Road to Katy begins Saturday afternoon
12/31/2015 11:07:00 AM | Men's Basketball
The road to Katy for the 2016 Southland Conference Tournament at the Merrell Center March 9-13 begins this Saturday, January 2, with a slate of five men's and women's basketball doubleheaders.
Sam Houston opens 29th season of competition in the NCAA Division I league in San Antonio with a 2 p.m. women's contest and a 4:30 p.m. men's game versus Incarnate Word.
Other Southland doubleheaders Saturday see Houston Baptist travel to Northwestern State, Lamar play at Nicholls, Abilene Christian take on Central Arkansas in Conway and McNeese State travel to Stephen F. Austin.
“Whatever happened in November and December, the slate is wiped clean,” Sam Houston men's head coach Jason Hooten said. “It doesn't matter if you went 10-1 in non-conference play or 1-10, everybody is starting out at 0-0. Non-conference and conference definitely are two different seasons. You have to be ready to play each time out.”
The prize at stake the next two months are a berth in the post-season tournament in Katy. The top eight teams with the highest winning percentage during conference action will earn berths in the tournament. The winner at the Merrell Center represents the Southland in the 2016 NCAA Championships.
Stephen F. Austin was voted as the preseason favorite in the Southland men's head coaches' poll. The Lumberjacks are coming off an impressive 29-5 record that included a 17-1 mark in conference play.
However, in pre-conference action in November and December, the team with the most impressive record has been the coaches' third place pick, A&M-Corpus Christi.
The Islanders have rolled up a 9-3 record that includes victories over Furman, Cal Poly, Texas State, UTSA and Austin Peay. Lamar (8-4) and SFA (7-5) own the second and third best marks in pre-conference action. The Cardinals have posted road wins at Delaware State and Liberty and defeated Idaho State in Beaumont. The Jacks own road victories over Western Michigan and Appalachian State.
Sam Houston's opponent Saturday, Incarnate Word earned the Southland Conference attention with a 73-51 victory at St. John's and defeated Rice 82-76 in Houston earlier this week.
Top scorers in the Southland so far this season include Zeek Woodley of Northwestern State (23.3 points per game), Rashawn Thomas of A&M-Corpus Christi (17.6), Ja'Dante Frye from Nicholls (17.2) and Jontrell Walker from Incarnate Word (15.9).
Picked fourth in the coaches' preseason poll, the Sam Houston men suffered two early setbacks with injuries to both Bearkat point guards Paul Baxter (foot) and Kaheem Jackson (knee). Baxter was the lone returning starter from last year's 26-9 team that finished as the league's runner-up and reached the finals in Katy for the second year in a row. Jackson is a transfer from Dodge City Community College with impressive credentials.
Road trips to face top teams like SMU, California, UC-Irvine and UTEP have been a challenge for the Kats as well.
“It's been a struggle, but the players have been working hard and playing with a lot of intensity,” Hooten said. “We've seen improvement throughout non-conference play. The tough schedule certainly has helped get us read for what we will face in the Southland.”
Sam Houston women's head coach Brenda Welch-Nichols believes her squad's experience gained in non-conference tilts with big name opponents such as the undefeated and No. 5 ranked Texas Longhorns and 10-1 Kansas State will help the Bearkat women as they begin Southland action.
“That's what pre-conference play is all about – getting your team ready for the Southland,” Welch-Nichols said. “There's a lot to like about our team this year. We have two all-conference players in Shernise Robertson and Angela Beadle and we've surrounded them with a good supporting cast.”
Lamar, Northwestern State and Stephen F. Austin were picked first, second and third in the Southland women head coaches' preseason poll. Sam Houston was predicted to finish 10th by the coaches.
Central Arkansas, the seventh place pick of the head coaches, has produced the league's best women's non-conference record with a 10-1 mark in November and December. The Bears' only loss is to Tennessee. The UCA women's NCAA Division I wins include Murray State, Alcorn State and Southeast Missouri.
McNeese State, tabbed to finish fourth in the preseason rankings, owns an 8-4 record that includes wins over Rice, Dartmouth, Texas-Arlington, Louisiana-Monroe and Louisiana Tech. Preseason favorite Lamar brings a 4-7 record into league play. The Cardinals have played a tough schedule that includes losses at Oklahoma State, Utah and Missouri.
Sam Houston enters Southland action with a 4-6 record. The Bearkats picked up a couple of big road wins with a 63-56 victory at LIU-Brooklyn and a 53-51 win at Texas Southern on a buzzer-beater by Robertson.
The Southland's leading scorer last year, Robertson currently ranks third in the league with a 16.2 average. Randi Brown of New Orleans leads the league with 17.6 points per game and Beatrice Attura of Northwestern State averaged 16.3 points. Beadle, the Bearkats' starting center, ranks 20th in scoring (11.5 points) and fourth in rebounding (8.0) in the Southland.
“With better depth both on the perimeter and inside under the boards, we've taken some pressure off of both Shernise and Angela,” Welch-Nichols said. “We're looking forward to getting conference play off to a good start.”
Following Saturday's games in San Antonio, both the Bearkat men and women head to Natchitoches, La., for Monday night doubleheader against Northwestern State.
Sam Houston's first Southland home game at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum features the Bearkat women against Southeastern Louisiana Thursday (January 7) at 6:30 p.m. Both the men and women will battle New Orleans in an afternoon doubleheader on Saturday (January 9). The Sam men take on the SLU Lions on Monday (January 11) at 6:30 p.m.
Tickets for Sam Houston men's and women's home games at Johnson Coliseum are on sale now online at www.gobearkats.com .
