Wildcats look to bounce back Wednesday at Nicholls

ACU at Nicholls

When: Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2019
Time: 7 p.m.
Where: Stopher Gym (Thibodaux, Louisiana)
Records: ACU 19-5, 8-3; Nicholls 11-12, 4-6
Series: Nicholls leads 4-1
Last Game: Nicholls 69, ACU 65 (Feb. 7, 2018 / Abilene, Texas)
Streak: Nicholls, w3
Last ACU win: ACU 71, Nicholls 54 (Jan. 10, 2015 / Abilene, Texas)
Last SLU win: Nicholls 69, ACU 65 (Feb. 7, 2018 / Abilene, Texas)
Radio: 98.1 FM (98theticket.com)
Watch: YouTube
Live Stats: SIDEARM

THIBODAUX, Louisiana – The ACU Wildcats are back on the road this week for a pair of crucial contests in the race for a top-two seed in the Southland Conference Postseason Tournament, and it starts Wednesday night when they take on defending regular season co-champion Nicholls.

Tipoff from Stopher Gym is set for 7 p.m. and the can be seen on ESPN 103.3 FM and heard on 98.1 FM The Ticket.

The Wildcats are coming off a 90-85 double-overtime home loss on Saturday against league-leading Sam Houston State that dropped them to 19-5 overall and 8-3 in the league, three full games behind the Bearkats (16-8, 11-0). In both ACU losses to Sam Houston State this season the Wildcats have fallen behind by at least 20 points in the first half (25 on Jan. 5 and 21 on Saturday) before rallying in the second half.

ACU wasn't ever able to take the lead against the Bearkats on Jan. 5 in Huntsville, but did take the lead late in regulation Saturday before Payten Ricks buried a 3-pointer with 0.25 seconds left in regulation to send the game to overtime. Sam Houston State scored late in the first OT to send it to a second extra period before Marcus Harris scored 10 straight Sam Houston points — including back-to-back 3-pointers — to help the Bearkats pull out the victory.

The Wildcats are one-half game ahead of New Orleans for second place in the league. The Privateers — 8-4 in the conference and taking the night off Wednesday before hosting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday — lost to Nicholls on Saturday, 64-63, when the Colonels' Danny Garrick hit a 3-pointer with four seconds left to help Nicholls pull out the win.

The top two teams in the standings at the end of the regular season earn a double-bye into the semifinals in the conference tournament, while the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds earn a single bye into the quarterfinal round. A double-by leaves two teams two wins away from a conference championship and a trip to the NCAA Tournament.

First, though, the Wildcats need to bounce back from Saturday's loss and get back in the win column. ACU hasn't lost back-to-back games all season and now would not be a good time for a season first.

The Wildcats continue to be led in scoring by the trio of senior forward Jaren Lewis (13.0 points per game), junior center Jalone Friday (12.9 ppg) and junior guard Payten Ricks (12.2 ppg). Junior guard B.J. Maxwell is averaging 9.0 ppg. Ricks leads the league and is in the nation's top 10 in 3-point field goal percentage (.473) after he buried 4 of 8 attempts vs. Sam Houston State.

Senior point guard Jaylen Franklin is averaging 8.7 ppg after back-to-back 20-point games (22 vs. Lamar and 20 vs. Sam Houston State). Franklin is among the conference leaders in total assists (109), assists per game (4.5), total steals (45) and steals per game (1.9).

Nicholls is led by the trio of Jeremiah Jefferson (16.0 ppg), Gavin Peppers (13.7 ppg) and Kevin Johnson (9.6 ppg). Jefferson transferred to Nicholls from Jackson State, while Peppers transferred in from Central Michigan. Johnson is a sophomore who started 28 games last season for the Colonels, who shared the league's regular-season title with Southeastern Louisiana.

Nicholls is shooting just 42.1 percent from the field, including 35.6 from 3-point range. The Colonels are allowing opponents to shoot 45.0 percent from the floor, although they've played the 3-point shot well all season and are allowing opponents to hit just 31.0 percent from the arc on the season.

ACU is one of the top shooting teams in Division I basketball, hitting 48.0 percent from the field on the season, including 40.7 percent from 3-point range.