Stephen F. Austin

Nov. 8, 2012

Game Notes In PDF Format

SFA (0-0) vs Howard Payne (0-0)
Friday, Nov. 9, 2012 • 8:00 p.m. (CST)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (7,203) • Nacogdoches
Video: None • Video: www.SFAJacks.com • Live Stats: www.SFAJacks.com

The Last Meeting

Howard Payne	49
SFA	114

November 12, 2010
Nacogdoches, Texas

`Jacks Blast Howard Payne Stephen F. Austin put up more points in Friday's season opener than any Lumberjack team has scored in 14 years, as SFA rolled to a 114-49 win over Howard Payne in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. Jereal Scott led five players in double figures with a career-high 27 as SFA cruised to its largest margin of victory since the 1996-97 season.

Recap | Box Score | Photo Gallery

STORY LINES
• Stephen F. Austin will open up the 2012-13 season against Howard Payne for the second time in three seasons. Live video will be available via SFA All-Access with live audio available. 
•  SFA will be looking for its third consecutive season-opening win. It is the second time in three seasons SFA has opened up vs Howard Payne, winning the last meeting to start the 2010-11 season, 114-49 in Nacogdoches.
• SFA returns two starters from its 2011-12 squad, led by first-team all-SLC choice Antonio Bostic who averaged 11.3 points and 4.0 rebounds per game last season while playing 34.2 minutes per game.
• The Lumberjacks enter the season picked second, behind Oral Roberts in the Southland Conference in the league’s preseason rankings as voted on by the coaches and SIDs of the SLC.

UP NEXT
• The Lumberjacks will have eight days before their next contest, next traveling to Miami, Fla., for a road date with Florida International. The Golden Panthers upset SFA in Nacogdoches last season, 58-56, in the finale of the ETech Lumberjack Classic at William R. Johnson Coliseum in the first ever meeting between the programs.

QUICK HITS
• The Lumberjacks will be looking to extend their streak of 33 consecutive games of holding an opponent under 70 points. SFA went all of 2011-12 without allowing 70 points to an opponent.
• SFA is 8-4 in season-opening games under Danny Kaspar.
• The ‘Jacks have compiled a 13-13 record in season openers as a D-I program (since 1986-87)
• Under Kaspar, the ‘Jacks are 7-0 when opening the season at home and 12-6 in home season         openers overall as a Division I program.
• SFA has won its last 13 home openers, last losing to Texas A&M to open the 1998-99 season.
• SFA is 37-0 vs non-Division I programs in the Danny Kaspar era.
• Stephen F. Austin and Wisconsin are the only two programs in the nation to be ranked in the top 10 nationally in scoring defense each of the last five seasons.

Last Meeting
Stephen F. Austin put up more points in the 2010-11 season opener than any Lumberjack team had scored in 14 years, as SFA rolled to a 114-49 win over Howard Payne in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. Jereal Scott led five players in double figures with a career-high 27 as SFA cruised to its largest margin of victory since the 1996-97 season. The Lumberjacks (1-0) shot 49 percent for the game and outscored the Yellow Jackets, 46-12, in the paint. SFA held Howard Payne (0-1) to 27 percent shooting and won the rebounding battle, 63-34.  

Series Notes
The Lumberjacks are 47-30 all-time vs Howard Payne and have won the last seven meetings vs the Yellow Jackets dating back to 1983-84 with the last HPU win coming in the 1982-83 season when the teams were each members of the Lone Star Conference. SFA has scored less than 80 points just once in each of their last seven wins.

SITTIN’ ON 20: The ‘Jacks have six 20-win campaigns since becoming a Division I program in 1988. All six of those 20-win seasons have come under Danny Kaspar.

SUB-SEVENTY: SFA has held each of its 32 opponents under 70 points in 2011-12, setting a new school record for the longest streak of sub-70 defensive performances to open up a season. In fact, SFA was the only team in the country to have not allowed 70 points in a game to a single opponent. The last team to score 70 on the ‘Jacks was Northwestern State, when they did so in a 70-65 win over SFA in 2010-11 in Natchitoches.

DEFENSE FIRST: The Lumberjacks finished third in the nation in scoring defense at 54.7 points per game allowed in 2011-12, a new school record. SFA has finished the year ranked among the top 10 in scoring defense in each of the last five seasons, including leading the nation in 2011 with 56.7 points per game and No. 2 rankings in both 2008 and 2009.

CHAIRMEN OF THE BOARDS: SFA did not have a single player in the Southland Conference top 10 in rebounding in 2011-12, with Taylor Smith’s 6.2 rebounds per game leading the team, but as a team no group was been better in the SLC on the boards than the ‘Jacks. SFA was tops in the SLC with a +7.4 rebound margin, a mark that also ranked seventh in the country. They pulled down over 75 percent of all defensive rebound opportunities and of SFA’s 32 opponents last year, only three managed to pull down more rebounds than the ‘Jacks, including just one game in SLC play.

PRESEASONS ALL-CONFERENCE ‘JACKS: The Southland Conference released its preseason all-conference teams just weeks before the opening of the season with a pair of Lumberjacks selected to the first team. Senior Antonio Bostic was the only automatic selection to the first team as the only returning first team all-conference choice from 2011-12, while senior forward Taylor Smith also made an appearance on the preseason first team. Bostic averaged better than 11 points per game as a junior while logging nearly 35 minutes per game, while Smith averaged better than nine points and six rebounds in just 19 minutes per night playing behind former all-SLC first team center Jereal Scott.

SEASON OPENERS: SFA is 8-4 in season-opening games under head coach Danny Kaspar. The Lumberjacks have compiled a 13-13 record in season openers as a Division I program (since 1986-87 season). Under Kaspar, the Lumberjacks are 7-0 when opening the season at home and 12-6 in home season openers overall as a Division I program. SFA is 1-4 under Kaspar when opening on the road and is just 1-7, in all, as a Division I program when playing the season opener on the road. The Lumberjacks’ only season-opening road win in the last 23 seasons was an 82-72 verdict at Tulsa to start the 2005-06 campaign.

BLOCK PARTY: Taylor Smith’s 42 blocks in 2011-12 ranks him third in a single season at SFA in the Division I era. Emmanuel Jackson holds the single-season record with 61 set in 1999-00.

HOME DEFENSE: SFA is known for its defensive prowess, but it is even moreso evident when playing at William R. Johnson Coliseum. SFA has held its opponents to 50 points or fewer in 14 of 31 games at home in the last two seasons, and allowed just 51.6 points per game at home in 2010-11 and 53.1 points per game in 2011-12.

HALF WAY THERE: The ‘Jacks were not at their best when playing from behind in 2011-12, but were exceptional when playing from out in front. That was most evident by the fact that the ‘Jacks went 19-1 a year ago when taking a lead into the half. Conversely, SFA was 1-11. The only loss in that stretch came on Feb. 15, 2012 when it squandered a 13-point halftime lead to to eventual league champion UT Arlington.

SAFE AT HOME: In 11-plus seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar, the Lumberjacks have compiled a 136-35 (.794) record in the William R. Johnson Coliseum. SFA is 332-126 (.724) all-time in the Coliseum. SFA has recorded seven straight seasons and nine campaigns in last 10 years with double-digit wins at home.

45-MINUTE MAN: Senior guard Antonio Bostic played all 45 minutes in a pair of overtime games last season for SFA, marking the most minutes played by any Lumberjack since Josh Alexander played all 55 minutes in a 112-111 SFA win over North Dakota State in triple OT in the 2008-09 season at the Drake Hy-Vee Classic. He played at least 40 minutes in eight of the final 12 games of last season and finished third in the league in minutes per game with 34.2.

BOUNCING BACK: SFA is 14-6 over the last two seasons in games following a loss. Over the last five seasons, the ’Jacks are 25-0 in home games following defeats. The last time SFA dropped two straight games with the second loss coming at home was the 2006-07 season, when the ’Jacks fell at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, then lost at home to UTSA in the regular-season finale.

LOW-BALLED: SFA held Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to 46 points in an Islander win over in 2011 that tied for the fewest points by a Lumberjack opponent in an SFA loss over the last 12 seasons. In 12 years under Danny Kaspar, the ’Jacks have held the opposition below 50 points 58 times and lost only five times.

CLAMPING DOWN: SFA held Southeastern Louisiana to just 36 points last season in its win over the Lions, the first time since 2008 that SFA had held a Southland opponent under the 40-point plateau. It was the lowest point total by a Southland opponent for the `Jacks in the Danny Kaspar era, and the eighth time since 2007-08 the ‘Jacks have kept an opponent under 40 points.

SOUTHLAND OPENERS: In Danny Kaspar’s 12 seasons at SFA, the ‘Jacks are 6-6 in Southland Conference openers. Before last season’s conference-opening win at Texas State, the ’Jacks had dropped three of their last four league-opening games and had lost five straight times when opening Southland play on the road. SFA is 3-5 under Kaspar in Southland openers away from home.

HOME NON-CONFERENCE: SFA has won 32 of its last 34 home, non-conference games, dating to the 2006-07 season. Each of those two losses have been by two points apiece, coming to Florida International in 2011-12 and Texas Tech in 2009-10. The Lumberjacks now 61-5, overall, in home, non-conference games in 12 seasons under head coach Danny Kaspar.

KASPAR KOUNTER: Danny Kaspar picked up his 200th win at SFA in last year’s season opener vs Centenary and enters this season third all-time at SFA in head coaching wins with 219, trailing only Marshall Brown (345) and Bob Shelton (245). Kaspar also enters this season with 419 career wins between his time at SFA and Incarnate Word, second among active Southland Conference to Northwestern State’s Mike McConathy’s 538 wins, 352 of which came at the junior college ranks.

BELOW FIFTY: SFA held 10 opponents below 50 points each of the last two seasons. In 12 seasons under Danny Kaspar the Lumberjacks have held an opponent to 50 points or fewer on 56 occasions, losing just five of those games.

SOUTHLAND SUCCESS: SFA is 7-4 in its last four Southland Tournament appearances. The ’Jacks have been in the championship game in two of those years, winning it in 2009 and falling in 2010.

AGAINST THE BIG XII: SFA is 2-11 against teams from the Big XII in 12 years under head coach Danny Kaspar. The Lumberjacks knocked off Baylor, 79-57, in Waco during the 2003-04 season and defeated Oklahoma, 66-62, on the road in 2007-08. This year the ‘Jacks play just one Big XII opponent, making their first trip to Norman since their upset of the Sooners in 2007.
 
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