Wildcats back home Saturday vs. Lamar

Men's Basketball | 1/30/2016 9:58:00 AM

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ABILENE – The ACU Wildcats return Saturday to the friendlier confines of Moody Coliseum when they host the Lamar Cardinals in a Southland Conference men's basketball action.
 
Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. and can be heard on acusports.com with The Voice of the Wildcats Grant Boone calling the action.
 
ACU enters Saturday's contest at 8-12 overall and 3-4 in the Southland after having lost each of its last two games: at Incarnate Word last Saturday and at Sam Houston State last Monday. The Wildcats are 1-9 in true road games this season (2-10 overall away from home), but are 6-2 at Moody Coliseum, including 2-0 in conference games with wins over Northwestern State and McNeese State.
 
The Cardinals enter the game at ACU 10^th in the league standings after having dropped three straight and six of their last seven. Lamar is 10-10 overall and 2-6 in the Southland.
 
Saturday's contest will be the 26^th meeting in series history, but 22 of those games were played prior to the 1972-73 season. Lamar has had the upper hand since the Wildcats announced they were re-joining the league prior to the 2013-14 season. The Cardinals have won the past three games, and six of the last seven dating back to the 1971-72 season. The Cards are three-games above .500 (14-11) all-time in the series.

The ACU coaching staff will wear sneakers with gold laces in addition to their customary suits as part of the NABC's Suits & Sneakers Princess Lacey's Laces initiatives. Part of Coaches vs. Cancer week (Jan. 25-31), the two aforementioned events help raise awareness about the fight against cancer and promote the American Cancer Society and the late Lacey Holsworth, who gained notoriety last year as a result of her battle against cancer and special relationship with the Michigan State men's basketball team.
 
Two of the league's top freshmen – ACU guard Jaylen Franklin and Lamar guard Nick Garth – will be featured in Saturday's contest. Franklin is the top freshman scorer in the Southland Conference (14.8 points per game), followed closely by Garth at 14.3 ppg.
 
Franklin is also first among league freshmen in field goal percentage (13^th overall) at 50 percent (110 of 220 from the floor). Franklin scored a career-high 29 points in ACU's last home game – a 75-67 win over McNeese State on Jan. 19 – but has scored just 14 total points in the last two games on 3 of 15 shooting from the field. Franklin fouled out of the Wildcats' loss to Sam Houston State after scoring just two points in 14 minutes on the floor.
 
Senior guard Parker Wentz is second in the league in 3-point field goal percentage (46.2 percent), third in the conference in 3-point field goals made (48) and fourth in attempts (104), and he's sixth in the league 3-point field goals made per game (2.4).
 
Lamar leads the Southland in rebounding (42.1 per game) and first in the league in rebounding margin (+4.4), and the Cardinals are fifth in NCAA basketball in offensive rebounds per game (15.45).