ABILENE – It's been quite some time since the ACU Wildcats dominated a non-conference NCAA Division I opponent the way they dominated the Arkansas State Red Wolves in a 94-73 win Friday night at Moody Coliseum.
In fact, it's probably never happened.
ACU – which lost last year to Arkansas State by 14 points in a game that wasn't that close – jumped out to a 9-0 lead Friday night and never trailed in handing the Red Wolves a lopsided defeat. A pair of seniors – guard
Jaylen Franklin and forward
Jaren Lewis – were the headliners for the Wildcats, but they weren't the only standouts for head coach
Joe Golding's squad.
Franklin scored 24 points and dished out six assists in 34 minutes and Lewis poured in 18 points and hauled down a game-high 15 rebounds in 34 minutes of his own, but the Wildcats also got major contributions from
Payten Ricks (12 points, four rebounds, three assists and seven straight points for the Wildcats to start the second half),
B.J. Maxwell (eight points, four rebounds and two second-half 3-pointers),
Jalone Friday (11 points and four rebounds) and from several players off the bench, including senior
Hayden Farquhar, freshman
Damien Daniels (six points in 22 minutes), and sophomore center
Kolton Kohl (six points in just two minutes).
It was a complete team effort as the Wildcats never let the Red Wolves back in the game after jumping out to the big lead to start the game. ACU's lead hovered between 8-10 points for most of the first half before a 6-0 run to end the half gave the Wildcats a 48-33 lead at the break. Franklin culminated the half by driving down the right side of the lane and throwing down a two-handed dunk just before the buzzer, one of four dunks on the night for Franklin, who was 10 for 12 from the field in the game.
In the second half, the Wildcats pushed their lead out to as much as 21 points (77-56) with 8:31 left in the game on a layup by Lewis before the Red Wolves made a push to stay in it. After Franklin threw down a dunk off an assist from Ricks to give ACU a 79-62 lead with 7:06 left in the game, the Red Wolves responded with a quick 6-1 burst to trim the lead to 12 points (80-68) with Ty Cockfield at the free throw line.
But staring at a chance to cut ACU's lead to 10 points with plenty of time left on the clock, Cockfield missed both free throws and Franklin scored five straight points on back-to-back possessions to push the lead back to 17 (85-68) with 4:16 to play and that was the game.
NOTEWORTY
• The 18-point, 15-rebound night for Lewis was his first double-double of the season and 15th of his career. Lewis had one double-double as a freshmen, four as a sophomore in 2016-17, nine last season as a junior and now one as a senior.
• The 10 field goals in the game by Franklin are tied for the second-most he's ever made in a game, one behind the 11 he made (on 15 shots) en route to scoring a career-high 29 points in a win over McNeese on Jan. 19, 2016. He's also made 10 in a Feb. 27, 2016, win over New Orleans (28 points) and in a loss at Drake on Dec. 22, 2015, when he scored 24 points.
• The win for the Wildcats was their third home win over a non-conference NCAA Division I opponent since making the jump from Division II affiliation to Division I status in 2013, joining wins over Sacramento State (72-61 on Dec. 4, 2014) and a 72-68 win over Texas State on Dec. 9, 2017.
• The 94 points scored Friday night is the third-most the Wildcats have scored in a game against a Division I opponent since 2013 behind the 100 scored in a 108-100 overtime loss at Colorado State on Nov. 24, 2015, and the 95 points scored in a 95-81 win over Northwestern State on Jan. 13, 2015.
• The 94 points are the most scored by the Wildcats at home against an NCAA Division I opponent.
NUMERICALLY SPEAKING
• After shooting 45.7 percent from the floor in the first half (16 of 35), the Wildcats absolutely blistered the nets in the second half, shooting 75 percent from the floor (15 of 20), including 80 percent from 3-point range (4 of 5).
• The Wildcats outscored the Red Wolves 40-32 in the paint, 19-12 off turnovers, 17-11 on second-chance points and 8-4 on fast-break points.
• ACU out-rebounded the Red Wolves, 40-29, quite the turnaround from last year's game when Arkansas State out-rebounded ACU 33-21.
• After not attempting a field goal and not scoring a point in the season-opener against Arlington Baptist, Franklin was 10 for 12 from the field and 4 for 6 from the free throw line for 24 points.
QUOTABLE
"Our first opponent (Arlington Baptist) couldn't guard the post, so that led to me passing the ball quite a bit. Tonight, Arkansas State had some trouble with some things we were doing and I was able to take advantage and get some looks."
— ACU guard Jaylen Franklin
"We did a lot of good things on offense and did a good job of taking what the defense was giving us and not trying to do too much. Jaylen had control of the game and did a great job keeping the game at the pace we wanted to play."
— ACU forward Jaren Lewis
NEXT UP
ACU will be on the road for the first time this season when the Wildcats travel to the Rocky Mountains next week to take on the University of Denver on Thursday, Nov. 15, in a game that's set for an.8 p.m. (Central time) tipoff. The Pioneers have been picked to finish third in The Summit League after a 15-15 season in 2017-18. Denver opened its season Tuesday with a 63-50 home win over Maine and will play at Kansas State on Monday in Manhattan, Kan., before hosting the Wildcats next Thursday.
