Stephen F. Austin
Nicholls
Coliseum Closeout: Jacks Host Nicholls on Senior Day, New Orleans to Wrap Up Home Slate
2/20/2026 8:08:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SFA puts 12-game winning streak, unbeaten 14-0 home record on the line against Colonels
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Southland Conference-leading Stephen F. Austin prepares for its final two-game home swing of the season as the Jacks play host to Nicholls on Saturday evening before closing out the regular season against New Orleans on Monday night. The Jacks sit atop the league standings with a two-game lead with four games to play. The Jacks will put a 12-game winning streak and an unbeaten home record on the line against the Colonels. Tip-off is set for 5 p.m. with live coverage available at www.SFAjacks.com.
• LAST TIME OUT: The Jacks endured a strong second half from Texas A&M-Corpus Christi after carrying a 37-16 lead into the intermission. A&M-CC outscored SFA 52-41 in the second half and pulled within six points of the SFA lead twice and within five points in the final two minutes of action. However, the Jacks employed a 21-point effort from Lateef Patrick and 18 more from Keon Thompson, including seven second-half free throws with five in the final 2:15 of play, to earn an 11th straight win.
• AN SFA WIN ON SATURDAY WOULD:
--- give the Jacks the regular season sweep of the Colonels after SFA picked up a 79-62 victory in Thibodaux on January 19
--- give SFA it's seventh win in the last ten meetings with the Colonels and the 20th at home inside the Sawmill since the start of the 1984-85 season
--- move the Jacks' winning streak to 13 games; the longest by the program since 2019-20 and the longest league streak since the same season
--- be the 18th in league play this season; the most since the 2019-20 campaign
--- improve its home record to 15-0; the first season with 15+ home victories since 2019-20
• ABOUT THE COLONELS:
--- Nicholls is 11-16 overall with a 10-8 mark in league play which places the squad in a three-way tie for fourth.
--- The Colonels are 6-11 on the road, but have won three of their past four away from Thibodaux.
--- The Colonels rate in the SLC top three in steals per game (9.3), turnover margin (+3.4), turnovers forced per game (14.89), three-pointers per game (8.8) and three point attempts per game (25.7). The steals average rates 13th nationally, while the turnovers forced rate is 17th in DI. Sincere Malone (1.96) and Trae English (1.92) are first and third respectively in steals per game in the SLC.
--- NSU averages 73.9 ppg with a scoring margin of -2.8.
--- Jalik Dunkley and Jaylen Searles each average over 13 points per game.
--- Searles is ninth in the SLC in total three pointers made (54), while Dunkley is the league's top shooter at 57.4%.
• ABOUT THE PRIVATEERS:
--- New Orleans is 12-15 entering the weekend and is tied with Nicholls in fourth at 10-8 in SLC play.
--- UNO is 7-11 when playing on the road and will matchup at Lamar before Monday's meeting.
--- The Privateers are one of the league's best at the stripe leading in attempts per game (25.7) and makes per game (19.2), while rating third in the SLC in percentage (74.5%). UNO's attempts and makes rates are inside the top 20 nationally.
--- UNO ranks third in the SLC in rebounds per game at 37.07 and in blocks per game with 3.8.
--- Coleton Benson paces two other Privateers in double-figure scoring average at 15.9 ppg.
--- Benson holds the league's top FT% at 92.4%; sixth-best mark in the country.
--- Benson is top three in the SLC in 3pt% (38.7%), attempts (199), makes (77) and makes per game (2.85).
--- Jakevion Buckley leads the league in assists average (5.1) and rates second in assists (133), steals (50) and steals per game (1.92).
• 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 14-0 at home inside William R. Johnson Coliseum this season dispatching opponents by an average of 16.4 points. The streak is the longest in Nacogdoches since the 2017-18 season when the Jacks won their first 15 games before finishing 16-1 at home.
• SENIOR SEND-OFF: Ahamed Mohammed, Jerald Colonel, Chrishawn Christmas and Keon Thompson will be recognized in front of the William R. Johnson Coliseum faithful for their contributions to the program prior to Saturday's tip-off.
• FIVE FOR FIVE: For the fifth-consecutive week, Stephen F. Austin senior guard Keon Thompson has been named the Southland Conference Men's Basketball Player of the Week. Thompson adds Monday afternoon's honor, his third of the past four weeks, to awards garnered on November 10, December 8, January 26 and February 9.
Thompson averaged 24.5 points in wins over East Texas A&M and UTRGV. He shot 50.0% (17-for-34) from the floor and averaged 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.5 steals per game. Arguably his biggest performance of the season came against the Vaqueros as Thompson delivered a career-high 32 points, behind a career-best 12 made shots, with 25 points coming in the second half as the Jacks snapped UTRGV's eight-game winning streak, while improving their own to 11 games and clinching a double bye in March's SLC Tournament.
• 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 806 points in 50 games dating back to the start of last season. Thompson leads the SLC in total points (496) and scoring average (18.4); currently the fourth-highest in program history and the highest since the '91-92 season. Thompson is 17 points shy of moving into SFA's top 10 in the DI Era in single season points.
• BOARDING SCHOOL: Chrishawn Christmas grabbed eight rebounds, his 11th game with 8+ boards this season, in the win at UTRGV and in the process eclipsed the 500 rebound mark for his career at Stephen F. Austin. Christmas is second on the team in rebounds this season with 191; the most by the Indiana native in any of his three seasons in Nacogdoches. He also set a new personal single-season SFA best in defensive rebounds with a team-best 121. In his collegiate career, Christmas has totaled 750 rebounds across three seasons at SFA (507) and one season at Panola College (243). His 507 boards with the Jacks are among the top 220 active DI players and he is one of five SLC players with a 7.5+ rebounding average in league play this season.
• BLOCK PARTY: Jerald Colonel is near the career active lead among all Division I shot blockers with a 2.33 blocks per game average. The mark ranks 11th among all three levels of NCAA competition. His 130 career swats are a top 40 mark among active players. This season, Colonel has recorded a block in 24 of SFA's 27 games and has three or more blocks in a dozen games. An SLC all-defensive team selection last season, Colonel is leading the league in total blocks (66) and blocks per game (2.44). Both marks rank inside the top 12 nationally and his current total this season is ranked second on the single-season list.
• BURTON BUTTON: First-year Jack Kam Burton is shooting 44.6% (62-of-139) from three-point range this season. As the season has progressed, and as the Jacks have continued to dominate, Burton has let if fly from range. In SFA's first 11 games of the season, Burton nailed multiple three-point attempts in the first six games and in eight overall with the first of two five trifecta efforts this season coming at Rice. In the 16 games since, beginning with the Jacks' road win at East Texas A&M, Burton has made three or more threes on eight occasions including a second performance with five makes from three at UTRGV. Within those 16 games, is a six-game stretch beginning at Lamar (1/24) through SFA's home win against East Texas A&M (2/9) where Burton shot 53.7% from range with a team-high 22 made threes. He made four or more threes in four of those contests. Burton has made at least a single three in ten-straight games and has ten games with 3+ makes from three this season with seven coming in '26.
• 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': Against Southeastern, 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 eight times this season with four games north of 50%. SFA enters Saturday's matchup having bucketed a three-pointer in 49 straight games.
As a team, the Jacks are shooting 36.7% from range which rates inside the top 50 nationally and third in the SLC, while its 9.1 made threes per game ranks second in the league.
• TAKING THE FREEBIES: The Jacks shot a season-best 81.8% (min. 15 attempts) from the stripe in its second game against Lamar (2/7). The squad is averaging 16 makes from the stripe in five February games and has sank 15 or more attempts from the line a dozen times this season with eight coming in the New Year. 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. The Jacks are shooting 72% from the stripe in five February games.
• UNCHARTED WATERS: SFA's efforts in taking UIW to the deep end beyond-the-arc (1/12) 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 Saturday's matchup having won 12-straight games; the longest active streak in the Southland.
• A HELPING HAND: The Jacks have recorded double-digit assists in 21 of 27 games and have committed 10 or fewer turnovers 19 times. SFA's assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.49 is second in the SLC and the Jacks protect possessions as good as any team in the country with an SLC-leading effort of 9.4 turnovers per game: a top 15 mark in Division I basketball.
• 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 three of the four major rebounding categories: rebounds per game (38.33), defensive rebounds (25.48) and rebound margin (+5.0) and rank second in offensive rebounds (12.85). The Jacks have grabbed 40+ rebounds in a game a 13 times with 50+ against a pair of non-D1 foes. Jerald Colonel and Chrishawn Christmas lead the team in rebounding average with seven per game. Colonel leads the SLC in offensive boards per night mark at 3.15.
• 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 39.9%; a mark that ranks inside the top 55 among DI trigger men. He rates inside the DI top 95 in 3pt makes per game (2.63) and total 3pt makes (71) both of which rank third in the SLC.
• LET IT FLY: The Jacks have surpassed their three-point output from a season ago and have sank the most threes since the 2015-16 season. SFA is currently two dozen made three-pointers from setting a new single season program record. Chotikavanic has made the most threes by a Jack in the last ten seasons and he is six made threes from reaching the fifth-most in a single season in program history. Burton (62 made 3s) and Patrick (57 made 3s) have hit three or more trifectas in a game a combined 20 times this season. This year's Jacks are the first SFA squad in program history with three players having bucketed 50+ three-point attempts and are not far off from all three reaching 60+ made three-point shots.
• PERIMETER ACTIVITY: While Burton and Patrick both join Chotikavanic inside the league's top 10, the only SLC program with three among the league's 10 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 28.9%. Through 27 games, opponents have attempted 20+ three-points shots against the Jacks 22 times and have made eight or more on only five occasions.
• ALL ABOUT POINTS: The Jacks enter the weekend with the league's best scoring defense holding opponents to 65.3 ppg which rates 15th nationally. SFA's scoring margin sits at +12.3, the second-highest in the SLC, behind the league's second-best scoring offense at 77.6 ppg which currently stands as the highest scoring average for the program since 2020-21.
• KEN POM + NET RANK: Through games played through February 19, the Jacks rank 83rd in the KenPom.com ratings and are inside the Division I Top 75 in NCAA NET rankings at No. 75. Both of those inclusions are currently the second-highest nods for a Southland program as the Jacks trail McNeese (No. 62 KP, No. 57 NET). Of the advanced metrics, the Jacks hold the No. 57 rating in adjusted defensive efficiency; higher than ten other KP top 50 teams.
• 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, held at No. 16 nationally for two-straight weeks, climbed five spots to No. 11 last week and enter the weekend at No. 10 overall. The Jacks' lone ranked opponent in the poll is fellow SLC foe McNeese at No. 14. The Cowboys rallied to beat the Lumberjacks 66-64 to hand SFA its first league loss, but the Jacks got their lick back at home with a 67-60 win on February 2.
Previous CollegeInsider.com Rankings
Feb. 16 | 10
Feb. 9 | 11
Feb. 2 | 16
Jan. 26 | 16
Jan. 19 | 22
Jan. 12 | 23
• 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 Houston's West Region with an opening round matchup against No. 4 Nebraska.
