Stephen F. Austin
Lamar
Jacks, Lamar Meet Saturday Afternoon in Beaumont
1/23/2026 2:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SFA carries four-game winning streak, eyes eighth road win in season's first meeting with Cardinals
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - The final Southland Conference road tilt before a five-game homestand for Stephen F. Austin (16-3, 9-1 SLC) is set for Saturday afternoon in Beaumont as the Jacks battle Lamar (10-9, 5-5 SLC) in the first of two meetings over the next two weeks. It's the 73rd meeting between the two Texas programs with SFA having won six of the last ten matchups. Lamar earned a road win last season in the most recent meeting of the two teams. The Jacks are 7-3 on the road this season and have won four-straight overall and their last two away from Nacogdoches. The Cardinals are 5-3 inside Neches Arena this season. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. and live coverage links are available at www.SFAjacks.com.
• LAST TIME OUT: A hot shooting first half staked the Jacks to a 21-point lead over Nicholls at the intermission. SFA shot as high as 63% during the opening twenty minutes before the clip settled at 53% overall with a 50% effort in 14 attempts from beyond-the-arc. Chrishawn Christmas delivered his second double-double of the season with ten points and 14 rebounds, Keon Thompson recorded his seventh 20-point game of the season on an efficient night from the floor and Ahamed Mohammed scored a season-high 15 points.
• AN SFA WIN WOULD:
*be the 42nd all-time against Lamar
*move the Jacks' winning streak to five games
*be the tenth in league play this season
*improve its road record to 8-3, the most by the program since winning a dozen road games during the 2019-20 season
*improve its record in the month of January to 5-1
• SCOUTING THE CARDINALS: Lamar is .500 in SLC play, but has won three of its last four in conference action. LU holds a scoring margin of +3.3 behind 71.7 ppg. Lamar enters the matchup as the top shot-blocking team in the league averaging 4.7 per game, while holding top three statistical marks in rebound margin (+3.8) and offensive rebounds (12.84). Opponents are shooting 43.1% from the floor and 34.2% from range. Braden East paces the SLC with six double doubles and Andrew Holifield trails on SFA's Jerald Colonel in blocks (38) and blocks per game (2.00). East leads the league in rebounds (159), rebounds per game (8.4) and defensive rebounds (5.58). Rob Lee Jr. leads the scoring efforts at 15.3 points per game and paces the Cardinals beyond-the-arc wtih 43 three-pointers at 2.26 per game.
• TAKING THE FREEBIES: The Jacks shot a season-best 80% (min. 15 attempts) from the stripe against Nicholls. Collectively, the Jacks are shooting over eight percentage points better from the free throw line in the month of January than their effort over the first two months of the season. SFA has attempted 72 shots from the line over the past three games; the second-most in any three-game span this season.
• UNCHARTED WATERS: SFA's efforts in taking UIW to the deep end beyond-the-arc resulted in just the third time this season that a team failed to make a three against a DI foe. Per CBB Reference and most notably spread by @trillydonovan on X, it's the 10th time SFA has held a team without a three-point make since the 2007 season - tied with Princeton for the most by any team in that span.
• THE FIRST TIME SINCE: SFA's seven-game win streak prior to the McNeese lost was the squad's longest since the 2022-23 season which came behind the Jacks' first five-straight win streak to open SLC play since 2020-21. SFA enters Saturday's matchup having won four-straight games; the longest active streak in the Southland.
• A HELPING HAND: The 'Jacks have recorded double-digit assists in 16 of 19 games and have committed 10 or fewer turnovers a dozen times. SFA's assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.50 leads the SLC and the Jacks protect possessions as good as any team in the country with an SLC-leading effort of 9.7 turnovers per game: a top 20 mark in Division I basketball.
• 1KEON: On the road against Southeastern Louisiana (Jan. 3), senior guard Keon Thompson, a selection to the Lou Henson National Mid-Major Player of the Year Midseason Watch List, reached a career scoring milestone with 1,000 career points. The Indiana native scored 452 points over two seasons (60 games) at UMass and has delivered 631 points in 42 games dating back to the start of last season. Thompson ranks third in the SLC in total points (321) and scoring average (16.9).
• WINDEX WARRIORS: Matt Braeuer's year one squad has developed into the best glass-cleaning unit in the SLC and is among the nation's top 50 in rebounding. The Jacks lead the league in rebounds per game (40.21), offensive rebounds (13.95), defensive rebounds (26.26) and rebound margin (+6.5). The 'Jacks have grabbed 40+ rebounds in a game 11 times with 50+ against a pair of non-D1 foes. Jerald Colonel ranks third league-wide in rebounding at 7.6 and total rebounds with 144 behind an SLC-best 3.16 offensive boards per night.
• BLOCK PARTY: Reigning SLC DPOTY and first-year Jack Jerald Colonel carried his shot-swatting abilities across state lines from Natchitoches as the Georgia native leads the SLC in total blocks (51) and blocks per game (2.68). His total denial clip is seventh nationally, while his per game blocking efforts rate fifth among DI players. Colonel's 51 blocked shots are the third-most in a single campaign in program history and he is a 11 back from taking over second on the single-season list.
• THE NAR"IT" FACTOR: First-year Jack Narit Chotikavanic, the Lone Star Conference Freshman of the Year a season ago, has been lights out from range. The Plano, Texas native leads the SLC in 3pt% at 40.7%; a mark that ranks inside the top 45 among DI trigger men. He rates inside the DI top 55 in 3pt makes per game (2.89) and total 3pt makes (55) both of which rank second in the SLC.
• PERIMETER PROTECTION: While Lateef Patrick Jr. (41 made 3s) and Kam Burton (37 made 3s) both join Chotikavanic inside the league's top 15, the only SLC program with three among the league's 15 best, in total made three-pointers on one end of the floor, the Jacks are clamped on the defensive perimeter. SFA rates inside the top 10 nationally in 3pt% defense at 28.2% which ranks 9th overall in DI.
• ALL ABOUT POINTS: The Jacks enter the weekend with the league's best scoring defense holding opponents to 64.6 ppg which rates 14th nationally. SFA's scoring margin sits at +13.4, the second-highest in the SLC, behind the league's second-best scoring offense at 78.1 ppg which currently stands as the highest scoring average for the program since 2020-21.
• KEN POM + NET RANK: Through games played through January 22, the Jacks rank 95th in the KenPom.com ratings and are inside the Division I Top 100 in NCAA NET rankings at No. 88. Both of those inclusions are currently the second-highest nods for a Southland program as the Jacks trail McNeese (No. 66 KP, No. 57 NET). Of the advanced metrics, the Jacks hold a No. 60 rating in adjusted defensive efficiency; higher than KP top 35 teams Alabama (No. 18), Auburn (No. 30), SMU (No. 31) and Utah State (No. 34).
• INSIDER TRENDING: After receiving votes for seven weeks to start the 2025-26 season, SFA broke into the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top 25 poll debuting at No. 23 nationally on January 12. The Jacks have since climbed a single spot to No. 22 as of the January 19 ranking. The Jacks' lone ranked opponent in the poll is fellow SLC foe McNeese at No. 19. The Cowboys rallied to beat the Lumberjacks 66-64 to hand SFA its first league loss, while keeping a lengthy home winning streak intact.
• JOEY BRACKETS: The latest Bracketology release from March Madness guru Joe Lunardi projects the Lumberjacks, who have five NCAA Tournament appearances in program history, as the No. 13 seed, up one spot from the previous nod, in Houston's South Region with an opening round matchup against No. 4 Florida.
• SAWMILL SUCCESSES: You can't beat the comfort of your own home and for SFA they have yet to be beaten when in the comfort of theirs. The Jacks are 9-0 at home inside William R. Johnson Coliseum this season dispatching opponents by an average of 20 points. The streak is the longest in Nacogdoches since the 2020-21 season.
