Kats To Meet Georgia Tech On Tuesday
11/21/2016 6:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Game 5
Tuesday, Nov. 22 • Atlanta, Ga. • 6:30 p.m. CT • McCamish Pavilion (8,500)
Sam Houston State (3-1) at Georgia Tech (2-1)
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ATLANTA, Ga. – The Sam Houston State Bearkats will go after their third straight win and will try to pick up a signature non-conference victory on Tuesday night when they battle Georgia Tech at McCamish Pavilion.
The game can be viewed on ACC Network Extra or the Watch ESPN app. Fans can also
THE SERIES
The Kats will face another first-time opponent on Tuesday when they face the Yellow Jackets. In fact, this will be the first time Sam Houston has ever squared off against a team from the state of Georgia in basketball. The Bearkats are 0-5 all-time against current ACC members.
THE LAST TIME OUT
Dakarai Henderson matched a career high with five 3-pointers while Christopher Galbreath Jr. added a double-double as Sam Houston jumped out to a 21-point first half lead, holding on for a 78-71 victory on Sunday afternoon at Tennessee Tech.
Henderson added a team-high 17 points, one off a season high, finishing 6-for-14 from the field and 5-for-8 from behind the arc in the win. Galbreath added 10 points, also one off a season best while bringing in a season-high 11 rebounds in the Kats first road win.
Sophomore John Dewey III dished out a career-best seven assists alongside nine points. Four Bearkats finished in double figures as Albert Almanza totaled 12 points including 5 for 7 from the field and Paul Baxter added 12 points including an 8 for 12 performance at the free throw line.
BEARKAT GENERATION OF MILLENIALS
Senior Dakarai Henderson hit a pair of threes and got 10 of his 14 points in the first half against Southern, but it was his two foul shots with 7:05 to play in the second half that got him to the 1,000-point milestone for his career. The senior is just the 23rd player in Bearkat history to reach the plateau and is 20 points from passing Bell Mehrens for 22nd on the all-time scoring list. His five three-pointers against Tennessee Tech also moved him just one triple shy of fourth all-time at Sam Houston with 183 for his career. He is just 22 shy of setting a Bearkat career record.
Hendreson is likely to not be the last this season. Currently teammates Aurimas Majauskas and Paul Baxter are nearing the mark as well. Majauskas enters Sunday's game vs Tennessee Tech with 909 career points while Baxter is at 891.
THE BUTLER DID IT
Torry Butler has been a bright spot in the first five games of the year for Sam Houston State, and goes into Tuesday having already picked up two double-doubles for the year and gone for double-digit rebounds three times. That already has him halfway to his double-double total from last year when he led the Kats in rebounding in 15 of 32 games as a junior.
REACHING THE CENTURY MARK
The 104 points scored by the Bearkats against LeTourneau was the ninth time Sam Houston has cracked the century mark under head coach Jason Hooten. Sam Houston did it twice last season and has had at least two 100-point outings each of the last three years entering 2016-17.
BRINGING BACK THE BULK
Hooten's squad boasts 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 are returning 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.
