Kats Ready To Open Season Against LeTourneau
11/11/2016 5:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Game 1
Saturday, Nov. 12 • Huntsville, Texas • 2 p.m. • Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum (6,100)
Sam Houston State (0-0) vs LeTourneau (0-0)
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HUNTSVILLE, Texas – Sam Houston State will kick off the 2016-17 season on Saturday when it hosts LeTourneau in the season opener at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum.
Head coach Jason Hooten's squad won 18 games a year ago, making the Southland Conference Tournament semifinals and into the CIT. This year the Kats enter the season as the favorites in the Southland Conference, returning their top seven scorers in addition to senior Paul Baxter who missed all of 2015-16.
THE SERIES
This will be the seventh all-time meeting between the Bearkats and Yellow Jackets with Sam Houston State having taken each of the previous six. It will be the second time Sam Houston State has opened up a season against LeTourneau, having won the 2009-10 season opener over the Yellow Jackets by a 73-42 margin. Sam has won its six previous meetings with Letourneau by an average of 38.5 points per game.
THE LAST MEETING
(Dec. 14, 2015) Sam Houston State 96, LeTourneau 54 - Box Score
Junior center Aurimas Majauskas posted a season best 23 points and 11 rebounds to lead Sam Houston to a 96-54 non-conference men's basketball victory over LeTourneau Tuesday night.
Four other Bearkats scored in double figures with Jovante' Spivey and Albert Almanza each scoring 15 points and Andre Sands added 10. The Sam men out-rebounded the Yellow Jackets 51-32 and out-scored LeTourneau 48-6 in the paint.
BEARKATS IN SEASON OPENERS
Sam Houston is 56-35 all-time in season openers, including 4-2 under head coach Jason Hooten. The Kats have won all six of its home openers under Hooten and 18 in a row dating back to the 1997-98 season.
BRINGING BACK THE BULK
Hooten's squad will boast one of the most experienced rosters in the country in 2016-17, returning all five of its starters and each of its top seven scorers. In fact, the Kats return 85.6 percent of its scoring from last year's 18-win team, an average of 64.2 points per game on the roster from a year ago.
SOUTHLAND FAVORITES
When the annual preseason polls came out from the Southland Conference, it was the Bearkats picked to claim the league crown by both the Southland SIDs and coaches. The Kats received six of 13 first-place votes in the coaches' poll and seven in the SID poll, coming just ahead of four-time defending league champion Stephen F. Austin.
MAJAUSKAS, HENDERSON AND BAXTER NAMED PRESEASON ALL-SOUTHLAND
In addition to the Kats being named the preseason league favorite, seniors Aurimas Majauskas, Dakarai Henderson and Paul Baxter were each named to the preseason all-conference teams. Sam Houston was the only team in the league to boast multiple preseason choices. Majauskas was a first-team preseason selection after earning second team all-Southland honors as a junior, while Henderson and Baxter were both named to the preseason second team.
BAXTER'S BACK
Paul Baxter was a preseason all-Southland Conference selection going into 2015-16, but a foot injury just prior to the start of the year sidelined him for the duration of his true senior season. This year he returns to an already strong Bearkat roster having averaged 8.4 points and 2.9 assists for his career.
WHERE THEY RANKED
Efficiency was the name of the game for the Kats in 2015-16, starting on the defensive end. Sam Houston finished the season ranked third in the league in scoring defense (70.5 ppg) and was tops among all Southland teams in assist/turnover ratio (1.54). Both Majauskas and Henderson finished in the top 10 in the league in scoring (14.2 ppg).
