - the 19th-fewest in the nation and the fewest in the Southland. The team's 15.5 fouls per game is the lowest average in the Southland as well as the 26th-lowest in the nation.
• One of the nation's best ball handlers, McNeese guard Trey Touchet possesses the Soutland's best assist-to-turnover radio. A graduate student, Touchet's figure of 3.56 in that statistical category is the fifth-best among all NCAA Division I men's basketball players.
• Positive results on the road have been difficult to come by for the Cowboys this season. McNeese is 1-10 (.090) in true road games this season, with their lone win coming in the Alamo City by a score of 88-77 against Southland Conference adversary Incarnate Word. Four of the team's seven Southland losses have come by five or fewer points and McNeese is 1-7 this season in games decided by five or fewer points.
• Aside from Brown, James Harvey (12.6 ppg) and Sha'Markus Kennedy (11.4 ppg) serve as the Cowboys' other two main scoring threats. That duo has helped McNeese rank second in the Southland and 38th nationally with a team field goal percentage of 47.7
LAST TIME OUT
• Kevon Harris put forth his team-leading fifth outing of 25 or more points, netting a game-high 25, but the 'Jacks could never fully recover from Lamar's 22-8 start to the game and fell 82-67 to the Cardinals Saturday evening inside William R. Johnson Coliseum.
• Harris went 14-of-16 from the foul line, establishing career highs in both free throws made (14) and free throws attempted (19).
• Harris' 14 free throws made and 16 free throw tries were the most by a Lumberjack in a single game since Thomas Walkup went 19-of-20 from the foul line in SFA's opening round victory over ninth-ranked West Virginia in the 2016 NCAA Tournament.
• Shannon Bogues extended his streak of double-digit scoring games to 23 by pouring in 19 on 4-of-12 shooting. The senior also went 8-of-11 from the foul line, combining with Harris to register 22 of SFA's 28 made free throws and 27 of the team's 35 tries from that distance.
• Down by as many as 18 point, the 'Jacks cut the Cardinals' lead down to five after John Comeaux sank a pair of foul shots in the second half. After those makes, however, Lamar laced back-to-back three-pointers to go back up by 11 points.
• SFA nabbed just 13 rebounds in the setback and finished with a -28 differential on the glass. Those 13 rebounds were the fewest in a single game by SFA this year and its -28 rebounding differential was the team's worst of the 2018-19 campaign.
• The 'Jacks did establish single-game highs in both free throws made (28) and free throws attempted (35) in the setback.
• Lamar has now won three game in a row over SFA. That's SFA's longest losing streak against a current Southland Conference team since Sam Houston State won three games in a row over the 'Jacks from the 2005-06 through the 2006-07 seasons.
COMING UP NEXT
• A trip across state lines is next up on the 'Jacks' docket when SFA pays a visit to Natchitoches, La., for a Saturday afternoon showdown with longtime Louisiana and Southland Conference rival Northwestern State. Tip-off inside Prather Coliseum is slated for 3:30 p.m. and the matchup will be broadcast nationwide on ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
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