ABILENE – The Wildcats will tip-off the 2019-20 season in similar fashion to last season as they host Arlington Baptist on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. Coming off of a historic season, where the team earned their first Southland Conference Tournament Championship and earned a trip to the NCAA Tournament, they will look to begin their season on a high-note. The team will tip-off just after the women's game and there will be a pregame ceremony to unveil their conference championship banner.
FOLLOW THE GAME
- ACU vs. Arlington Baptist: Tuesday, Nov. 5 – 7:30 p.m. – ESPN3 (Live Stats, Live Video)
SERIES HISTORY
- This will be the third straight season that the two teams have faced off with ACU looking to win for the third straight season.
- The Wildcats broke the 100-point mark in both of the first two meetings, winning 109-60 and 107-54.
ACU STORYLINES
- After finishing the season ranked 25
th in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll, the Wildcats are receiving votes in the first poll of the 2019-20 season.
- The Wildcats were picked to finish third in the Southland Conference preseason poll behind New Orleans and Sam Houston State.
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Payten Ricks was named First Team All-Conference in the Southland Preseason vote.
- ACU will look to build on their historic 2018-19 season, where they made their NCAA tournament debut. The team lost five of their top six scorers and lost 73 percent of their scoring from a season ago.
- Coach Golding brought in an experienced recruiting class with four transfers and one freshman.
- ACU ranked in the top-30 in D-I in several statistical categories for the 2018-19 season. They were ranked seventh in turnover margin at +4.5 for the season. The team was ranked in the top-20 in steals per game (13th, 8.7) and scoring defense (19th, 63.6). The Wildcats were also ranked 26th in scoring margin at +10.
SCOUTING ARLINGTON BAPTIST
- The Patriots are coming off of back-to-back Association of Christian College Athletics (ACCA) National Championships and have totaled four championships overall.
- The team is freshman heavy with nine of their 14 players in their first year of competition.
