5 Takeaways: SFA basketball survives DII scare

What. Was. That.

Just two teams in college basketball have a longer winning streak at home than Stephen F. Austin. On Friday night, the streak nearly ended to an 0-3 Division II team.

“This should be fun,” I texted one of our writers as I headed to the press conference. Head coach Kyle Keller didn’t disappoint.

“I told the guys on the bench, ‘y’all must hate me,” Keller told the gathered press as he sat down. “No seriously, I told them ‘they’re gonna fire me after my third game here.”

It was ugly. No, it was actually really ugly. But you know what? If this team finds a way to play into March, you know what we’ll remember about this game?

It was a win.

In the meantime, here are five other things we can take away from the come-from-behind victory over…yeah, that team:

1. Leon Gilmore needs to find his shot

He stole the show during the Midnight Madness dunk contest. He’s exciting, athletic, and for stretches, dominant.

But for some reason, Leon Gilmore has not been able to get the ball through the hoop. Save an impressive double-double at Kentucky in the official season opener, Gilmore followed his dismal 3-14 shooting night on Monday morning with a 3-8 performance on Friday that included a couple point-blank misses.

There’s little doubt in my mind that Gilmore has the ability to be an all-conference player in the Southland this first season at SFA. Whenever he finds his stroke, he could be a big part of what SFA does offensively. But as the Lumberjacks struggle to score early in the season, the sooner he finds it, the more likely this team will be to make real progress before conference play opens in January.

2. This brand of basketball is hard to watch sometimes

Blame the new “points of emphasis” in the rules. Blame incompetent or overly ambitious officiating. Blame a young team making a lot of mental errors. Whatever it is, these first few games have been really hard to watch unless you love long games and free-throw competitions. The whistles were out of control again on Friday night with SFA and Northeastern State combining for 60 fouls. Officiating was booed heavily, not always fairly, but often justifiably. SFA’s in-your-face defense that has been a part of Nacogdoches basketball since the days of Danny Kaspar will always cause frequent stoppages.

This season has taken it to another level so far though. Although, if we’re being honest, this major “and one” play in the closing seconds (definitely not a charge *wink*) maybe benefited from the same quality of officiating that we’re complaining about. You be the judge:

3. Early scoring woes are nothing new for SFA

SFA fans easily remember March the past few years. Wins against VCU and West Virginia have been hard to forget, as have rolling through conference competition like an actual bandwagon. A little vaguer might be a head-scratching loss to bad Tulane team last year. Remember that last-minute comeback at home against Texas Southern or the 42-point drubbing by Baylor?

All of those early games last year had something in common – long scoring droughts. Through four Division I games last season, the Lumberjacks shot just north of 35% from the floor. Five-minute periods without a field goal were actually starting to become a regular occurrence.

And then conference play came around and things clicked.

The scheme is different and so are the issues for this team – shooting hasn’t actually been that poor for this team, turnovers and wasted possessions have – I’m just saying give this team the same chance the last few got to turn around an early offensive slump.

4. SFA needs Ty Charles in a big way

I’ve heard a number of people make the comment that SFA has only 17% of their scoring from last season on the current roster. That’s true, sort of.

Ty Charles, who struggled with a shoulder injury before fracturing his hand in the season opener, accounts for a pretty big chunk of that 17% - and he’ll be healing on the bench for a bit.

Charles being gone is actually huge. TJ Holyfield, along with Dallas Cameron, the only other returner who saw any kind of meaningful minutes las year, has had to become a Mr. Everything through a few games. Shooters are streaky and TJ won’t always be there to bail this team out.

Ty Charles is sorely missed. We should all be hoping he can make it back by mid-December like the most optimistic reports seem to indicate is possible. Any longer could really hurt this team as they approach Southland play.

5. Kenzie Keller is our spirit animal

The crowd was fairly decent for a Friday night game against a DII opponent. They probably didn’t expect to be screaming their heads off in the final seconds, but I do credit the Lumberjack faithful for getting up and helping will the team back.

As SFA came back in the final minute and with Canete stepping to the line to put them ahead, this young lady behind the bench made her feelings quite clear:



Of course, that’s Kenzie, daughter of head coach Kyle Keller.

She’s making the adjustment from Aggie to Lumberjack pretty well, it would seem.