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ISLANDERS (12-11, 7-4) VS.
STEPHEN F. AUSTIN (20-3, 10-0)
Saturday, Feb. 14 • 3:30 p.m.
AMERICAN BANK CENTER • CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS
TICKETS
LIVE: Stats | Video | Audio | Twitter
TV: ESPN3 (Lincoln Rose and Van Chancellor
RADIO: NEWSRADIO 1360 KKTX (Yannis Koutroupis)
GAME NOTES: Islanders
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THE OPENING TIP
The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team enters a stretch of five of its final seven games in the American Bank Center when it takes on Stephen F. Austin on Saturday. The game will be televised on ESPN3 (Lincoln Rose and Van Chancellor).
QUICK HITS
• Senior John Jordan scored 18 points at HBU to become the Islanders' all-time leading scorer with 1,410 points in his four years. He is just two steals away from matching Kevin Palmer for that record.
• A&M-Corpus Christi has held on to the ball very well recently, totaling 25 turnovers over the last three games. With six at Houston Baptist, it marked the second-fewest turns in a game in program history, behind only the five at Houston in 2012. John Jordan has 19 assists to five turns in the last three.
• Sophomore Rashawn Thomas has scored at least 18 points in four of the last five games. He has averaged 16.5 points over his last nine games, hitting 59 percent of his shots with all 59 of his field goals in the paint.
• The Islanders have overcome double-digit deficits twice in the last five games, as they trailed 41-31 to UIW and 26-16 to Southeastern Louisiana. The Islanders have faced double-digit deficits in all of their last five.
• Brandon Pye has shown no signs of rust after missing the final three non-conference games with an ankle injury. He is 23-for-48 (.479) from beyond the arc as he looks to lead the league in distance shooting for the second straight year.
• With a 7-4 Southland record, the Islanders have matched last season's 11-game start in league play. The 2013-14 Islanders won their final seven games en route to a 14-4 record.
• Freshman Joe Kilgore had a strong return to his hometown on Monday, going 4-for-4 from the field and registering a career-high eight points. The freshman played 25 minutes Monday after a total of 80 in his prior 13 contests.
• After struggling at the line the several games prior, the Islanders are 48-for-69 (.696) at the stripe in the last three games. Rashawn Thomas has led the way by hitting 20 of his 26 free throws (.769).
• Stephen F. Austin has held a significant edge in the all-time series against the Islanders, going 12-3, including wins in 12 of the last 13 matchups. At the American Bank Center, the Lumberjacks are 6-1 with six straight wins.
THIS YEAR'S RESULT
The Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team forced Stephen F. Austin into 18 turnovers, the second-highest this season, but the Lumberjacks (18-3, 8-0 Southland) used a late second-half push to post a 61-51 win on Saturday at Johnson Coliseum. Rashawn Thomas scored 18 points in the defeat for the Islanders (11-9, 6-2).
John Jordan posted 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and a career-high five steals as well for the Islanders, but no other player was able to score more than five, as SFA won its 31st consecutive conference game. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi won the battle of the boards, 30-28, on the strength of 17 offensive caroms.
Ty Charles and Jacob Parker led a balanced attack for the Lumberjacks, with 12 points apiece. SFA saw six other players score at least five points in the victory. The Islanders limited Thomas Walkup, who came in averaging 16.7 in conference action, to just six points.
THE ALL-TIME SERIES
The Islanders have struggled with Stephen F. Austin more than any other regular foe, with a 3-12 record against the Lumberjacks all-time. All the matchups have come during Southland Conference action.
A&M-Corpus Christi won both matchups with SFA in the championship year of 2006-07, but since that time Stephen F. Austin has won 12 of the last 13. The Lumberjacks eliminated the Islanders from the Southland Conference Tournament in both 2009 and 2010. The Islanders are 0-6 against the Lumberjacks in Willis Wilson's tenure, including an 0-3 mark in Corpus Christi. The Islanders are 1-6 all-time against SFA in Corpus Christi with six consecutive losses – a stunning statistic considering the Islanders are 85-50 all-time in the American Bank Center.
LAST TIME OUT
John Jordan scored 18 points to become the Islanders' all-time leading scorer, but a late second-half surge by Houston Baptist lifted it past the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball team, 77-66 at Sharp Gym.
Jordan passed Chris Daniels (2003-07) for the career scoring mark, giving him 1,410 points in his Islanders tenure. He also holds the school record for assists, free throws and minutes, and is two away from the school mark in steals.
Jordan and Rashawn Thomas each scored 18 and grabbed seven rebounds, while Jordan added six assists, two steals and a block. No other player finished in double figures for the Islanders, though Joe Kilgore had a strong game off the bench, going 4-for-4 from the field for eight points.
Anthony Odunsi led all scorers with 22 points, 12 of those at the free-throw line, while Colter Lasher added 16 and Josh Ibarra poured in 10. The Huskies shot 49 percent from the field and won the battle of the boards, 40-27.
ATOP THE BOOKS
Senior John Jordan has made a steady climb up the school record books this year, setting new school records in assists, minutes and free throws. But on Monday night, he set one more, becoming the school's all-time scoring leader.
Jordan, who began the season ninth on the career scoring list, pushed past Chris Daniels' 1,407 and now has 1,410 points in his career. He is just the third player to hold that position, as Michael Hicks was the scoring leader from his first game until Daniels broke his mark in 2008.
Jordan has also improved his defensive game this year. He had a career-high five steals at Stephen F. Austin, and he now has 161 in his career, behind only Kevin Palmer's 163 for the Islanders. He has an impressive 13 steals in the last five games and sits fourth in the Southland with a 2.1 average in league contests.
SOPHOMORE SENSATION
After a strong freshman campaign, sophomore Rashawn Thomas returns as one of the top big men in the Southland Conference. The Oklahoma City native was named Second Team Preseason All-Southland by the league's coaches headed into his second campaign on the Island.
The start of the season saw him post three double-doubles in his first 10 games, more than the two he logged as a freshman. But he has reached another level in the last 12 contests, with six double-doubles in that span.
His last few games have seen his rebounding average decline, mostly due to foul trouble. In four of the last eight games he has not topped seven boards, and has registered two first-half fouls in nine of the last 10 games.
Offensively, though, he has been on fire, averaging 16.4 per game in the last nine. He had a career-best 22 at Southeastern Louisiana, added 18 at SFA and posted 20 against Incarnate Word. He added 18 Monday at HBU, giving him four 18-point games in his last five.
The Oklahoma City native is among the league's elite. In league play, he is 10th with his 16.0 points per game and sits second with his 9.1 rebounds (behind McNeese's Desharick Guidry).
DON'T GIVE IT AWAY
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi has really stepped it up in terms of ball control recently. After 18 turnovers apiece against Southeastern Louisiana and Stephen F. Austin, the Islanders have turned the ball over just 25 times in the three games total since then.
In all three games, the team has turned it over 10 times or fewer, including just six turnovers against HBU. That total was one off the school record, set against Houston in 2012. The Islanders have turned the ball over 12.4 times per game in conference action, as opposed to 14.0 in non-conference play.
THE SILENT ASSASSIN
One of the most softspoken players on the Islanders roster is junior Brandon Pye. But Pye's game is anything but quiet. He was one of the top three-point shooters in the nation in 2013-14, knocking down 50 percent of his threes.
So far this season, he has been much more assertive on the offensive end, taking an average of 7.9 shots per game and 4.0 three pointers per contest. His mid-range game has grown significantly, as he has improved his ability to free himself with a head fake and knock down a 15-footer.
Despite the increase in assertiveness, he got off to a slow start from beyond the arc in non-conference play, hitting just 11-of-33 from downtown. Then, to compound things, he suffered an ankle injury prior to the Cal State Northridge contest that caused him to miss the next three games.
But the start of conference play has him back on a hot streak. In Southland action, he is 23-for-48 from downtown (.479) to currently sit third in the league. He hit 24-of-37 treys in conference action in 2013-14, as his .649 percentage led the league by a wide margin. He is 60-for-125 (.480) from downtown in his career in league action.
He kicked it into high gear against Lamar, going 5-for-8 from beyond the arc and 8-for-14 overall en route to a career-high 21 points. He drilled 2-of-3 at Nicholls from three-point land, including a clutch three with 1:10 left that helped the Islanders hold off the Colonels. Against Northwestern State, he nailed four of his first five on his way to a 5-for-8 performance.
This year, he has grown his defensive game significantly, and is a strong on-the-ball defender for A&M-Corpus Christi. That has resulted in an uptick in minutes for the junior, who played a career-best 42 minutes against UNO on Jan. 24. His 31.6 minutes are second behind only John Jordan on the team.
CURRIE THRIVES
It had been an up-and-down season for Jelani Currie heading into the Dec. 20 matchup at CSUN. He started the first nine games, posting 10 points in the opener and eight in the victory over St. Louis. But over the next six games, he fell into a slump, going 6-for-19 (.316) from the field and averaging just 3.3 points over that span. His struggles saw him removed from the starting lineup at CSUN.
He came off the bench in the Dec. 20 contest, but went 0-for-1 from the field in the first half. But the second half was a completely different story, as he hit all eight shots he attempted, including seven behind the three-point line. He also went 4-for-4 from the stripe for 27 points after the break.
It marked a career high for the junior, as he became the first player in school history to make every three pointer he took with more than four attempted. He finished one triple shy of the school record of eight, set by Josh Washington in 2007.
The Albany, N.Y., native has not seen that level of offensive success since, but he has made solid contributions as of late off the bench, scoring 37 points in the last seven games, an average of 5.3 per game. At SHSU he delivered nine points, five rebounds and two assists. He has played at least 20 minutes in seven of the last eight.
A JUST AWARD
An Islanders returner who did not see much time on the floor a year ago is sophomore Emmanuel Toney. The native of Bowie, Md., appeared in two games as a walk-on and was also a huge part of the scout team.
Heading into his sophomore campaign, the Islanders coaching staff elected to award Toney with a scholarship thanks to his hard work in the practice gym. He has proven to be much more than just a practice player, though, averaging 19.9 minutes per game this year.
He has started the last 14 games, and has been a key defensive presence. He is second on the team with 23 steals on the year. Five of those came at UCA, the most steals by an Islander since Jake Kocher had five against the Bears in last year's opener. He has posted two steals in two of the last three contests, and has six multi-steal games on the year.
He may have had his finest all-around game of the season at Sam Houston State. In addition to his usual defensive steadiness, he matched his career highs in two categories with eight points and six rebounds. He narrowly missed his first career game in double figures, as he had one of his layup attempts go halfway down before rattling out. He also added three assists to just one turnover, two steals and a 3-for-4 performance at the free-throw line.
DISTRIBUTION LINE
The Islanders play their best basketball when they get contributions from multiple people, especially in terms of balanced scoring. A&M-Corpus Christi saw four players finish in double figures 10 times last year, and in those games, the team went 8-2.
This year, the Islanders have performed that feat just five times, but are 5-0 in those occurrences. The fivesome of Brandon Pye, Rashawn Thomas, Bryce Douvier and John Jordan all finished in double figures twice this year. Jordan and Douvier have been a part of every quartet, while Thomas and Pye have each been in that group four times. Jelani Currie and Ehab Amin each were joined by three others in double figures once. All told, the team is 13-2 over the last two years.
NOT YOUR AVERAGE JOE
It has been a tough freshman season for Joe Kilgore, a native of Spring who has tremendous length, athleticism and upside. With an abundance of veteran wings on the team, playing time has been at a premium, and Kilgore entered Monday night's contest at Houston Baptist with just 80 minutes in the team's first 22 games.
But Coach Wilson called Kilgore's name early in the player's return to his hometown, subbing him in at the 14:31 mark of the first half. The lanky, 6-foot-4 player wasted no time in making the most of the opportunity, knocking down a mid-range jumper just 2:01 into his time on the court. He would add three more baskets, going 4-for-4 and matching his career high with eight points. He also had eight points, all in the second half, at Denver.
