Men's Basketball | 11/18/2014 2:10:00 PM
WATCH LIVE l
LIVE STATSTULSA, Okla. – One of the biggest regular-season weeks in the history of ACU men's basketball gets started Wednesday night when the Wildcats travel north to take on the Golden Hurricanes and then follow that with a home game Saturday afternoon against Duquesne.
The Wildcats (1-0) and Golden Hurricane (1-1) will tip off at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Donald Reynolds Center in Tulsa, Okla., in the first meeting ever between the two teams. The game will be broadcast on ESPN3 and can be heard locally on 98.1 FM The Ticket or on the internet at www.the98x.com.
Saturday afternoon at Moody Coliseum, the Wildcats will host the Dukes of Duquesne in the second meeting between the two teams. Duquesne beat ACU last year, 94-75, in the season-opener for both teams in Pittsburgh, Pa. Saturday's tipoff is set for 4 p.m. and can be heard locally on 98.1 FM The Ticket or on the internet at www.the98x.com. A special halftime ceremony is set to honor former ACU player and head coach Dee Nutt, for whom the court at Moody Coliseum is being named.
Duquesne will be the most accomplished NCAA Division I program to ever visit Moody Coliseum. The Dukes began play in 1914 and have only ever played at the NCAA Division I level. The program has made five appearances in the NCAA Tournament and has been a member of the Atlantic 10 Conference since 1976 (minus the 1992-93 season the Dukes were members of the Midwestern Collegiate Conference.
The Dukes have also made 17 appearances in the NIT – the latest in 2009 – and two appearances in the College Basketball Invitational (CBI), the latest coming in 2011. The Dukes won the NIT in 1955 (beating Dayton, 70-58) when that tournament was the equal of the NCAA Tournament.
Former Duquesne star Chuck Cooper was the first African American to be drafted by an NBA team as he was drafted by Boston with the first pick of the second round of the 1950 NBA Draft. He played four seasons with the Celtics, then was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks before ending his carer with the Ft. Wayne Pistons.
Duquesne's other most famous former player is Norm Nixon, who was the 22nd overall pick in the 1977 NBA Draft by the Los Angeles Lakers. Nixon played for the Lakers for six seasons and helped the "Showtime" Lakers win NBA championships in 1980 and 1982, both over Philadelphia.
ACU is 1-0 on the season after a 101-61 win last Friday over Hillsdale Free Will Baptist at Moody Coliseum. The Wildcats were led by junior guard
Parker Wentz, who scored 23 points on 8 of 11 shooting from the floor, including 4 of 6 from 3-point range.
The Wildcats also welcomed back senior guards
LaDarrien Williams and
Harrison Hawkins, each of whom missed the final 15 games of the 2013-14 season. Williams scored 16 points in 17 minutes of action, while Hawkins had 20 points and two assists in 16 minutes.
Junior forward
Austin Cooke didn't score in the game for the Wildcats, but grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and had two assists and two steals in 25 minutes of play.
The Golden Hurricane of veteran head coach Frank Haith picked up their first win of the season Monday night with a 64-53 win over Louisiana-Lafayette. Tulsa got its season started Saturday with a 77-68 loss to Oral Roberts, a former member of the Southland Conference. Haith is in his 11th season as a head having coached seven years at Miami followed by three years at Missouri.
Last year's Tulsa squad finished 21-13 and the Conference USA title last year under former head coach Danny Manning (now at Wake Forest). Tulsa lost to UCLA, 76-59, in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
The Golden Hurricane return seven letterwinners from last year's team, including leading scorer James Woodard, who averaged 15.5 points per game. Rashad Smith (12.0 ppt), Shaquille Harrison (9.6 ppt) and D'Andre Wright (7.4 ppg) also return.
Rashad Ray and Marquel Curtis each scored 16 points Monday in the win over Louisiana-Lafayette, while Wright had 14 in the victory. Wright leads the team in scoring at 15.5 ppt, while Curtis is averaging 10.0 ppg. Through two games, Tulsa has hit just 5 of 29 shots from 3-point range, while their two opponents have hit 12 of 32 from beyond the arc.
Duquesne will enter Moody Coliseum for Saturday's game at 1-0 after a 91-51 win over Bluefield State (NCAA Division II). Derrick Colter poured in a game-high 26 points in Monday's win to lead the Dukes. The 5-11 junior went 8 of 9 from the field, including 7 of 8 from 3-point range in 23 minutes of action. Colter's career-best seven 3-pointers were one shy of the program's single-game record.
Duquesne is in its third season under head coach Jim Ferry, who joined the Dukes after leading LIU Brooklyn to back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances in 2011 and 2012. The Dukes return four starters – Colter (9.1 ppt and 2.5 rpg), Micah Mason (10.6 and 2.8), junior forward Jeremiah Jones (6.3 and 3.4) and senior forward Dominique McKoy (9.7 and 7.2) from last year's team, which finished 13-17 overall and 5-11 (tied for 10th) in the Atlantic 10 Conference.
