Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball

Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball
Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball
	2024–25 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team
University	Stephen F. Austin State University
Head coach	Kyle Keller (9th season)
Conference	Southland
Location	Nacogdoches, Texas
Arena	William R. Johnson Coliseum ; (capacity: 7,203)
Nickname	Lumberjacks
Colors	Purple and white;
Uniforms
Home	Away ;
NCAA tournament round of 32
	1983†, 2014, 2016*
NCAA tournament appearances
	1983†, 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018*; † at Division II level;
Conference tournament champions
	Southland: 2009, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018*
Conference regular season champions
	Southland: 1987, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2020; WAC: 2022
	*Appearances vacated by NCAA

Last updated December 13, 2024

The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team is the men's basketball team that represents Stephen F. Austin State University (popularly abbreviated as SFA) in Nacogdoches, Texas, United States. (All SFA women's teams are known as Ladyjacks.)

History

In the 2013–2014 season the men's basketball team had its most successful year in more than 2 decades going 32–3 in the regular season and 18–0 in conference play. They won 29 games in a row including the conference semi-final and finals and the second round of the NCAA Tournament. SFA repeated the same feat in their 2015–2016 season by going 18–0 in conference and reaching the second round of the NCAA once again, but lost in a heartbreaker by Rex Pflueger's putback which gave Notre Dame a 76-75 win over the Lumberjacks.

On May 20, 2020, following the discovery of an administrative error in certifying eligibility for student-athletes, Stephen F. Austin reached an agreement with the NCAA to vacate hundreds of wins across multiple sports from 2013 to 2019, including all 117 men's basketball wins from the 2014–15 to 2018–19 seasons. As a result, three NCAA tournament appearances and three Southland conference titles were nullified.^[2]^[3]

SFA was one of four schools, all from Texas, that left the Southland Conference (SLC) on July 1, 2021 to join the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).^[4] SFA had previously played in the SLC since the 1987–88 season. SFA's affiliation with the WAC would only last three seasons, as it announced on May 29, 2024 that it would return to the SLC effective with the 2024–25 school year.^[5]

Postseason appearances

NCAA Division I

The Lumberjacks have appeared in five NCAA Tournaments. Their combined record is 2–5; however, as a result of their three vacated appearances, they have an "official" record of 1–2.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
2009	#14	Round of 64	#3 Syracuse	L 44–59
2014	#12	Round of 64 Round of 32	#5 VCU #4 UCLA	W 77–75^OT L 60–77
2015	#12	Round of 64	#5 Utah	L 50–57
2016	#14	Round of 64 Round of 32	#3 West Virginia #6 Notre Dame	W 70–56 L 75–76
2018	#14	Round of 64	#3 Texas Tech	L 60–70

NCAA Division II

During their time in NCAA Division II, the Lumberjacks appeared in the tournament once. Their combined record was 1–1.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1983	Round of 32 Regional Third Place	Central Missouri State Tennessee–Martin	L 57–66 W 83–70

NIT results

The Lumberjacks have appeared in three National Invitation Tournaments (NIT). Their combined record is 1–3.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
1987	First Round Second Round	James Madison Arkansas–Little Rock	W 70–63 L 48–54
2008	First Round	Massachusetts	L 60–80
2013	First Round	Stanford	L 57–58

CBI results

The Lumberjacks have appeared in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI) once. Their record is 0–1.

Year	Seed	Round	Opponent	Result
2022	#4	First Round	#13 UNC Asheville	L 68-80

CIT results

The Lumberjacks have appeared in one CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament (CIT). Their record is 0–1.

Year	Round	Opponent	Result
2017	First Round	Idaho	L 50–73

Lumberjacks in the NBA

3 former Stephen F. Austin players have played at least one game in the NBA.

Name	Draft Year	Draft Team
Kevon Harris	2022	Undrafted
George Johnson	1970	Baltimore Bullets
James Silas	1972	Houston Rockets

Related Research Articles

The Southland Conference, abbreviated as SLC, is a collegiate athletic conference which operates in the South Central United States. It participates in the NCAA's Division I for all sports; for football, it participates in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS). The Southland sponsors 18 sports, 10 for women and eight for men, and is governed by a presidential Board of Directors and an Advisory Council of athletic and academic administrators. Chris Grant became the Southland's seventh commissioner on April 5, 2022. From 1996 to 2002, for football only, the Southland Conference was known as the Southland Football League.

Stephen F. Austin State University is a public university in Nacogdoches, Texas. It was founded as a teachers' college in 1923 and subsequently renamed after one of Texas's founding fathers, Stephen F. Austin. Its campus resides on part of the homestead of Thomas Jefferson Rusk. On May 11, 2023, the university joined the University of Texas System; it was previously one of two public universities in the state not affiliated with one of Texas's seven university systems.

The Sam Houston Bearkats are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Sam Houston State University, located in Huntsville, Texas. Sam Houston's colors are orange and white. Sam Houston sports teams participate in NCAA Division I in Conference USA (CUSA), having joined that conference on July 1, 2023 after spending 34 years in the Southland Conference and two years in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). SHSU's primary rival is Stephen F. Austin (SFA) and tensions between the two schools can run high before major sporting events that pit one against the other.

The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks and Ladyjacks are composed of 16 teams representing Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in intercollegiate athletics. Stephen F. Austin teams participate in Division I as a member of the Southland Conference (SLC), having rejoined that conference on July 1, 2024 after three years in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC). The football team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision for football in the SLC. The only SFA sport not sponsored by the SLC is women's bowling, which competes in Conference USA (CUSA).

The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football program is the intercollegiate American football team for Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) located in the U.S. state of Texas. The team competes in the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) as members of the Southland Conference, which SFA rejoins for the 2024 season after a three-year absence. SFA had played the 2023 season in the United Athletic Conference (UAC), newly formed for the 2023 season as a merger of the football leagues of SFA's previous home of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) and the Atlantic Sun Conference (ASUN). It replaced an alliance between the two conferences that operated in the 2021 and 2022 seasons.

The Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks basketball team is the women's basketball team that represents Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in Nacogdoches, Texas. SFA rejoined the Southland Conference on July 1, 2024 after playing the previous 3 seasons in the WAC.

Bradley Cole Underwood is the current head coach for the Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball team. Previously, he served as head coach at Oklahoma State, Stephen F. Austin, Dodge City Community College, and Daytona Beach Community College and assistant coach at Western Illinois, Kansas State, and South Carolina.

The 2014–15 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team represented Stephen F. Austin University during the 2014–15 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lumberjacks were led by head coach Brad Underwood and played their home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum. They were members of the Southland Conference.

Thomas Ryan Walkup is an American-born naturalized Greek professional basketball player for Olympiacos of the Greek Basketball League (GBL) and the EuroLeague. He also represents the Greek national team in international competition. Widely considered one of the premier defensive players in European basketball, he was named the EuroLeague Best Defender in 2024.

The 2015–16 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team represented Stephen F. Austin State University during the 2015–16 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lumberjacks were led by head coach Brad Underwood and played their home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum. They were members of the Southland Conference. The Lumberjacks finished the season with a record of 28–6, 18–0 in Southland play to win the regular season championship. They won the Southland tournament championship to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. As a #14 seed, they upset #8 ranked West Virginia in the first round before losing in the final seconds to Notre Dame in the second round.

The UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros women's basketball team is the intercollegiate women's basketball program representing the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV). The school competes in the Southland Conference (SLC), part of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), since the 2024–25 season. The Vaqueros play home basketball games at the UTRGV Fieldhouse on the university campus in Edinburg, Texas.

The 2016–17 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team represented Stephen F. Austin State University during the 2016–17 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lumberjacks were led by first-year head coach Kyle Keller and played their home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum as members of the Southland Conference. They finished the season 18–18, 12–6 in Southland play to finish in a three-way tie for second place. They defeated Lamar in the quarterfinals of the Southland tournament to advance to the Semifinals where they lost to Texas A&M–Corpus Christi. They were invited to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament where they lost in the first round to Idaho.

Kyle Edward Keller is an American basketball coach, currently the head coach for the Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks men's basketball team. Previously, he served as an assistant coach at Texas A&M, Kansas, Oklahoma State, UTSA, Louisiana Tech and head coach at Tyler Junior College.

The 2017–18 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team represented Stephen F. Austin State University during the 2017–18 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lumberjacks were led by second-year head coach Kyle Keller and played their home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas as members of the Southland Conference. They finished the season 28–7, 14–4 in Southland play, to finish in third place. They defeated Central Arkansas, Nicholls State, and Southeastern Louisiana to become champions of the Southland tournament. They received the Southland's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they lost in the first round to Texas Tech.

The 2018–19 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team represented Stephen F. Austin State University during the 2018–19 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lumberjacks were led by third-year head coach Kyle Keller and played their home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas as members of the Southland Conference. They finished the season 14–16 overall, 7–11 in Southland play to finish in a tie for ninth place. Since only the top eight teams are eligible to play in the Southland tournament, the Lumberjacks failed to qualify this season.

The 2020–21 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team represented Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) during the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lumberjacks, led by fifth-year head coach Kyle Keller, played home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas. This season was the Lumberjacks' last as members of the Southland Conference; SFA is one of four schools, all from Texas, that will leave the Southland in July 2021 to join the Western Athletic Conference.

The 2021–22 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team represented Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) during the 2021–22 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lumberjacks, led by sixth-year head coach Kyle Keller, played their home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas. This season was the Lumberjacks' first as members of the Western Athletic Conference; SFA was one of four schools, all from Texas, that left the Southland Conference in July 2021 joining the WAC.

The 2024 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks football team represented Stephen F. Austin State University as a member of the Southland Conference (SLC) during the 2024 NCAA Division I FCS football season. The Lumberjacks were coached by sixth-year head coach Colby Carthel and played at Homer Bryce Stadium in Nacogdoches, Texas.

The 2023–24 Stephen F. Austin Ladyjacks basketball team represented Stephen F. Austin State University during the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season. The Ladyjacks, who were led by first-year head coach Leonard Bishop, played their home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas as members of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC).

The 2024–25 Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball team represents Stephen F. Austin State University during the 2024–25 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Lumberjacks, led by ninth-year head coach Kyle Keller, play their home games at the William R. Johnson Coliseum in Nacogdoches, Texas as members of the Southland Conference.

References

↑ SFA Official University Identity Standards Manual (PDF). June 17, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
↑ "NCAA Negotiated Resolution Agreement: What It Means for SFA". SFAJacks.com. Stephen F. Austin State University. May 20, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
↑ Rieken, Kristie (May 20, 2020). "Stephen F. Austin Gets Postseason Bans; Agrees To Sanctions". Associated Press. Retrieved June 5, 2020.
↑ "WAC Announces Expedited Entrance for Four Texas Institutions" (Press release). Western Athletic Conference. January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.
↑ "SFA Athletics Accepts Invitation to Join Southland Conference in 2024-25" (Press release). Southland Conference. May 29, 2024. Retrieved May 29, 2024.

External links

Official website

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[1] SFA Official University Identity Standards Manual (PDF). June 17, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2020.

[2] "NCAA Negotiated Resolution Agreement: What It Means for SFA". SFAJacks.com. Stephen F. Austin State University. May 20, 2020. Retrieved June 5, 2020.

[3] Rieken, Kristie (May 20, 2020). "Stephen F. Austin Gets Postseason Bans; Agrees To Sanctions". Associated Press. Retrieved June 5, 2020.

[4] "WAC Announces Expedited Entrance for Four Texas Institutions" (Press release). Western Athletic Conference. January 21, 2021. Retrieved January 25, 2021.

[5] "SFA Athletics Accepts Invitation to Join Southland Conference in 2024-25" (Press release). Southland Conference. May 29, 2024. Retrieved May 29, 2024.

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v t e Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks basketball
Venues	Shelton Gymnasium (1951–1974) William R. Johnson Coliseum (1974–present)
People	Head coaches Statistical leaders
Seasons	List of seasons 1925–26 1926–27 1927–28 1928–29 1929–30 1930–31 1931–32 1932–33 1933–34 1934–35 1935–36 1936–37 1937–38 1938–39 1939–40 1940–41 1941–42 1942–43 1943–44 1944–45 1945–46 1946–47 1947–48 1948–49 1949–50 1950–51 1951–52 1952–53 1953–54 1954–55 1955–56 1956–57 1957–58 1958–59 1959–60 1960–61 1961–62 1962–63 1963–64 1964–65 1965–66 1966–67 1967–68 1968–69 1969–70 1970–71 1971–72 1972–73 1973–74 1974–75 1975–76 1976–77 1977–78 1978–79 1979–80 1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24 2024–25

v t e Southland Conference men's basketball
Teams	East Texas A&M Lions Houston Christian Huskies Incarnate Word Cardinals Lamar Cardinals McNeese Cowboys New Orleans Privateers Nicholls Colonels Northwestern State Demons Southeastern Louisiana Lions Stephen F. Austin Lumberjacks Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Islanders UT Rio Grande Valley Vaqueros
Championships & awards	Southland Conference men's basketball tournament Player of the Year
Seasons	1980–81 1981–82 1982–83 1983–84 1984–85 1985–86 1986–87 1987–88 1988–89 1989–90 1990–91 1991–92 1992–93 1993–94 1994–95 1995–96 1996–97 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 2006–07 2007–08 2008–09 2009–10 2010–11 2011–12 2012–13 2013–14 2014–15 2015–16 2016–17 2017–18 2018–19 2019–20 2020–21 2021–22 2022–23 2023–24