ABILENE, Texas — Back-to-back steals leading to transition layups from
Airion Simmons set the tone to start the game in front of a record crowd (842) at the Teague Center on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats nearly recorded consecutive 100-point outings with a dominant 98-65 win over UIW, their first DI opponent since November 16. Eleven different players scored on the afternoon and the team shot 54 percent from the field.
Key Plays
- Simmons' two steals on the first two UIW possessions led to four points on the other end that set the tone defensively.
- The team got back-to-back threes from Immanuel Allen and Ja'Sean Jackson that pushed the ACU lead to 14-4 early.
- Tobias Cameron would then get back-to-back threes on his own that pushed the Wildcats lead to 16 points.
- Simmons followed the Cameron threes with his third steal and score of the night with just over 10 minutes to play in the first half.
- Furaha Cadeaux de Dieu was active on the offensive boards and got two putback layups within three possessions pushing the Wildcat lead to 25.
- Cameron would drain two more threes in the last two minutes of the first half to give the Wildcats a 28-point advantage at the half.
- Cameron Steele hit a three for ACU's first bucket in the second half and followed it up with a steal at the other end leading to a three from Simmons to give ACU their first 30-point lead.
- Mahki Morris converted a four-point play just three minutes into the second half to keep the Wildcats' momentum rolling.
- Less than two minutes later, Steele picked off a pass and took it the other way for a dunk that gave ACU their largest lead of the day at 37 points.
- After raining threes for most of the game, the Wildcats had an eight-minute stretch where 14 of their 17 points in that stretch were scored in the paint.
Stat Pack
- Tobias Cameron led the Wildcats with a career-high 17 points going 6-7 from the field and 5-5 from three. All five of his threes came in the first half. Cameron also came into the game 0-7 from distance on the season.
- As a team, ACU shot 50 percent from three-point range, by far their best shooting night from distance.
- The team forced 21 turnovers while only committing eight of their own for back-to-back games with single digit turnovers.
- The Wildcats dominated points in the paint with a 40-18 advantage and also had a 37-4 advantage in points off of turnovers.
- The team grabbed 10 offensive rebounds, led by Furaha Cadeaux de Dieu with four, while only allowing one offensive rebound to the Cardinals.
- This was the team's fifth game of the season with double-digit steals. Cameron Steele had a career-high three to go along with a career-high 12 points.
Coach and Player Interviews
Up Next
The Wildcats will have a full week between games as they welcome Drexel to the Teague Center next Saturday for a 6 p.m. matchup between two NCAA Tournament teams from last season.
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