ARCATA — It's been said that home is where the heart is, but no cliches indicate if home is where the wins lie. If that speculation is added, Humboldt State's men's basketball team has proven it incorrect during it's recent road swing, defeating the home team three of four times. Now, it's up to the Jacks to support the theory when they come back to Lumberjack Arena for four consecutive home games, beginning with Thursday's 7:30 p.m. encounter with Cal State East Bay.
"We feel good about what we accomplished on the road, but we're really happy to be home," Head Coach
Steve Kinder said. "The students are back on campus and we expect a great college basketball atmosphere in Lumberjack Arena this week."
Entering the month of February the Lumberjack have achieved a 13-5 overall record, and stand at 9-5 in California Collegiate Athletic Association. They enter the week in a three-way tie for third place, trailing co-leaders Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State Dominguez Hills by one game.
Cal State East Bay currently sits in ninth place in league, sporting a 7-10 overall record and 5-8 league mark. Saturday's opponent, Cal State Monterey Bay, is 12th in the CCAA standings at 2-15 overall and 1-12 in conference.
On-the-Air
Every Lumberjack basketball game is broadcast live over the local airwaves on KATA, 1340 AM, beginning with the pregame show 15 minutes prior to game time. Bicoastal Media Sports Director J.B. Mathers describes the action from courtside.
LIve Streaming
Audio and video of home games are also streamed live over the Internet. The UStream format allows an interactive chat between listeners during the webcast. The specific URL for access is located at
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/humboldt-state-athletics.
Live Stats
All Lumberjack basketball home games can be tracked online by using the Live Stats feature on www.hsujacks.com. Real time statistics, momentum tracker and other information are included on the game viewer. The feature can be found at http://www.sidearmstats.com/humboldt/mbball/.
Head-to-Head
December's visit to Seaside produced another win for the Lumberjacks, giving them a 16-0 all-time record over Cal State Monterey Bay. The Dec. 2 game resulted in a 74-59 Lumberjack win. …Cal State East Bay dealt the Lumberjacks their first loss of the season on Dec. 3, scoring a 88-82 victory on the Pioneers' home court in Hayward. That setback dropped HSU to 33-47 in the all-time series against the school previously known as Cal State Hayward.
Head Coach Steve Kinder
The "Kinder Era" began last year with a 26-4 record and a regular season conference title, finishing Kinder's inaugural season of 2010-11 with high standards to match in the future. But the National Coach of the Year hasn't been resting on his laurels, instead attending to the myriad of duties from recruiting to planning another run to the title. After serving as the Jacks' No. 1 assistant for the 20 seasons, Kinder took over for his mentor, Tom Wood, in 2010-11. As an assistant, he played critical roles in recruiting and coaching while helping the Jacks' 217-77 record achieved during the past decade. Kinder is a former HSU basketball player who was a member of the 1984-85 NCAC championship team. He previously served as a graduate assistant coach for the Lumberjacks (1986-88).
Projected Starters - Humboldt State
G - #3, D.J. Broome, 5-5, Sr., Castro Valley
G - #2 Scott Clark, 6-4, Sr., Pleasanton
G - #4 Brandon Sperling, 6-3, Sr., Fresno
F - #21 Randy Hunter, 6-6, Sr., Santa Maria
F - #21 Kyle Baxter, 6-9, Sr., Sacramento
Projected Starters - CSU East Bay
G - #11, Mark Samuels, 6-0, Jr., Berkeley
G - #5, Roshun Wynne, 6-2, Sr., Oakland
G - #3, Jacari Whitfield, 5-7, Fr., San Francisco
F - #24, Vincent Capellino, 6-6, Jr., South Lake Tahoe
F - #44, Jurrell Turner, 6-5, Jr., Hayward
Projected Starters - Cal State Monterey Bay
G - #22, Geoff McIntosh, 6-5, Jr., Gig Harbor, Wash.
G - #3, Troy Watkins, 6-4, So., Riverside
G - #4, Brandon Ward, 6-0, Jr., Riverside
F - #2, Derrick Anderson, 6-7, Jr., Pittsburg
F - #40, Jaron Devine, 6-9, Jr., Pomona
Lumberjack Notes
Splitting last week's road games left the Lumberjacks a game out of first in the tightly-packed CCAA standings. That trip concluded a swing of seven road games in the past nine contests, including four straight. For the month of February and the remainder of the season the Jacks have only one more trip to take, and they'll enjoy back-to-back weekends at home to start and finish the stretch. …Austin Bryan provided instant punch off the bench last weekend, leading the Jacks both nights in scoring. The sophomore put up 22 points in HSU's double-overtime win over CSU Stanislaus, and scored 15 in the tight loss to Chico State. From three-point range, Bryan was 7-of-16 for the weekend. During the four-game roadtrip, the transfer player averaged 14 points per game, shot 48 percent from long distance and 90 percent from the free throw line. …Randy Hunter has been the Jacks' most consistent performer at home this season, particularly since the start of CCAA action. In five league home games Hunter has averaged 18.6 points and 8.2 rebounds. He's also blocked 11 shots. …Injuries have proliferated at a normal rate thus far, Kinder says, with bumps and bruises the most significant maladies. "We're pretty banged up, like all teams at this time of the year," Kinder said. "Playing back-to-back games on the road takes a toll. We were extremely tired following Friday's double overtime game, and we still had to drive up to Chico to get settled in around 2:30 in the morning."
Team Trends
Removing the non-league games offers the best opportunity to observe how the Jacks have performed as a team on the road and at home, overall. Starting with success, HSU has a 5-4 record away from the Arena and is 4-1 at home. The Jacks average 77.6 points on their own court and 67.9 at opponent's arenas. Shooting-wise, Humboldt State's percentage goes up from .380 when the Jacks travel to .476 in Arcata. The Lumberjacks average 21.1 fouls committed per game on the road and 18 at home.
Rankings
The first of the NCAA Division II West Region rankings of the season will be released February 15, and will continue weekly until the championships field selection announcement March 4. An automatic berth in the postseason is awarded to the team that wins the CCAA Championship Tournament, and not the regular-season title. The regular season final standings determine what schools will gain a spot in the CCAA Tournament field of eight.
Opponents' Notes
So close, but yet so far might describe Cal State East Bay's conference season, which began with two promising wins, including a home victory over the then-ranked Lumberjacks. The Pioneers have continued to impress opponents since then, but have been unable to post many victories. They've dropped five straight coming into this week, three on the road and two at home. …Mark Samuels has been a given for the Pioneers, putting up consistent numbers every game. The junior guard averaged 15.9 points per game and has displayed his versatility by dishing 48 assists and grabbing 20 steals this year. …Roshun Wynne, a senior guard, averaged 12.9 points per game and leads his team in rebounding with 5.1 boards per contest. …Rough times have beset Cal State Monterey Bay, and expectations for any kind of CCAA postseason already appears to be gone. Losers of 12 straight, the Otters can salvage the season with wins over higher echelon teams like the Lumberjacks. …Brandon Ward, a 6-0 junior from Riverside, tops his team in scoring with an average of 14.3 points per game, and Derrick Anderson, a 6-7 junior, scores at a 12.2 ppg clip while grabbing 5.2 rebounds per game. …Turnovers have hurt CSUMB this year, the Otters having given the ball away 318 times. Opponents have given it up 61 fewer times. …CSUMB has started slowly in recent games, falling far behind before halftime. The Otters trailed Cal State Los Angeles by 20 points at halftime last Saturday before playing the Eagles even in the second half.
Kinder's Comments
"We know how difficult of a matchup Cal State East Bay presents from the last time we played them, but we have the revenge factor in our favor. I expect our emotions will be high." …"I expect Cal State East Bay to spread us out, play small ball, and try to penetrate. We have to go at them and limit our turnovers." …"Cal State Monterey Bay is a team you need to get up on early and take away any hope. We'll use an up-tempo, high-speed approach to try to achieve that." …"We're playing well, but we still can execute our sets better and expose some of our advantages in the matchup department." …"The CCAA is exciting to watch. All of us are bunched up, and there's a lot of basketball yet to be played. It's anybody's championship. Being home for six of our last eight games, and playing well as we have been, puts us right in there."
