ACU (8-5, 0-0) at NEW ORLEANS (3-8, 0-0)
Thursday, Dec. 28 • 7 p.m. • Lakefront Arena • New Orleans, La.
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NEW ORLEANS – The ACU Wildcats begin Southland Conference play Thursday night against the defending league champion New Orleans Privateers at Lakefront Arena.
The game is scheduled for a 7 p.m. tipoff and can be heard on 98.1 FM The Ticket.
The Wildcats enter the game at 8-5 overall after a 74-47 loss at No. 21 Texas Tech last Friday in their final non-conference game of the season. ACU's eight wins before conference play begins are the most in the program's NCAA Division I era, and those eight wins make ACU one of only three teams in the 13-team Southland Conference – joining 11-2 Stephen F. Austin and 8-5 Lamar – to post winning records in non-conference play.
New Orleans – which won both the regular-season and post-season tournament titles on its way to the NCAA Tournament in 2016-17 – enters league play at 3-8 overall after splitting a pair of games last week (a 107-59 win at home over Oklahoma Panhandle State on Dec. 18 and a 74-67 loss at Alabama-Birmingham on Dec. 20). The Privateers are 3-0 at home (wins over three non-Division I programs) and 0-8 on the road, all against Division I opposition.
The Wildcats are led by by a quartet of players in senior transfer Tevin Foster, juniors Jaylen Franklin and Jaren Lewis and redshirt sophomore Jalone Friday. Lewis leads the Southland Conference in field goal percentage (60.7 percent in the early going of the season), which ranks him 33rd in the country. He's also 11th in the league in rebounding (6.2 rpg).
Franklin is third in the league in total assists (63), and his average of 4.8 per game is good for third in the Southland. He is tied for sixth in the league in steals per game (2.1), and his 27 total steals are tied for the fifth-most in the league. Franklin is sixth in the league in field goal percentage (54.4 percent).
Friday is 12th in the league ins coring at 14.7 ppg, while Foster is 20th at 11.6 ppg. ACU and Stephen F. Austin are the only two programs in the league with three scorers each in the top 20 in the league.
After sitting out a year due to NCAA transfer rules, Scott Plaisance debuted for the Privateers on Dec. 16 against Louisiana-Lafayette, the school where he played before transferring to UNO. The redshirt junior scored six points against his former team and followed with 10 points and five rebounds in the victory over Oklahoma Panhandle State, highlighted by an and-one dunk in the closing minutes of the game.
Senior Travin Thibodeaux is averaging 15.9 points on 58.3 percent shooting. The Plaquemine, La., native has surpassed 20 points three times this season.
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