ABILENE – The Wildcats began the new decade with a win on the road to remain undefeated in conference play, this week they look to continue their winning ways at home. ACU will host both McNeese and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi this week as they start a three-game homestand. McNeese is one of the premier scoring teams in the country, but their defense hasn't been able to hold off opponent as they come into Wednesday's matchup at 5-9, 0-3 in Southland play. Corpus currently sits at 5-10, 1-3 in Southland play, ahead of Saturday's game.
FOLLOW THE GAME
- ACU vs McNeese: Wednesday, Jan. 8 – 7:00 p.m. – StatBroadcast (Live Stats), ESPN+ (Live Video)
- ACU vs A&M-Corpus Christi: Saturday, Jan. 11 – 3:30 p.m. – StatBroadcast (Live Stats), ESPN3-Southland Television (Live video), 98.1 The Ticket with
Grant Boone (Radio Broadcast)
SERIES HISTORY (McNeese)
- The Cowboys hold the all-time series 5-4, but the Wildcats are 4-2 since joining the Southland in 2013-14.
- McNeese won the first five meetings between the teams while ACU is currently on a four-game winning streak.
- In their last meeting, the Wildcats won 73-72 in Lake Charles.
Payten Ricks led the way with 19 points in the game.
- This will be just the third meeting in Abilene, but the Wildcats have won both games in Moody Coliseum.
- Since joining the Southland Conference, every meeting between these two teams have been decided by eight points or less.
SERIES HISTORY (AMCC)
- The Wildcats are 2-9 all-time against the Islanders. After losing their first nine meetings with Corpus, ACU won both of the meetings during last year's championship season.
- The last meeting was in Corpus Christi during the regular season with the Wildcats earning the 73-64 win.
- Both
Payten Ricks (11) and
Joe Pleasant (10) scored in double figures for ACU in the last meeting.
ACU STORYLINES
- After starting the season 2-5, the Wildcats have won six of their last seven games with their only loss coming on the road at No. 25 Wichita State.
- ACU is 3-0 in conference play for the first time since the 2014-15 season, a win over McNeese would give the team their first 4-0 start since moving to DI.
- The Wildcats have seen balanced scoring over the past few games including getting great scoring efforts off the bench. Against Lamar,
Clay Gayman and
Airion Simmons combined for 21 first-half points off the bench.
- Ricks continues to lead the team in scoring despite struggling with his long-range shooting. The senior is 0-20 from deep but has continued to score inside or at the free throw line. He also leads the teams in steals and is one of the team's best defenders.
- ACU makes it a point to get the ball inside to their bigs with both
Kolton Kohl and
Joe Pleasant benefitting from their opportunities. Both men are averaging over 10 ppg, while also being the top two rebounders on the team.
SCOUTING MCNEESE (5-9, 0-3)
- The Cowboys have three players all averaging right around 15 points per game on the season: Dru Kuxhausen (15.6), Sha'markus Kennedy (15.4), and A.J. Lawson (14.9).
- Kuxhausen is shooting 51.3 percent from three-point range (4
th in NCAA), and has only taken 20 shots inside the arc all season.
- Kennedy is just one and a half rebounds from averaging a double-double on the season and tallied a triple-double with blocks when McNeese hosted UMKC.
- While their scoring offense is top-20 in the country, the team's scoring defense is ranked just 284, allowing almost 74 points per game.
- The Cowboys have yet to win in conference play but two of their losses have came to SFA and Sam Houston, both teams expected to finish at the top of the conference.
SCOUTING A&M-CORPUS CHRISTI (5-10, 1-3)
- The Islanders lone conference win came at home against Northwestern State, winning 67-62.
- The team returns just two starters from last year's roster who helped lead the team to a 9-9 Southland record and a sixth-place regular season finish.
- Junior, Myles Smith, leads the team in scoring averaging 14.3 points per game.
- The Islanders are 1-5 over their last six contests with the only win being the Northwestern State game.
- The team is averaging just 62.8 points per game, ranked 331 in the country.
