Men's Basketball | 12/3/2014 1:45:00 PM
ABILENE – The ACU men's basketball team will close out the week with a home game Thursday followed by a road game Saturday at Houston.
The Wildcats will host Sacramento State at 7 p.m. Thursday in the program's annual Christmas Slam game at Moody Coliseum. ACU will then be in Houston at 7 p.m. Saturday to take on the Houston Cougars at Hofheinz Pavilion in a game that will be broadcast on
ESPN3. Thursday night's game will air on Classic Rock 102 The Bear, while Saturday's game will be broadcast on 981. FM The Ticket.
The highlight of Christmas Slam will be the chance for one ACU student to win one year of free tuition during a halftime shooting contest, among other great prizes and giveaways.
The Wildcats enter Thursday night's game against Sacramento State at 2-3 overall after last Saturday's 76-56 loss at California-Rivierside. The Hornets, meanwhile, enter Thursday night's game at 4-1 on the year after a 65-56 win Monday night against Utah Valley. The Wildcats and Hornets do have a common opponent this season as Sacramento State knocked off Cal-Riverside, 70-69, on Nov. 17.
ACU is still seeking its first non-conference win over an NCAA Division I opponent since a Dec. 3, 1984, win over Pepperdine. Prior to Duquesne visiting Moody Coliseum on Nov. 22, Pepperdine was the last NCAA Division I non-conference opponent to play at ACU, so Sacramento State will be the second Division I opponent in the last two weeks to play at Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats continue to be led by junior guard
Parker Wentz, who is averaging 16.2 points per game and he's hitting 50 percent of his 3-point shots (12 of 24) through five games. Senior guard
Harrison Hawkins is the only other Wildcats averaging in double figures on the season at 12.0 ppg.
Senior guard
LaDarrien Williams is averaging 8.4 ppg, while sophomore forward
Michael Grant is averaging 6.8 ppg. Junior forward
Austin Cooke is averaging 6.8 ppg and a team-best 6.2 rebounds per contest.
The Wildcats have struggled to find their shooting touch as a team as they are hitting just 42 percent of their shots from the field (130 of 311) and just 37 percent of their 3-point shots (40 of 107). Their opponents, however, are shooting 48.2 percent from the field (121 of 251) and 40 percent from 3-point range (32 of 80).
Sacramento State is averaging 72.8 points per game and are led by senior guard Mikh McKinney, who is averaging 16.5 ppg, while senior guard Dylan Garrity is averaging 10.4 ppg. Like ACU, Sacramento State has just two players averaging in double figures, although junior guard Cody Demps is averaging 9.2 ppg.
Sacramento State is one of the top shooting teams in the country, hitting 52.9 percent of their shots from the field (139 of 263), including 40.5 percent from 3-point range (30 of 74). Meanwhile, the Hornets are holding their opponents to just 41.7 percent shooting from the floor (115 of 276) and 28.6 percent from 3-point range (32 of 112).
Saturday's contest against Houston will be the fourth all-time meeting between the Wildcats and the Cougars with Houston holding a 2-1 advantage. The teams haven't met since Dec. 24, 1967, when Houston took a 90-75 win over the Wildcats in Houston. The first game in the series was Dec. 2, 1947 (Houston won, 54-31), with the second meeting coming just three days later in Abilene (Dec. 5, 1947) with the Wildcats taking a 48-41 win.
Saturday night's game will be broadcast on ESPN3 with Brett Dolan providing the play-by-play and former Cougar sharpshooter Reid Gettys providing the the analysis.
Houston (2-1) enters Thursday's contest against Texas-Pan American on the heels of a tough 84-63 loss at Harvard on Nov. 25.
This season, junior forward Devonta Pollard leads the Cougars at 14.0 ppg and 7.0 rpg. The Porterville, Miss., native is one of four Cougars averaging double-digit points this season. Junior guard Eric Weary Jr. is averaging 13.0 ppg, while junior guard Cavon Baker is averaging 12.3 ppg. Junior guard Jherrod Stigers is fourth on the team at 11.0 ppg.
