Men's Basketball | 12/17/2015 1:29:00 PM
ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats return to the floor Friday night for the first time in almost one week when they host California-Riverside in a non-conference game at Moody Coliseum.
Tipoff between the Highlanders and Wildcats is set for 7 p.m. The game can be heard on 98.1 FM The Ticket with
Grant Boone calling the play-by-play action. The Wildcats are 4-5 on the season, and this is the first game of a three-game pre-Christmas slate that also includes Sunday afternoon's game at TCU and Tuesday night's game at Drake in Des Moines, Iowa.
Sunday's 1 p.m. game at TCU is the first game in the renovated Schollmaier Arena and it will be broadcast on Fox Sports Southwest and on 98.1 FM. Tuesday night's game will also be broadcast on 98.1 FM, and fans can watch the game on espn3.com.
The last time the Wildcats were on the floor was last Saturday afternoon when they knocked off Schreiner 69-46 to snap a three-game losing streak. Freshman guard
Jaylen Franklin led the Wildcats with 14 points in the win, while senior guard
Parker Wentz had 12 points for ACU.
Franklin (team-high 13.8 points per game) and Wentz (10.1 ppg) are the only two Wildcats averaging in double figure points per game, although junior wing
Jovan Crnic (9.2 ppg), senior center
Duran Porter (8.9 ppg) and freshman forward
Jaren Lewis (8.0 ppg) are all averaging at least 8.0 ppg.
Wentz – one of the top 3-point shooters in NCAA Division I basketball – is now third all-time made 3-pointers in ACU history with 213. He's fifth in attempts (493), and his career 43.2 percentage from beyond the arc is the best in program history. He is seventh in NCAA Division I basketball in 3-point percentage at 54.5 on the season.
Senior forward
Austin Cooke is also in ACU's top 10 in all three major 3-point field goal categories, ranking eighth in 3-point field goals made (112), ninth in attempts (279) and tied for sixth in percentage (.401).
The Highlanders enter Friday night's game coming off a 72-59 loss at Houston Baptist that saw them struggle through one of its worst shooting nights of the season. UCR (5-5) missed seven of its first eight shots, and committed six personal fouls in the first seven minutes, allowing the Huskies to take an early 15-6 lead. The Highlanders were never able to get the lead as the Huskies ran away late in the second half for the win.
UCR senior forward Taylor Johns – who had a double-double last year in Riverside's 76-56 win over ACU – is averaging a double-double on the season at 19.4 points and 10.8 rpg on the season. Jaylen Bland is averaging 17.3 ppg and has hit 38 of 100 3-point attempts on the season, while Secean Johnson is averaging 12.3 ppg.
The Highlanders have already taken 242 3-pointers in just 10 games and have made 89 of them (36.8 percent on the season).
This two-game swing through Texas is the second of the season for the Highlanders, who lost to Rice 87-81 on Nov. 27 in Houston and then beat Lamar, 84-69, on Nov. 29 in Beaumont.
