Men's Basketball | 1/11/2016 11:23:00 PM
Live Audio / Video l Live StatsABILENE – After two long road trips to open Southland Conference play, the ACU Wildcats will play their first conference home game Tuesday night when they welcome one of the conference's long-time powers to Moody Coliseum.
Northwestern State – which has reached the NCAA Tournament three times since 2001, including the last time in 2013 and last year reached the CIT – will be at Moody Coliseum for the first time for Tuesday's 7 p.m. tipoff. The game can be seen and heard on acusports.com.
The Wildcats are 6-9 overall and 1-1 in league play after a disappointing 63-62 loss at Nicholls last Saturday, a loss that came exactly one week after ACU opened conference play with a 62-61 win over Central Arkansas in Conway, Ark. The Wildcats are 1-1 all-time against Northwestern State with an 84-66 loss in Natchitoches, La., on Feb. 1, 2014, and a 95-81 win in Louisiana on Jan. 13, 2015. In that win, the Wildcats buried 16 of 27 3-pointers and en route to the victory.
ACU continues to be led by a pair of impressive freshmen in guard
Jaylen Franklin and forward
Jaren Lewis. Franklin is second among conference freshmen in scoring at 14.3 points per game, while Lewis leads Southland freshmen in rebounding at 5.5 rpg. Both players are shooting better than 50 percent from the field (Franklin at 50.6 percent and Lewis at 53.4 percent).
The Wildcats rank 10
th in the Southland in scoring offense at 71.1 points per game, but rank third in the league in scoring defense, allowing just 71.0 points per game. ACU also ranks third in the league in 3-point field goal percentage (90 of 255, 35.3 percent) and is first in rebounding defense, allowing just 34.5 rebounds per game.
Northwestern State enters Tuesday night's contest at 3-10 overall and 0-3 in league play and looking to get its season on track.
The Demons entered the 2015-16 season as one of the favorites to win the Southland Conference title, featuring a backcourt of Jalan West and Zeek Woodley, one of the top duos in the country. West, however, suffered a season-ending knee injury in the team's season-opening loss at Ole Miss and the Demons haven't been able to get their season going.
Woodley – who finished second in the nation in scoring last year – is at it again this year, averaging 22.7 ppg (11
th in the country) and 5.5 rebouds per game, while shooting 55 percent from the field, 43 percent from 3-point range and 88 percent from the free throw line.
The Demons are still one of the top scoring teams in the league (76.2 ppg to rank fourth in the Southland), but they are last in the league in scoring defense (allowing 87.1 ppg) and last in field goal percentage defense (opponents are shooting 48.4 percent against them).
After Tuesday night's game, the Wildcats will be in Nacodgoches on Saturday for a 6 p.m. game against Stephen F. Austin.
