CBS Tip-Off vs. Demons Ignites Five-Game Homestand for Jacks

Tuesday, January 27

Nacogdoches, Texas

3:05 P.M.

Stephen F. Austin

Northwestern State

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CBS Tip-Off vs. Demons Ignites Five-Game Homestand for Jacks

1/26/2026 1:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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SFA carries unbeaten Sawmill record into 84th all-time meeting with Northwestern State on Tuesday afternoon

NACOGDOCHES, Texas - A highly-anticipated matchup in front of a nationally-televised audience, forced to wait an additional 19 hours, is on tap for Stephen F. Austin as the Jacks welcome in longtime foe Northwestern State in the 84th meeting all-time between the rivals. SFA enters atop the Southland Conference standings and as winners of five-straight games, while NSU has lost two straight and has one win in 11 tries on the road. The Jacks topped the Demons 74-64 in Natchitoches on New Year's Eve, have won eight of the past ten meetings and carry a 22-15 record all-time against NSU in Nacogdoches. Tip-off is set for 3 p.m. from inside William R. Johnson Coliseum with live coverage available at www.SFAjacks.com.

• LAST TIME OUT: The Jacks used the three ball and the charity stripe to shelve Lamar 88-81. SFA sank 13 attempts from range, connected on 15 free throws of which seven came in the final two minutes with eight total over the final seven minutes, and finished 52.6% shooting from the floor.

• AN SFA WIN WOULD:
*be the 42nd all-time against NSU and even the series through 84 games
*move the Jacks' winning streak to six games
*be the 11th in league play this season
*improve its home record to 10-0, the 18th time in the past 20 seasons that the Jacks reached ten wins inside the Sawmill
*improve its record in the month of January to 6-1

• 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.

• DEMON DOPE SHEET: Micah Thomas leads the Demons in scoring at 16.9 ppg and Izzy Miles follows with 10.9 ppg. Thomas has netted over 100 field goals with nearly a third triggered in from beyond-the-arc. Willie Williams rebounds at 7.9 per game with 2.6 on the offensive glass and has delivered a pair of double doubles this season. Northwestern paces the SLC in free throw attempts per game and ranks third in team free throw percentage and free throws made.

• TAKING THE FREEBIES: The Jacks shot a season-best 80% (min. 15 attempts) from the stripe against Nicholls. SFA has shot better than 71% from the line in four of their last five games, something the squad did just three times over their first 15 games. 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 93 shots from the line over the past four games; tied for the most in any four-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-game win streak to open SLC play since 2020-21. SFA enters Tuesday's matchup having won five-straight games; the longest active streak in the Southland.

• A HELPING HAND: The Jacks have recorded double-digit assists in 17 of 20 games and have committed 10 or fewer turnovers a 13 times. SFA's assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.54 leads the SLC and the Jacks protect possessions as good as any team in the country with an SLC-leading effort of 9.5 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 657 points in 43 games dating back to the start of last season. Thompson ranks second in the SLC in total points (347) and third in scoring average (17.4).

• WINDEX WARRIORS: Matt Braeuer's year one squad has developed into the best glass-cleaning unit in the SLC. The Jacks lead the league in rebounds per game (39.55), defensive rebounds (26.00) and rebound margin (+5.8) and rank second in offensive rebounds (13.55). The Jacks have grabbed 40+ rebounds in a game 11 times with 50+ against a pair of non-D1 foes. First-year Jack Jerald Colonel ranks third league-wide in rebounding at 7.4 and total rebounds with 148 behind an SLC-best 3.10 offensive boards per night.

• BLOCK PARTY: Colonel, the reigning SLC DPOTY, carried his shot-swatting abilities across state lines from Natchitoches as the Georgia native leads the SLC in total blocks (53) and blocks per game (2.65). Both marks rank seventh nationally and his current total this season are the third-most in a single campaign in program history. Colonel is nine blocks 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 40.8%; a mark that ranks inside the top 45 among DI trigger men. He rates inside the DI top 50 in 3pt makes per game (2.90) and total 3pt makes (58) both of which rank third in the SLC.

• PERIMETER ACTIVITY: While Lateef Patrick Jr. and Kam Burton both join Chotikavanic inside the league's top 12, 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 10th nationally in 3pt% defense at 28.9%.

• LET IT FLY: The Jacks enter the CBS matchup four three-pointers shy of matching the squad's output from a season ago. Chotikavanic is 13 made threes away from having the most makes from range by a Jack in the last ten seasons. Patrick (46 made 3s) and Burton (41 made threes) have hit three or more trifectas in a game a combined 14 times this season. This year's Jacks are the first SFA squad since 2017-18 with three players having bucketed 40+ three-point attempts.

• ALL ABOUT POINTS: The Jacks enter the weekend with the league's best scoring defense holding opponents to 65.5 ppg which rates inside the top 25 nationally. SFA's scoring margin sits at +13.1, the second-highest in the SLC, behind the league's second-best scoring offense at 78.6 ppg which currently stands as the highest scoring average for the program since 2020-21.

• KEN POM + NET RANK: Through games played through January 25, the Jacks rank 93rd in the KenPom.com ratings and are inside the Division I Top 100 in NCAA NET rankings at No. 84. Both of those inclusions are currently the second-highest nods for a Southland program as the Jacks trail McNeese (No. 66 KP, No. 58 NET). Of the advanced metrics, the Jacks hold a No. 79 rating in adjusted defensive efficiency; higher than KP top 40 teams and fellow Lone Star State programs SMU (No. 36) and Texas (No. 37).

• 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.