Wildcats back on the road Wednesday at McNeese

ACU at McNeese

When: Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2019
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Where: H&HP Complex (Lake Charles, Louisiana)
Records: ACU 12-3, 1-1; McNeese 5-10, 1-1
Series: McNeese leads 5-3
Last Game: ACU 79, McNeese 74 (Jan. 3, 2018 / Abilene)
Streak: ACU, w3
Last ACU win: ACU 79, McNeese 74 (Jan. 3, 2018 / Abilene)
Last McNeese win: McNeese 63, ACU 56 (Jan. 20, 2015 / Lake Charles, Louisiana)
Radio: 98.1 FM (98theticket.com)
Watch: SIDEARM
Live Stats: SIDEARM

LAKE CHARLES, Louisiana – The Wildcats are back on the road Wednesday night trying to get back on a winning track after last Saturday's 71-68 loss at Sam Houston State. The Wildcats and McNeese are set for a 6:30 p.m. tipoff at the H&HP Complex, the Cowboys' new home arena.

ACU trailed Sam Houston State by as many as 25 points (41-16) late in the first half last Saturday and by 22 at halftime (41-19) before mounting a furious second-half comeback that saw the Wildcats whittle Sam Houston's lead down to two points on four occasions in the final two minutes. The Bearkats, however, saved the win at the free throw line where Josh Delaney – who scored a career-high 30 points – hit 3 of 4 from the line in the final 20 seconds to seal the win.

The Wildcats have won three straight against McNeese, including a 79-74 win over the Cowboys last season in Abilene.

Here are some notes on the Wildcats entering Wednesday night's game:

• The Wildcats are 12-3 on the season and off to the program's best start at the NCAA Division I level (since the 2013-14 season) and off to the program's best start overall since the 1998-99 team started 11-0 on its way to a 20-win season and a spot in the NCAA Division II national tournament.

• The next win for the Wildcats will be the 100th of head coach Joe Golding's career, which spans eight seasons, all of them at ACU. Golding's teams were 24-30 in ACU's final two seasons at the NCAA Division II level (12-16 in 2011-12 and 12-14 in 2012-13) and then finished 24-41 (6-26 in league play) in the first two seasons at the NCAA Division I level (11-20 in 2013-14 and 10-21 in 2014-15). However, since this season's group of seniors – Jaylen Franklin, Jaren Lewis, Hayden Farquhar and Hayden Howell – arrived on the scene prior to the 2015-16 season, the Wildcats are 54-53 overall and 24-32 in Southland Conference play.

• The Wildcats' 12 wins through 15 games in 2018-19 are as many or more than 14 of the previous 19 teams in ACU history managed to win.

• In last Saturday's 71-68 loss at Sam Houston State, the Wildcats got off to a slow start on both ends of the floor for the second straight game, but unlike last Wednesday night when they rallied from a 14-point first-half deficit to beat New Orleans by 10, they couldn't quite come all the way back from a 25-point first-half hole they dug for themselves as Sam Houston State hung on for a 71-68 victory at Johnson Coliseum.

• The Wildcats trailed 41-16 late in the first half before the Bearkats settled for a 41-19 halftime lead, that lead built on porous ACU shooting (6 of 24), 11 Wildcat turnovers and 55-percent shooting by Sam Houston State (16 of 29).

• The second half was a complete reversal of the first as ACU dominated the action on both ends of the floor. The Wildcats shot 61.5 percent from the floor (16 of 26), including 77.8 percent from 3-point range (7 of 9), forced nine turnovers and out-rebounded the Bearkats 16-6 in the final 20 minutes.

• In the Wildcats' conference-opening win over New Orleans on Jan. 2, senior forward Jaren Lewis failed to make a field goal for the first time since scoring just two points -- both on free throws -- in a loss at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Feb. 23, 2016, snapping a streak of 77 straight games with a field goal. Lewis, however, contributed in other ways Wednesday night, leading the team with nine rebounds (five offensive boards), three assists, two blocks and four steals in a team-high 38 minutes.

• Lewis is still one field goal away from reaching 500 career field goals (499 for 956 from the field in his career). And with seven rebounds last Saturday against Sam Houston State, he surpassed 700 career rebounds and will enter Wednesday's game with 703 career rebounds. He also has 200 career assists and is four 3-pointers away from 50 for his career. He is the only player in ACU's Division I era (since 2013-14) to post 1,300 career points, 700 career rebounds and 200 career assists.

• Senior point guard Jaylen Franklin had seven assists last Saturday against Sam Houston State to give him 410 for his career. Franklin is the Wildcats' Division I-era leader in assists and steals (183) and is second in points (1,235) and field goals (482). He also has 385 career rebounds.

• The Wildcats – ranked 164th in the country in the latest NET daily rankings – are ranked sixth in the country in 3-point field goal percentage (41.6 percent), seventh in turnover margin (plus-5.1) and eighth in total steals (141). The Wildcats are also ranked 12th in the country in turnovers forced per game (17.9), 14th in steals per game (9.4) and 19th in scoring defense (62.2 ppg allowed).

• Individually, junior guard Payten Ricks leads the Southland and is ranked 15th in the country in total steals (36) also leads the league and is 17th in the country in steals per game (2.4). Earlier this season in ACU's home win over Campbell, he set the Division I-era single-game record for steals with seven against the Camels.

• Jaren Lewis – who was the tournament MVP at the Tigers Thanksgiving Classic hosted by the University of the Pacific – was voted the Southland Conference Player of the Week twice in the first three weeks of the season.

• ACU senior point guard Jaylen Franklin – who buried a buzzer-beating, game-winning jumper in the 73-71 win over Pacific – is playing some of the best basketball of his Wildcat career. Franklin is averaging 8.7 points per game, but has dished out 70 assists (4.7 per game) and committed just 32 turnovers (2.1 per game), giving him an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.19, which is fourth in the Southland and is 98th in Division I basketball. Franklin is also second in the league in assists per game and ninth in steals per game (1.6).

• Earlier this season, the Wildcats limited UC-Riverside to just 48 points in the win over the Highlanders, the first time in almost 70 years the Wildcats have limited an NCAA Division I opponent to less than 50 points in a game. The last time ACU limited a Division I opponent to less than 50 points in a game came in a 43-40 loss to North Texas in December 1950.

• Since the Wildcats moved to NCAA Division I affiliation prior to the start of the 2013-14 season, the Wildcats are 16-34 in non-conference Division I contests, including 7-27 in true road contests (13-29 when including a 6-2 record in neutral-site games). The Wildcats, however, are 11-7 in their last 18 non-conference Division I games dating back to the start of the 2017-18 season (7-2 this season), including 7-5 on the road.

• Lewis has recorded 15 double-doubles in his career, including one this season, an 18-point, 15-rebound tour de force against Arkansas State as part of a 94-73 ACU win on Nov. 9. The Wildcats are 7-8 in games in which Lewis records a double-double.