NACOGDOCHES, Texas _ Three teams have done something this season that the University of Central Arkansas Bears have never done, and that's win a basketball game at Stephen F. Austin's Johnson Coliseum.
Those three teams are Alabama from the Southeastern Conference, Louisiana Tech from Conference USA and Northwestern State, the current 11th-place team in the Southland Conference.
The Bears (10-11, 5-3) will get a chance to break their winless streak at Johnson Coliseum at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday night when they take on the Lumberjacks in Southland Conference action. UCA, coming off a loss at Abilene Christian on Saturday that broke a four-game winning streak, has lost nine straight games on SFA's home court. In fact, the Bears are just 1-18 against the Lumberjacks all time since joining the SLC in 2006-07.
That victory came last year at the Farris Center in the first of three meetings, the final one being in the second round of the SLC Tournament. In the 100-92 victory in Conway, the Bears knocked down 16 three-pointers and shot 60.7 percent overall and scored 57 points in the second half to overcome a one-point halftime deficit. Senior guard Jordan Howard poured in 43 points _ one short of the school record _ and junior Thatch Unruh had a career-high 28, hitting 7 of 9 from three-point range.
The Lumberjacks responded by winning the second meeting at Johnson Coliseum 97-62 and taking the SLC tournament game 86-64. The Bears shot less than 40 percent from the field in both of those games and had a combined 34 turnovers.
The Lumberjacks, who have won four of the past six SLC regular-season championships and four of the past five SLC tournament titles, are just 10-8 overall and 3-3 in conference play this season. They were open Saturday after scoring eights points in the final 27 seconds to rally for a 61-60 win over Abilene Christian last Wednesday.
SFA was the preseason favorite, receiving 23 of the 25 first-place votes. However, sixth-pick Sam Houston State is leading the conference standings at 7-0, followed by fourth pick ACU at 6-2. UCA is tied for fourth place with New Orleans with a 5-3 league mark.
Both the Bears and Lumberjacks are in the Top 5 in the SLC in three-point percentage, with UCA shooting 35.5 percent (second) and SFA 34.5 percent (fifth). UCA sophomore guard DeAndre Jones is shooting 41.6 percent from three-point range, while SFA's Shannon Bogues is at 38.8 percent. Bogues leads the Lumberjacks in scoring at 17.3 points per game, good for second in the SLC. Jones tops the league in assists at 4.8 per game, while sophomore center Hayden Koval is first in blocked shots at 2.0 per game.
Koval is just one block short of tying the UCA career record of 148 held by Durrell Nevels since 2008. Unruh is sixth in career three-pointers, three short of fifth-place George Sitkowski (158).
The game will be carried on The Bear 91.3 with Justin Acri and also on ESPN+.
