Stephen F. Austin
McNeese State
#16 Jacks Host #15 McNeese in Top 20 Mid-Major Showdown
2/1/2026 12:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SFA puts seven-game winning streak, unbeaten home record on the line against the Cowboys as the final full month of the regular season begins
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - It's the biggest game of the season, only because it's the next one for league-leading Stephen F. Austin. The Lumberjacks, winners of seven-straight and owners of an unbeaten home slate at 11-0 this season, play host to Southland Conference preseason favorite and collegeinsider.com #15 McNeese State on Monday night inside the William R. Johnson Colisem. It's game three of a five-game homestand for the Jacks as the two squads tangle on the hardwood for the Southland Conference lead. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. from inside the Sawmill with live coverage available at www.SFAjacks.com.
• THE SERIES: The Jacks and the Cowboys meet for the 53rd time since 1973. SFA holds the series lead during that span at 29-23 with a 17-8 mark at home inside the Sawmill. SFA has lost three-straight against McNeese including a 66-64 January 5 matchup in Lake Charles that saw the Jacks hold a lead with less than 4:30 to play in the game. Like the two sides' previous matchup, the Jacks once again enter on a seven-game winning streak, while the host holds a double-digit winning streak at home.
• LAST TIME OUT: SFA led wire-to-wire against Southeastern Louisiana using 16 made three-pointers to blitz the Lions 85-58. Keon Thompson led all scorers with 15 points, Kam Burton followed with 14, Marcus Scurry added a dozen and Lateef Patrick chipped in with ten. The Jacks would have been hard pressed to open the first 2:05 of play any better as three possessions resulted in successful triple tries with Patrick, Thompson and Burton all cashing in on the 9-0 run to start which prompted an SLU timeout. SFA shot 59% from the floor in the opening twenty bucketing nine three-point attempts from six different players. Defensively, the Jacks held SLU to just seven makes from the floor in 22 attempts and sat at +7 in turnovers behind five first-half steals. Additionally, SFA dished out nine assists as the squad built a 25-point lead at the intermission. Following the break, the Lions kept pace with the host trailing 22-19 in the half with just over seven minutes to play as SLU utilized an 8-0 run over 3:38 of play down through the under-8 media. In that same span, the Jacks cooled off from the floor with no points in four-plus minutes. Burton ended the drought with his second three of the game and SFA's 14th to put the Jacks up 73-44 with 6:24 left. Burton hit his third moments later as the lead grew past 30 points, while his fourth and third in less than two minutes put the Jacks out front 79-46. Prior to Burton's trio of makes, Scurry hit from range three times in span of 78 seconds.
• MATCHING UP WITH McNEESE: The Cowboys are a game back of SFA in the league standings and are responsible for the Jacks' lone loss in league play which also snapped a seven-game win streak. McNeese operates with one of the best benches in the country ranking fifth in bench points per game at 37.45. That is one of 11 categories that the Cowboys lead the SLC in which also includes turnover margin (+7.1) and turnovers forced per game (16.95). Those two metrics are each the second-highest in the country. The Cowboys also lead the league in scoring offense (82.2), FT% (77.6%) and offensive rebounds (13.36). Larry Johnson's 17.4 points per game rank fourth in the SLC entering the weekend and pace two other Cowboys in double-figure scoring, while Javohn Garcia is among the top theft agents in the league with 41 steals at 1.86 per game. Johnson paces the league in free throws (100) and field goal percentage (52.7).
• AN SFA WIN WOULD:
*put the Jacks two games up on the Cowboys in the regular season standings
*move the Jacks' winning streak to eight games; the longest by the program since 2021-22 and the longest league streak since the same season
*be the 13th in league play this season; the most since the 2021-22 campaign
*improve its home record to 12-0; the longest home winning streak since 2017-18
*give the Jacks a 20-win season for the first-time since 2021-22
• 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 11-0 at home inside William R. Johnson Coliseum this season dispatching opponents by an average of 19 points. The streak is the longest in Nacogdoches since the 2017-18 season.
• REMEMBER ME?: First-year Jacks Jerald Colonel and Kam Burton were no stranger to the Southland upon arrival to Nacogdoches last summer. And for their former teams, Colonel's Demons and Burton's Lions, both were reminded of the current Jacks' impact for their specific squads a season ago. Colonel averaged 9.5 rebounds and 5.5 points against Northwestern State in two wins in addition to collecting three blocks. Burton averaged 9.5 points, while shooting 55.6% in nine attempts from range in two victories against the Lions.
• AND I'M THREE FALLIN': SFA hammered 16 three pointers in a game for the second time this season and for the first time against a Division I opponent. The effort matched its season-high output of 16 against Dallas which was the most by the Jacks since hitting 16 against Houston Baptist in 2015 (2/28). It is the first time in the new millennium that SFA has made 16+ threes twice in the same season. The Jacks shot a season-high 57.1% from beyond-the-arc against Southeastern Louisiana and has hit threes at a clip of 42% or better six times this season with three games north of 50%. SFA enters Monday's matchup having bucketed a three-pointer in 44 straight games.
• NICE TO KNOW YA, JANUARY: The first month of 2026 has come and gone and did so with the Jacks posting an 8-1 record in the month with the only loss coming in Lake Charles to February's first foe. In nine games in January, SFA averaged nearly 76 points per game with a +10.4 scoring margin. The Jacks shot 45.2% from the floor with a 36% success rate from three. Thompson led SFA in scoring at 17.7 ppg with Patrick following with 14.8 ppg. Christmas and Colonel combined to average14 rebounds per night as the Jacks posted a +4.2 board margin. Opponents have averaged just six three-point makes per night against SFA over the last nine games.
• TAKING THE FREEBIES: The Jacks shot a season-best 80% (min. 15 attempts) from the stripe against Nicholls. SFA shot better than 71% from the line in five of their nine games in the month of January, something the squad did just twice in November and December combined.
• 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 Monday's matchup having won seven-straight games; the longest active streak in the Southland.
• A HELPING HAND: The Jacks have recorded double-digit assists in 18 of 22 games and have committed 10 or fewer turnovers a 15 times. SFA's assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.52 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 699 points in 45 games dating back to the start of last season. Thompson ranks second in the SLC in total points (389) and in scoring average (17.7).
• 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 (39.09), defensive rebounds (25.95) and rebound margin (+5.5) and rank third in offensive rebounds (13.14). The Jacks have grabbed 40+ rebounds in a game a dozen times with 50+ against a pair of non-D1 foes. First-year Jack Jerald Colonel ranks third league-wide in rebounding at 7.3 and total rebounds with 161 behind an SLC-best 3.05 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 (56) and blocks per game (2.55). Both marks rank inside the top ten nationally and his current total this season are the third-most in a single campaign in program history. Colonel is five 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 ranks second in the SLC in 3pt% at 41.2%; a mark that ranks inside the top 40 among DI trigger men. He rates inside the DI top 60 in 3pt makes per game (2.86) and total 3pt makes (63) both of which rank second in the SLC.
• PERIMETER ACTIVITY: While Lateef Patrick Jr. and Kam Burton 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 20 nationally in 3pt% defense at 29.3%.
• LET IT FLY: The Jacks have surpassed their three-point output from a season ago. Chotikavanic is eight made threes away from having the most makes from range by a Jack in the last ten seasons. Patrick (50 made 3s) and Burton (47 made threes) have hit three or more trifectas in a game a combined 15 times this season. This year's Jacks are the first SFA squad since 2015-16 with three players having bucketed 45+ three-point attempts and the first since 2014-15 with two players with 50+ makes.
• ALL ABOUT POINTS: The Jacks enter the weekend with the league's best scoring defense holding opponents to 65.2 ppg which rates inside the top 20 nationally. SFA's scoring margin sits at +13.2, the second-highest in the SLC, behind the league's second-best scoring offense at 78.4 ppg which currently stands as the highest scoring average for the program since 2020-21.
• KEN POM + NET RANK: Through games played through January 31, the Jacks rank 91st in the KenPom.com ratings and are inside the Division I Top 100 in NCAA NET rankings at No. 83. Both of those inclusions are currently the second-highest nods for a Southland program as the Jacks trail McNeese (No. 68 KP, No. 59 NET). Of the advanced metrics, the Jacks hold the No. 72 rating in adjusted defensive efficiency; higher than KP top 50 teams Texas (No. 34), SMU (No. 36), Ohio State (No. 42), UCF (No. 45), VCU (No. 47) and LSU (No. 48).
• 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 climbed a single spot to No. 22 as of the January 19 ranking and enter the weekend ranked No. 16 nationally as of the final weekly poll for the month of January. The Jacks' lone ranked opponent in the poll is fellow SLC foe McNeese at No. 15. 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 in Chicago's Midwest Region with an opening round matchup against No. 4 Vanderbilt.
