What We Learned: SFA rides defense, Kevon Harris to win over NSU

Sometimes it is just absolutely, unquestionably, not your day. When the dust settled and Stephen F. Austin escaped Prather Coliseum with an eight-point victory on Saturday, an 0-16 mark on shots from behind the arc for the Lumberjacks made clear it was just that kind of afternoon.

Sometimes you just have to find other ways to win and, fortunately, SFA did.

Although winning in less than a convincing manner, head coach Kyle Keller's squad limited the home team to just 56 points and managed to grind out enough offense by working within the system to get point-blank shots for sophomore Kevon Harris.

At the end of the day, and with a wild afternoon across the Southland Conference, SFA sets up a big mid-week showdown for Wednesday when they host New Orleans. 

For now, though, here's what we learned in Natchitoches:

Don't overreact to the ugliness. The team, mostly, handled this one the right way -

It is only natural that some people are going to draw comparisons between this game and the opening loss at Southeastern Louisiana. Don't.

There was not an effort problem and that's probably why Keller was far less agitated with the flow of the game on Saturday. Shots just weren't falling, with good looks, and there isn't a lot you can do about it sometimes. 

Well, except play really good defense.

"I thought for the most part [the missed shots] were fantastic looks we got out of our offense," Keller told The Sawmill after the game. "When you shoot awful and just grind it out and win, it says a lot about the character of your team."

The Lumberjacks could not control what wouldn't go in. They absolutely could control the natural tendency to let offensive frustration manifest itself on the defensive end. Especially in the second half, when the frequent fouling was taken down a notch, they avoided that pitfall. For Keller, a defense-first coach, this likely felt like a game he had under control from start to finish.

SFA ranks fourth in the thirteen team league in three-point percentage, with a 36% clip. Those aren't elite numbers but they don't have to be to open up the interior where the real strength of this team is. 0-16 will probably never happen again. 

But it did. And they survived.

Playing well on defense without forcing turnovers is important too -

Ladyjacks head coach Mark Kellogg says frequently in evaluation of his team that his biggest concern right now is how his defense handles teams who don't turn the ball over. "It's easy to play defense when you're forcing them," he said last week. "When that's not happening, how good are we?"

That discussion has happened less on the men's side because for Keller's team there really hasn't been a "when that's not happening" all season. Ironically, it was the team with just one true point guard on the roster that found a way to hold on to the ball against SFA's pressure on Saturday. Northwestern State, totally to their credit, did a really good job minimizing the traps Keller's defense set. 

And, for the most part, SFA had to get it done conventionally. Forcing just 15 turnovers while committing 17, the Lumberjacks still held Northwestern State to their lowest point total in Prather Coliseum all year (and third lowest in a game overall). 

TJ Holyfield took on a role as a rim protector (more on this in a second) and the Demons made just 37% of their mostly contested shots. SFA creates their defensive energy off turnovers but the positive takeaway from Saturday is, when that doesn't happen, they can still make teams uncomfortable on the scoring end of the floor.

TJ Holyfield is playing like a real defensive big -

The lean forward from New Mexico has been a really nice offensive weapon for SFA since the final season under Brad Underwood. Holyfield has really developed as a defensive big too, despite being a bit undersized for that role. 

You can almost hear it in the voice of the Most Interesting Man in the World: "SFA doesn't always block shots, but when they do, it's TJ Holyfield."

The Lumberjacks aren't a great blocking team but Holyfield is a pretty good blocking player. Sometimes one person can really make a difference in that area. 

Against Northwestern State, Holyfield made certain the inside shots didn't come easy. The Demons' guards rarely contested Holyfield on drives, preferring to kick out the ball more often than not, but when they got desperate late in the game, it was, in a few cases, a thing of beauty:

Confidence in shooting matters. SFA needs to fix theirs before Wednesday -

SFA is not a bad shooting team. Really, they're not. When the ball wouldn't drop on Saturday, though, it almost became a self-fulfilling prophesy. The late attempts looked timid and you could just tell immediately they would be followed by a clunk.

This actually may be the best example of how SFA's shooting confidence abandoned them in Natchitoches. This is somewhat late in the game as Harris, who has been a phenomenal three-point shooter all season, gives up the wide open look and ends up driving into the teeth of the defense, turning over the ball:

To some extent, you give credit to the Demons for leaving that shot open and doubling Holyfield inside. SFA hadn't been converting those attempts all day and Mike McConathy knew it.

But at some point, you have to have enough confidence to try it anyway. Between now and Wednesday, let's just hope there are no shortage of confidence-inspiring shooting drills in practice.

NSU head coach Mike McConathy was entertaining as always in his postgame comments -

McConathy and Keller go way back - like, way, way back - and share one of the better relationships between coaches in the Southland. McConathy's insight on the game and his anecdote on the mid-game fist bump between coaches is definitely worth a few minutes of your time:

The Southland Conference is anyone's game right now, but SFA knows they have the best team. They'll get a chance to make a big statement their next time out but it was encouraging for Keller, and should be for fans, that so much went wrong on Saturday and the Lumberjacks still walked away with a road win.

Of course, had they played a better team, that may not have happened. Maybe it's a good thing they got this kind of shooting night out of their system against such a shorthanded Northwestern State.