What We Learned: SFA shows heart, downs Southern Miss
But the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks needed a win like nothing else in the world - and they earned one on Friday night. Southern Miss may not be a good basketball team, but giving any DI opponent a 12-1 head start can create a real challenge.
What Kyle Keller's squad was able to do during their second-round match in the Diamond Head Classic was finally reap a positive outcome in the midst of the typical gritty, never-quit style of basketball they've played all season. Getting down big and making things interesting in the end is practically their trademark. It just hasn't been a winning formula until now.
SFA will face Utah in what could end up being a lopsided affair on Christmas Day. Let's not concern ourselves with that just yet. Here's what we learned on Friday:
Kenzie Keller is still our spirit animal -
If you remember back to the near disaster against DII Northeastern State earlier this fall, you may remember our spirit animal, the daughter of head coach Kyle Keller, celebrating (right here).
Paired with her cousin Ruby Davis in Hawaii for Christmas, Kenzie got some attention from TV cameras during the game on Friday. The two of them may have created our new favorite reaction GIF of the season:
Winchester is a DI basketball player -
Chase Winchester won a lot of hearts for his gutsy performance on Friday, coming off the bench without so much as a name on his jersey, and sparking the Lumberjacks' comeback efforts. His intensity and defensive brilliance was contagious and the young walk-on has earned real minutes going forward.
We shouldn't forget why he was in the game to begin with, though. Aaron Augustin continues to battle a hand injury and it has clearly limited him. After a rough outing against Tulsa, Augustin only played 7-minutes on Friday. He's a guy SFA needs a lot from if they're going to make a run at a 5th-straight Southland title. On Friday night, though, it was all about Chase.
Coach Keller said after the game that he didn't expect to get 20-minutes from Winchester but he desperately needed a spark. "God has mysterious things planned when others aren't ready," he told me. "He was ready when his name was called. His heart was golden."
Winchester may not have been recruited by DI colleges but he's been on big stages before. The DeSoto, Texas product started two years in high school and won a state championship. "He has swagger," as Keller put it.
Chase made the first field goal of the game after SFA opened to a mega scoring-drought. Augustin re-entered the game a few times once things were under control but Winchester was never on the bench for long. The "hot hand," Keller said. His three-pointer in the second half gave the Lumberjacks their biggest lead of the game and his pesky defense may have been the difference in the final score.
This wouldn't have been a win against most teams -
For some reason, shooting the ball, one thing SFA has done relatively well this season, has suddenly become a weakness in Hawaii. Save a few hot stretches, for two-straight games in the Diamond Head Classic, SFA has not been able to score from the floor.
Against most competent programs, last night was an L. Basketball teams just don't come back from the start these Lumberjacks had - and the fact that they were only down by 8-points at the half is nearly as much a testament to the ineptitude of Southern Miss as it is to the defense of SFA.
This was the biggest win of the season. Only the second against DI competition. I don't want to take away from that. Let's just keep in mind that it wasn't a whole lot different than the early-season games against Northeastern and Longwood - both teams SFA should have easily beaten, both games that took courageous conclusions to do it.
This adjustment won the game -
SFA can't shoot in the Stan Sheriff Center. That's established.
A dismal 24% from the floor at the break, SFA made a big change: they stopped shooting to score and started driving for fouls. Not only did Southern Miss finish the game with three of their best players out of the game, the Lumberjacks got to the free-throw line a remarkable 33-times.
That was the difference in this game and the only way a team out-shot 48% to 35% is able to walk out with a victory.
Well, that and winning the turnover margin - another big accomplishment for this SFA team that feels almost big enough to earn its own section in this article.
Getting to the line only works if players make free-throws. For most of the night, the Lumberjacks were pretty good from the line. Holyfield missed a few late, uncharacteristically, that could've put this game away before the barrage of missed three-pointers in the final minute from the Golden Eagles. Still, SFA finished 70% from the line which remains a respectable average.
On nights when the Lumberjacks cannot score traditionally, at least we know they are capable of doing it the hard way.
Try not to get the feels when you watch this -
SFA assistant coach Jeremy Cox spent the past couple years in Hattiesburg on the staff of Doc Sadler. On Friday night, he faced his former team for the first time with his new one.
Those are always difficult games for coaches and players emotionally, even if they fake indifference. Watching the Lumberjacks' players rally around Coach Cox at the conclusion of the game gave us all warm-Christmas-y (or Hannuakah-y) feels.
