Men's Basketball | 11/14/2014 10:42:00 AM
LIve Stats l Live Video / Audio ABILENE, Texas – The ACU Wildcats will tip off the 2014-15 men's basketball season Friday night when they host Hillsdale Free Will Baptist at Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats will get their fourth season under head coach
Joe Golding started at 7 p.m. and the game can be seen at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/abilene/.
ACU is 5-0 all-time against Hillsdale Free Will Baptist, including last year's 93-53 victory. The Wildcats, in fact, have never beaten Hillsdale by less than 25 points. In fact, in the five games the Wildcats have averaged 91.8 points per game and have won by an average of 39.6 points per game.
The Wildcats return a solid nucleus of players who will be looking to improve on last year's 11-20 record. ACU will be led by senior guards
LaDarrien Williams and
Harrison Hawkins, junior guards
Parker Wentz and
Jalen Little, junior forwards
Austin Cooke and
Duran Porter, and sophomore forward
Riley Payne. Freshmen
Drake Green,
K.J. Maura and Isaiah Trip will also make a big impact.
The Wildcats will be immediately better with the return of both Williams and Hawkins, each of whom missed the entire spring semester. Williams was injured and missed the final 16 games, while Hawkins was ruled ineligible and missed the same amount of games.
When each was lost to the Wildcats, they were averaging 12.7 points (Williams) and 12.3 points (Hawkins) per game to lead the team. However, Williams underwent off-season surgery on his lower leg and will be back in time for the start of the season, while Hawkins worked during the spring and summer to regain his eligibility and return to the team.
"Having both of those guys will be huge for our team," Golding said. "Obviously it really hurt us not having either one of those games for almost the entirety of the conference schedule. LD isn't completely back yet, but he's working his way back into shape and he'll be ready to go. I'm also extremely happy with Harrison and how hard he's worked and how he's handled his business to regain his eligibility. He needed a second chance and that's what this school and this program is about."
Williams and Hawkins will be joined on the floor by returning starters in Wentz at guard and Cooke at forward.
"Those two guys (Wentz and Cooke) had great off-seasons, and I'm looking forward to what the season holds for each of them," Golding said. "I think Parker is one of the best shooters in the country, and Cooke has the chance to be one of the top big men in the league before he's done."
Hillsale Free Will enters the game at 2-3 on the season and coming off an 85-76 win earlier this week over Central Christian University. The Saints are members of the National Christian Collegiate Athletics Association (NCCAA).
The Saints were 15-15 last year and reached the regional tournament. They will be led by Phil Carey, who averaged 24.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per game last season on his way to earning first team NCCAA all-America honors.
