Men's Basketball | 11/12/2015 12:08:00 PM
University of the Southwest: Live Stats l Live Audio l Live Video
Howard Payne University: Live Stats l Live Audio l Live VideoABILENE – A team that's been more than one year in the making will make its regular-season debut Friday night when the ACU Wildcats open the 2015-16 men's basketball season at Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats will host the University of the Southwest at 6 p.m. in what will serve as the final home-opener for four seniors and the first home-opener for a talented group of newcomers that head coach
Joe Golding and his staff believe can be the group to help turn the tide of the men's program.
After Friday night's game, the Wildcats will be off until Tuesday when they host Howard Payne at 7 p.m. at Moody Coliseum before heading off on a Thanksgiving week tournament that will see the Wildcats play in Portland, Ore., Fort Collins, Colo., and Corpus Christi.
"We're excited to get going and play against someone else," said Golding, who is entering his fifth season as the head coach. "This is a team we've spent a lot of time putting together, and we're all anxious to see how it performs. I hope it's a culmination of what (associate head coach)
Brette Tanner and (assistant coach)
Solomon Bozeman have put into the recruiting of these players. We're excited to show this team off to our fans and the city of Abilene."
The Wildcats return four seniors in three-year letterman
Parker Wentz at guard, two-year letterman
Austin Cooke at forward and one-year letterwinners
Jalen Little at guard and
Duran Porter in the middle.
"Those four guys have been everything we've needed and asked from a leadership standpoint since last spring," Golding said. "They're really leading this program and setting the kind of example for those younger guys that will hopefully pay big dividends down the road."
Wentz – who got married during the summer and is also going through dental school interviews – is prepping to close out a fantastic career for the Wildcats. He is fifth on ACU's all-time list for career 3-pointers with 189 and sixth in attempts with 449. He is ACU's all-time leader in career 3-point percentage at 42.1 percent (tied with Dejan Sencanski).
With another season similar to last year's when he made 62 of 148 3-point shots, Wentz would finish his career third with 251 made 3-pointers and fourth with 597 attempts. That would also leave him second in 3-point percentage behind Sencanski at 42.0 percent.
Cooke heads into the season 10
th in ACU history with 100 career 3-pointers, 12
th in 3-point attempts (239) and third in career percentage (41.8 percent). He was second in the Southland Conference last year in 3-point field goal percentage (43.1 percent), and his 53 made 3-pointers were in the league's top 10.
He also finished 13
th in the league in rebounding at 6.0 rpg and he enters his senior season with 364 career rebounds in 62 games (5.9 per game).
Little, meanwhile, was just outside the league's top 10 in assists per game (3.6), but was among league leaders in assist-to-turnover ratio, ranking sixth in the league with 3.6 assists per game compared to just 1.6 turnovers per game.
Porter will be back in the middle after playing in all 31 games with three starts last year in his first season as a Wildcat. He averaged 4.0 points and 2.3 rebounds per game, but has already shown improvement during summer workouts and during the Wildcats' summer trip to Costa Rica where they won both of their games, including one against the Costa Rican National Team.
The newcomers will be led by junior wing
Jovan Crnic, who will be joined by freshman guard
Jaylen Franklin, freshman forward
Hayden Howell, freshman forward
Hayden Farquhar and freshman forward
Jaren Lewis. Freshmen Jalone Friday (center),
B.J. Maxwell (guard),
Jerod Martin (guard) and Jadon Reynolds (guard) will all redshirt this season.
The only two sophomores on the roster are guards
Isaiah Tripp and
Drake Green, both of whom showed flashes last year as freshmen.
"Each one of those new guys – as well as Isaiah and Drake – fit what we're trying to build here in our program," Golding said. "They all fit the mission of ACU and the athletics department, and they're what we're looking for both on and off the floor."
Crnic transfers to ACU from Northern Oklahoma College and is expected to start at a wing position, giving the Wildcats the kind of athletic player on the perimeter they've lacked in recent seasons. He can also run the point if needed, and with his size (6-5), he can also play down low if necessary.
Franklin was one of the top prep players in Arkansas and will compete for a starting spot as a freshman. He played at Little Rock Parkview High School and was the MVP of the prestigious Whataburger Tournament in Fort Worth last December.
Lewis was one of the top prep players in the Orlando, Fla., area, and he could play as many as three positions for the Wildcats. A four-year letterwinner at Lake Highlands Prep, Lewis helped lead his team to back-to-back Class 4A state championships as a sophomore and junior (2012-13 and 2013-14).
Farquhar was one of the top athletes in the Big Country area during his prep career, and he'll contend for quality playing time as a freshman. Farquhar led the Greyhounds to four state championships during his four-year career with three coming in football (2011, 2012 and 2014) and one in golf (2014). He was also a three-time Class A all-state selection in basketball.
Howell was one of the top prep players in Oklahoma as a senior in 2014-15, and he figures to push for a starting spot as a freshman. Howell helped lead Carl Albert High School to four straight playoff appearances, including a trip to the Class 5A state championship game in 2014-15.
"We're obviously optimistic about our season and what this group of newcomers brings to the program," Golding said. "But we'll all have to remember that they're young players, and we have to get them integrated into what we're doing and be patient. They probably have more athleticism and energy than we've had around here in a while, but they're still freshmen and we'll have to grow with them."
