Stephen F. Austin’s Thomas Walkup (0) and Clide Geffrard, Jr.
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On Friday night, it didn’t work.
Many believed Stephen F. Austin deserved a better seed when the seeding was announced and were upset that a team that had been playing so well at 28-5 were dealt a tough West Virginia squad in the first round, but the Lumberjacks flipped the script on the Mountaineers who are known for their tenacious full-court pressure defense.
The win runs the Lumberjacks’ winning streak, the nation’s longest, to 21 games.
The beard Walkup started growing in November is safe.
The Mountaineers (26-9) and Lumberjacks played physical, chest-to-chest defense, contesting not just every shot, but every pass. Neither team shot better than 31 percent from the field.
Walkup is a two-time Southland Conference player of the year, the AP said. He made 19, including two to make it 60-47 with 5:15 left in the second after West Virginia coach Bob Huggins’ griping to officials drew a technical. “He came right at us and never stopped”.
The Lumberjacks broke West Virginia’s vaunted press easily, committing only seven turnovers.
“We’re a smallish school, a mid-major school”.
“His intensity, the culture that he’s built at SFA, is incredible”, Walkup said. Their play showed how focused and prepared they were, and we just didn’t take it serious. They haven’t had that luxury. “We overlooked them, and they came out and got us”.
It’s hard to imagine anyone being more enticed now to take a trip to Nacogdoches, Texas and risk a non-conference loss, so all the Lumberjacks can do is accept where they are now and try to chop down some more of the NCAA’s tallest trees.
Though Walkup’s beard has gained quite a bit of fame this weekend, it’s really his game that should be the focal point. It helped them beat MI 70-63 on Friday night.
Commentators heading into the game noted that SFA and West Virginia were the top two teams in the country at forcing turnovers, but as you watch the little guys sprawl out onto the floor, you think, no way can this team hang. The Fighting Irish trailed by 12 points at halftime but caught fire in the second half, hitting almost every 3-pointer they took and wearing down a visibly exhausted MI club.
“I don’t know why anybody would waste energy pressing us”, Huggins said. “I asked them, can we shave it down to maybe 10 on Sunday and not throw it all over the place?”. This is the Lumberjacks’ third straight NCAA appearance and the second time they won a first-round game.
“We have to play with that passion without the puck”, Jackson said.
Wisconsin will play No. 2 seed Xavier or No. 15 seed Weber State on Sunday.
Coach Brad Underwood says Stephen F. Austin plays “position-less basketball” and Walkup is the focal point.
“I’m sure scouts looked at him and said, ‘Well, he’s a 6-4 white guy and he can’t shoot and he plays the plays the four”. The Mountaineers hoped to exploit Williams’ size in the paint against the undersized Lumberjacks but SFA’s double-teams and switches left him with few good looks.
Entering NCAA tournament second round action, Beachem is 16-28 (.571) from behind the three point line in Notre Dame’s last six games. Notre Dame is 3-4 in neutral site games and 10-3 in games outside of the ACC. “Notre Dame poses a lot of problems”. Totals 16-52 21-27 56. The Wolverines defeated Boston University in the semifinals and then on March 30, 1996, earned the title with a 3-2 (OT) win over Colorado College on Brendan Morrison’s game-winning goal at 3:35 of the extra frame. Fouled Out_Charles, Holton, Holyfield.
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The Irish’s 166th rating in defensive efficiency might cut it against most No. 14 seeds, but Stephen F. Austin is not that.
