ABILENE – ACU comes off a bye on Wednesday to host Southeastern Louisiana on Saturday night to close out a three game homestand. The Wildcats are 1-1 in the homestand after opening it with a loss to McNeese, but look to get their second straight win on Saturday against the Lions. The last time these two teams faced off was in the Southland Conference tournament semifinals. The Wildcats came away with the victory and berth in the championship game, but both teams look drastically different from last year. The Lions are coming off just their second win in conference play and will look to continue that success this weekend.
FOLLOW THE GAME
- ACU vs SLU: Saturday, Jan. 18 – 7:00 p.m. – ESPN+ (Live Video), StatBroadcast (Live Stats)
SERIES HISTORY
- The Lions lead the all-time series 9-3.
-Two of the Wildcats' wins came last season, including their win in the conference tournament semifinals to earn a berth in the championship game.
- Both of the Wildcats wins last season were three-point victories.
- ACU is 1-5 on the road in Hammond, 1-4 in Abilene, and 1-0 at a neutral site.
- In the conference semifinal game
Payten Ricks led the way with 21 points including making five three-pointers.
Damien Daniels sealed the game for the Wildcats by going 10-10 at the free throw line down the stretch.
ACU STORYLINES
- After a home loss to McNeese, the Wildcats bounced back with a win against A&M-Corpus Christi last Saturday.
- ACU has had a week off after a bye this past Wednesday.
- The Wildcats have three players who are ranked in the top-25 for scoring in conference play, led by
Joe Pleasant at 14.0 ppg.
Payten Ricks (13.2) and
Kolton Kohl (12.4) are also ranked in conference scoring.
- ACU gave up a season-high 88 points to McNeese but followed that performance with a season-low 56 points given up to a DI opponent to earn the win against AMCC.
- The Wildcats are holding conference opponents to just 67.6 points per game.
SCOUTING SLU
- Both of the Lions' conference wins have come against A&M-Corpus Christi. On Wednesday they won at home, 62-56.
- Ty Brewer leads their team in scoring, averaging 16.4 points per game.
- Von Julien is leading the team and the conference in assists with 82, averaging 4.8 assists per game.
- The Lions are currently giving up over 75 points a game while only scoring 67 points per game.
GOLD MINE
On the bounce back win over AMCC: "I was really proud of our guys. I think every season has four or five pivotal moments and I think the first was our SEMO game. We had lost three close DI games and our guys expected to beat SEMO and they came out and got the job done. The next moment was the loss to McNeese, we dropped one we didn't expect to drop and it was important to see how our guys would respond. We were as good defensively as we had been in a long time against Corpus and we needed that."
On how his team stays focused during a long conference season: "We don't look at the standings or where other teams are in the standings, we don't talk about Katy, we just focus on our next opponent. This week all of our focus has been on Southeastern, and the good thing about a bye is that I count it as a win. We were able to take some time off but that was our last bye so the next seven weeks will be tough."
On facing a tough Southeastern team: "I think they are a great team, they have beaten Corpus twice and are a very athletic team. They made a switch a few weeks ago to run more full court defense with trapping that has allowed them to force more turnovers and get easy baskets. They are a young team with freshmen and sophomores getting playing time and they are still learning how to win. They will come in here ready to play and we will have to put together our best basketball in order to win the game."
On having the students back on campus to add to the atmosphere: "We are excited to have everyone back on campus. The arena was dead during the McNeese game and we didn't do much to bring any energy ourselves. We had a few students back and a better atmosphere during the Corpus game and hopefully with a full week into classes we can get more student support for the Southeastern game. I think that is something we still need to work on, getting a better atmosphere in Moody and getting our student body more involved. Our guys love playing in front of the students and the ACU community and we play better when we have their support."
