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NACOGDOCHES – The ACU Wildcats will be back on the floor Thursday night against perhaps the hottest team in all of NCAA Division I men's basketball when they take on the Lumberjacks of Stephen F. Austin in Southland Conference action.
Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. from William Johnson Coliseum. The game can be heard locally on 98.1 FM The Ticket.
The Wildcats enter the game at 7-13 overall and 1-5 in the Southland as they are playing their first season as an NCAA Division I program. The Jacks, meanwhile, are riding a 15-game winning steak and carry a 26-game home-court winning streak into the game, the second-longest home winning streak in the country behind Duke (28 games).
ACU is led by sophomore guard
Parker Wentz, who is averaging 10.8 points per game and is shooting 42.5 percent from the field (17 of 40) over the Wildcats' last four games. The Wildcats will play their fifth straight game Thursday without leading scorers in junior guards
LaDarrien Williams and
Harrison Hawkins.
Stephen F. Austin is 18-2 overall and 7-0 in the Southland Conference with wins over Lamar, Sam Houston State, Houston Baptist, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Northwestern State, Oral Roberts and Central Arkansas. The Lumberjacks sit alone atop the league standings as the unbeaten team in conference play.
The `Jacks currently rank seventh in the latest CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll and eighth in the Mid-Major Madness Power 15 Poll. SFA also received one vote in the latest USA Today Coaches Poll for a second-straight week, a feat the 'Jacks accomplished last season during their title run for the first time since the 2007-08 campaign.
One of 351 NCAA Division I men's basketball teams in the country, SFA currently ranks in the top 10 in both turnover margin (8th-5.3) and win percentage (T6th-90.0). The `Jacks also rank 26th in scoring defense (62.3), tied for 26th in scoring margin (12.9) and are 40th in assist-turnover ratio (1.35).
ACU is 14-12 all-time against the Lumberjacks in a series that dates back to the 1926-27 season and covers their time together in the Lone Star Conference. SFA, however, has won the last seven meetings between the teams. ACU's last win over the Lumberjacks came on Feb. 21, 1981, in the Lone Star Conference Tournament quarterfinals when the Wildcats walked away with a 54-48 win over SFA in Huntsville. ACU's last win over Stephen F. Austin in Nacogdoches came on Feb. 11, 1980, when the Wildcats beat the Lumberjacks, 69-56, behind 25 points from Randall Moore.
