Wildcats face big road game at Southeastern Louisiana

HAMMOND, La. — The ACU Wildcats on Saturday will continue their push for a spot in the Southland Conference Post-Season Tournament when they take on a Southeastern Louisiana team that can clinch a spot in the tournament with at the University Center.

The game is set for a 5 p.m. tipoff and can be heard on 98.1 FM. Southeastern leads the all-time skiers against the Wildcats, 7-1, including 4-0 in Hammond, La.

The Wildcats are 15-11 overall and 7-6 in the league and tied with Central Arkansas for seventh in the league standings. Southeastern is 17-10 and 11-3 and has won four straight and is bidding to become just the second SLU squad to win 12 games in Southland Conference play. The Lions can clinch a berth in the tournament with a win over ACU or losses by either McNeese or Central Arkansas.

Here's a quick look at each team:

ACU (15-11, 7-6 Southland) — ACU enjoyed its second and final open date of the conference season last Wednesday and plays Saturday for the first time since last Saturday's 80-69 home win over Incarnate Word. … In that game, junior forward Jaren Lewis scored 17 points and pulled down 20 rebounds to help him earn Southland Conference Player of the Week honors. … He has three straight double-doubles and five on the season and enters Saturday's contest second in the league in field goal percentage (59.1 percent), fourth in rebounding (7.7 rpg), and ninth in steals (1.7 spg). … ACU has four players averaging in double figures: sophomore center Jalone Friday (13.8 ppg), Lewis (13.5 ppg), graduate transfer guard Tevin Foster (12.9 ppg), and junior point guard Jaylen Franklin (10.5 ppg). … Friday is fifth in the league in blocks (1.6 bpg). Franklin is third in field goal percentage (.564) and assists (4.8 apg), tied for fourth in steals (1.9 spg) and sixth in assist/turnover ratio (1.7) while Foster is seventh in assist/turnover ratio (1.5) and ninth in assists (3.7 apg).

Southeastern Louisiana (17-10, 11-3) — Southeastern continues to rank first in the Southland in points allowed in conference play at 67.5 points per contest, holding 11 of their 14 league opponents under 70 points. Overall, the Lions are allowing 70.1 points on 44.1 percent shooting. … Jordan Capps leads the Lions with 13.3 points per game while ranking 10th in the league in field goal percentage (.526). … Marlain Veal is the conference leader and ranks 17th nationally with 6.1 assists per game. His 165 assists rank 16th in the country. … He is also second in the league and 21st in the country with 2.2 steals per contest with his 60 steals the 14th-most nationally. He also ranks fourth in the conference in assist/turnover ratio (1.8) while averaging 12.5 points. … Greenwood is 12th in the conference in rebounding (6.0 rpg) while averaging 10.2 points per game. Filmore is fourth in 3-pointers made per game (2.5) while senior guard Eddy Polanco is ninth in free throw percentage (.802). … Veal, Capps, Filmore (9.4 ppg, 47 assists), senior guard Jabbar Singleton (6.3 ppg, 58 assists) and junior guard Keith Charleston (3.9 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 41 assists) are the projected starters for the Lions.