Abilene Christian's Lone Star Conference Starting 5 Fan Poll ... VOTE TODAY!
ABILENE – The Abilene Christian men's basketball team will face one of the nation's top offensive and defensive teams this weekend when it heads west for inaugural Rollins Las Vegas Desert Classic.
Grant Boone's broadcasts at the Dolittle Center begin Saturday at 2 p.m. (CT) and Sunday at 4:30 p.m. (CT) on 1280-AM KSLI.
ACU (4-4) is coming off its most lopsided loss of the season, a 64-50 defeat at Tarleton State, which extended its losing streak to three. Against the Texans, the Wildcats set a modern-day school record for fewest field goals in a half as they hit just two in the decisive opening 20 minutes; however, they opened the second half with an 18-2 run that got them to within 40-30. ACU had a chance on a couple of occasions to cut the lead to single digits, but never got the Texans' lead below 10 points.
Senior center
Steven Werner was 0 for 8 from the field in the first half, while guards
Elliott Lloyd and
Eric Lawton were a combined 1 for 11, and now they open their longest road trip of the season against a 5-1 Rollins team that owns the nation's 10th-best scoring defense at 57.5 points per game. The Tars' also have the eighth-lowest field goal defense at .371 and rank 16th with 4.8 blocks per game.
Offensively, Rollins is averaging 76.2 points per game led by Brett Chance's 60 percent field-goal percentage and 13.3 ppg. The senior guard is especially skilled from beyond the arc, from where he's buried 14 of 26 (.538) long-range attempts. Kyle McClanahan is second on the Tars with 11.8 ppg and is ranked among the national leader with 5.7 assists and 2.17 steals.
Florida Tech, ACU's Sunday opponent, has the No. 13 scoring offense in all of D-II at 87.8 points per game, but that includes a 104-point outing vs. DeVry and 80+point games against Puerto Rican teams from Bayamon, Mayaguez and Rio Piedras. The Panthers (4-1) this year also beat Morehouse, 75-61, and fell to UCF in exhibition play, 90-62.
Sophomore guard Chris Carter is 33rd in the nation in scoring with 20.6 ppg and is shooting .542 from the floor. He and teammate Julius Reid are also among the national leaders in steals with 2.6 and 4.8 per game, respectively.
Despite having a rough outing last Saturday in Wisdom Gym, Lawton still ranks third in the Lone Star Conference in scoring at 16.6 ppg, while Lloyd is 12th at 12.8. Werner is fourth with 7.4 rebounds.
This weekend marks ACU's first games against teams from the Sunshine State Conference, which also includes Barry, Eckerd College, Florida Southern, Lynn, Nova Southeastern, Saint Leo and Tampa.
ACU resumes conference play at home vs. Midwestern State on Thursday, Jan. 3 at 7:30 p.m.
