Stephen F. Austin
New Orleans
Coliseum Closeout: Jacks Battle New Orleans to Wrap Up Home Slate
2/22/2026 11:16:00 AM | Men's Basketball
SFA aims for perfect home record, puts 13-game winning streak on the line against Privateers
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Southland Conference-leading Stephen F. Austin closes out the home portion of its regular season schedule on Monday night against New Orleans. The Jacks will put a 13-game winning streak on the line against the Privateers and will look to grab a share of the Southland Conference regular season title with a win. Tip-off is set for 6:30 p.m. with live coverage available at www.SFAjacks.com.
• LAST TIME OUT: It took all 40 minutes for Stephen F. Austin on Saturday night inside an electrified Sawmill as the Jacks used a late bucket, a running floater that tickled twine from Jerald Colonel on a helper from Keon Thompson who broke through a double team in the corner, to dismiss Nicholls 81-78 for a 13th straight win. The contest was tied at 45, SFA led by 11 at 59-48 following a 14-3 run, but the Colonels, on the back of a 60.7% shooting effort in the second half, rallied all the way to tie the game at 78 with 65 seconds left.
• AN SFA WIN ON MONDAY WOULD:
--- give the Jacks the regular season sweep of the Privateers after SFA picked up an 84-79 victory in The Big Easy on January 17
--- give SFA it's eighth-straight win over UNO and improve the Jacks to 7-0 against the Privateers inside William R. Johnson Coliseum
--- move the Jacks' winning streak to 14 games; the longest by the program since 2019-20 and the longest league streak since the same season
--- be the 19th in league play this season; the most since the 2019-20 campaign
--- be the first season with 16 home victories since 2019-20
• ABOUT THE PRIVATEERS:
--- New Orleans is 13-15 entering Monday's matchup and is in outright fourth in the SLC standings; one game back of UTRGV and one game up on A&M-CC and Nicholls for a single bye in the league tournament with three to play.
--- UNO is 8-11 when playing on the road and is coming off a victory at Lamar on Saturday
--- The Privateers are one of the league's best at the stripe leading in attempts per game (25.8) and makes per game (19.3), while rating third in the SLC in percentage (74.7%). UNO's attempts and makes rates are inside the top 18 nationally.
--- UNO ranks third in the SLC in rebounds per game at 37.29 and in blocks per game with 3.8.
--- Coleton Benson paces two other Privateers in double-figure scoring average at 15.8 ppg.
--- Benson holds the league's second-highest FT% at 91.9%; eighth-best mark in the country.
--- Benson is top three in the SLC in 3pt% (38.6%), attempts (207), makes (80) and makes per game (2.86).
--- Jakevion Buckley leads the league in assists average (5.3) and total assists (142), ranks second in steals (50) and third in steals per game (1.85).
• 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 15-0 at home inside William R. Johnson Coliseum this season dispatching opponents by an average of 15.5 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.
SFA is averaging 80.7 ppg inside the Sawmill this season, while opponents have managed to reach 70 points on just five occasions. The Jacks are shooting over 46% from the floor at home with a near 40% success rate from range and are bucketing nearly five more three balls per night than the squad allows. Opponents shoot below 28% from the perimeter.
• SENIOR SEND-OFF: Ahamed Mohammed, Jerald Colonel, Chrishawn Christmas and Keon Thompson were recognized in front of the William R. Johnson Coliseum faithful for their contributions to the program prior to Saturday's tip-off.
What Coach Braeuer had to say about his seniors:
Thompson * Christmas * Colonel * Mohammed
• FIVE FOR FIVE: For the fifth time this season and for the third time in four weeks, Stephen F. Austin senior guard Keon Thompson was 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 824 points in 51 games dating back to the start of last season. Thompson leads the SLC in total points (512) and scoring average (18.3); currently the fourth-highest in program history and the highest since the '91-92 season. Against the Colonels, Thompson moved 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 195; 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 124. In his collegiate career, Christmas has totaled 754 rebounds across three seasons at SFA (511) and one season at Panola College (243). His 511 boards with the Jacks are among the top 220 active DI players and he is one of four SLC players with a 7.4+ 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 2.34 blocks per game average. The mark ranks 11th among all three levels of NCAA competition. His 136 career swats are a top 35 mark among active players. This season, Colonel has recorded a block in 25 of SFA's 28 games and has three or more blocks in a 13 games. An SLC all-defensive team selection last season, Colonel is leading the league in total blocks (69) and blocks per game (2.46). Both marks rank inside the top 11 nationally and his current total this season is ranked second on the single-season list.
• BURTON BUTTON: First-year Jack Kam Burton is shooting a team-best 45.3% (67-of-148) 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 17 games since, beginning with the Jacks' road win at East Texas A&M, Burton has made three or more threes on nine occasions including his second and third performances with five makes from three at UTRGV and at home against Nicholls. Within those 17 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 11-straight games and has 11 games with 3+ makes from three this season with eight coming in '26. His career three-point percentage of 40.5% is among DI's top 50 trigger men.
• 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': The Jacks are coming off the squad's fifth game this season with 13+ makes from beyond-the-arc. SFA hit 13 against the Colonels including nine in the first half. Against Southeastern (1/31), 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 Monday's matchup having bucketed a three-pointer in 50 straight games.
As a team, the Jacks are shooting 36.8% from range which rates inside the top 45 nationally and third in the SLC, while its 9.3 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 15.3 makes from the stripe in six 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 71.3% from the stripe in six 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 13-straight games; the longest active streak in the Southland and tied for the second-longest active streak in the country.
• A HELPING HAND: The Jacks have recorded double-digit assists in 22 of 28 games and have committed 10 or fewer turnovers 20 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 9.4 turnovers per game: a top 15 mark in Division I basketball. The Jacks recorded the squad's fifth game with 18+ assists in the win over Nicholls on Saturday night.
• 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 (38.18) and rebound margin (+5.2) and rank second in offensive rebounds (12.82) and defensive rebounds (25.36). 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 3.11.
• 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 leads the SLC in 3pt% at 40%; a mark that ranks inside the top 50 among DI trigger men. He rates inside the DI top 90 in 3pt makes per game (2.64) and inside the top 75 in total 3pt makes (74) both of which rank third in the SLC.
This season, Chotikavanic has made multiple three-point attempts in 21 games with three or more makes in a dozen games including Saturday's win over Nicholls.
• 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 nine 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 three made threes from reaching the fifth-most in a single season in program history. Burton (67 made 3s) and Patrick (59 made 3s) have hit three or more trifectas in a game a combined 21 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 one Patrick make away 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 15 nationally in 3pt% defense at 29.9%. Through 28 games, opponents have attempted 20+ three-points shots against the Jacks 23 times and have made eight or more on only six occasions.
• ALL ABOUT POINTS: The Jacks enter Monday's contest with the league's best scoring defense holding opponents to 65.8 ppg which rates 18th nationally. SFA's scoring margin sits at +11.9, the second-highest in the SLC, behind the league's second-best scoring offense at 77.7 ppg which currently stands as the highest scoring average for the program since 2020-21.
• KEN POM + NET RANK: Through games played through February 21, the Jacks rank 89th in the KenPom.com ratings and are inside the Division I Top 75 in NCAA NET rankings at No. 81. Both of those inclusions are currently the second-highest nods for a Southland program as the Jacks trail McNeese (No. 61 KP, No. 57 NET). Of the advanced metrics, the Jacks hold the No. 68 rating in adjusted defensive efficiency; higher than seven 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.
