KATY, Texas --
Damien Daniels and
Joe Pleasant scored 13 points each and Abilene Christian University rode its typically suffocating defense to a second consecutive Hercules Tire Southland Conference Tournament title in a 79-45 trouncing of Nicholls on Saturday night in the Leonard E. Merrell Center.
The Wildcats (23-4, 13-2), who were poised in Katy a year ago to defend their 2019 championship and return to the NCAA Tournament, lost that opportunity when the pandemic sent all college basketball teams home early.
But head coach
Joe Golding forged another relentless defensive outfit in 2020-21, with ACU leading the nation in turnovers forced (20.46 per game) and turnover margin (6.7), and ranking in the top eight of five other categories.
Abilene Christian earned the No. 2 seed in Katy this year, and dominated Lamar in the Southland semifinals on Friday night, 93-71. Nicholls had the No. 1 seed and beat No. 4 Northwestern State 88-76 in the other semifinal.
Tonight the Wildcats raced to an 18-point first-half lead, only to have Nicholls (18-7, 14-2) cut it to five at the intermission. But Golding's team pounded the Colonels on the boards (53-34), shot 50% from beyond the arc, outscored Nicholls' bench (24-7) and forged a 34-point winning margin in the end.
Defense wins championships and ACU left its unique mark all over the Merrell Center court. The game pitted the Southland's most stingy team against its best offense; the latter never really had a chance. The Wildcats held Nicholls to more than 30 points under its scoring average in league games this season while outscoring the Colonels 43-14 in the second half.
As it did against Lamar the night before, ACU came out firing from the opening tip, with senior guards
Reggie Miller and Makhi Morris knocking down 3s and racing with their teammates to a 13-5 lead.
Tenacious defense allowed ACU to double-up the Colonels at 32-16 with 5:34 left on the clock, but Nichols caught fire as the half ended. After hitting only four of their first 16 shots from the field to start, the Colonels made nine of their next 15 to cut an 18-point Wildcat lead to five points at intermission. Abilene Christian committed five straight turnovers to contribute to the sea change.
A 26-14 first-half rebounding advantage kept the Wildcats from further demise during Nicholls' stunning streak.
But a rejuvenated ACU team tore into its opponent in the second half. Redshirt junior guard
Tobias Cameron came off the bench to make a trey from the corner and push his team's lead to 15 (52-37) with 12:51 left. The Wildcats' 16-4 run demoralized Nicholls, as did its advantage from the free throw line – 88.9% vs. 28.6% at that point – and a 39-22 rebounding lead.
ACU made eight of its 13 second-half 3-point attempts while Nicholls shot blanks (0 for 12), and the rout was on.
Miller and
Coryon Mason, a senior guard, added 11 points each for the Wildcats, and Miller had a game-high 11 rebounds.
Ty Gordon led Nicholls with 16 points and Kevin Johnson added 11.
ACU now heads to Indiana as the Southland's automatic qualifier and awaits word tomorrow of its first-round opponent on Selection Sunday. CBS will broadcast the show at 5 p.m. CT. The majority of the tournament's games will take place in Indianapolis.
In 2019, 15th-seeded ACU (27-7) played No. 2-seeded Kentucky in the Midwest Regional in Jacksonville, Florida, in the university's first appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Abilene Christian was just one of four Division I institutions with both men's and women's teams winning conference titles to qualify for the 2019 national tournament.
Golding's teams have now won 20 or more games three straight years for the first time in ACU history.
Key Plays
- A steal by Coryon Mason and layup by Damien Daniels pushed the ACU first-half lead to 19-10, and the duo repeated the feat minutes later to build a 23-10 lead with 10:59 left in the half.
- A layup by Mason made the ACU lead 29-12 with 6:55 on the clock, and Reggie Miller extended it to 32-14 with a trey.
- The Wildcats' 18-point lead was whittled severely when the Colonels 9-2 run cut the advantage to 34-23 with 2:40 left. Ty Gordon hit two straight treys to cap a stunning 17-4 streak for Nicholls, turning ACU's 18-point lead to 5 with 43 seconds left. Sophomore forward Airion Simmons broke the Colonels' momentum with two free throws, but the five minutes of damage was done.
- Early in the second half, Mason's jumper upped the Wildcat lead to seven and a trey from Daniels made it eight (41-33). The diminutive (5 foot 7 inch) Daniels blocked a shot and junior forward Joe Pleasant's put-back gave ACU a 10-point advantage. Pleasant then dropped a trey to make it 46-33.
- Redshirt junior Tobias Cameron came off the bench to hit another trey and grow the lead to 15 points (52-37) with 12:51 left – capping a 16-4 run to open the half and turn the tide for ACU.
- As he did Friday night, Simmons duplicated his long-distance shooting with a dagger 3-pointer that extended his team's lead to 24 points (68-44) with 5:25 left.
- ACU's 31-point final margin was sealed by consecutive treys from Mason, Pleasant and freshman forward Jameson Richardson to end the game.
Stat Pack
- Nicholls missed its first six 3-point shots before Ty Gordon hit on his team's seventh attempt.
- ACU outrebounded Nicholls 26-14 – and led 10-3 in offensive rebounds – at the half, and padded that to 55-34 by the game's final buzzer.
- Nicholls was 0-12 from beyond the arc in the second half, and only 4 of 27 for the night. ACU made 11 of 22.
- The Colonels had won 16 of their last 17 games before running into an ACU buzz saw tonight. Head coach Austin Claunch was named the Southland's Coach of the Year for 2020-21.
- Nicholls' last trip to the NCAA Tournament was in 1998 when ACU head coach Joe Golding was a senior guard for the Wildcats.
- Entering the game, ACU's Division I national rankings underscored its defensive mastery: No. 1 in turnovers forced (20.46) and turnover margin (6.7); No. 2 in total steals (256); No. 5 in total assists (472), assists per game (18.2) and scoring margin (16); and No. 8 in scoring defense (61.1).
Quotes
- "Just really proud of our guys. I think we came down here and for 80 minutes we really defended, we really guarded. That's our identity. That's who we are. Offensively, we were able to make some shots, shared the basketball. There were sometimes where we've got to clean some stuff up. But, I'm just super proud of this group. This group has been special from the start. This year has been tough for a lot of different reasons. This group has made this year as fun as any year I've been part of ... We will play hard for the Southland Conference across our chest." - head coach Joe Golding
- "Everything we do on and off the court is family. We're a loving group of student-athletes, and we come out every day in practice trying to make each other better. I feel like that culture is what sets us apart from everyone else in the country." - guard Reggie Miller
- "Damien (Daniels)did some good things tonight. I know what Damien's capable of. He can make plays with his shots. We're all very confident in him and the things he showed tonight. He just did out there what he's capable of." - forward Joe Pleasant
- "This dude right here, he's been waiting for the team to be his team, and this is Reggie Miller's team. He's the heartbeat and soul of this team. He's a winner, man. I'm a good coach because of these two (Miller and Pleasant). It's a happy moment for our team, our program, our university. - head coach Joe Golding
- "We had to get back to us. Basketball is a game of runs. We had to make sure we got back to us, lock in defensively, as coach said, take care of the ball and take the right shots. Take shots that we practice and work on. Just lock in defensively, get some stops." - forward Joe Pleasant on end of first half
- "I thought last year we validated it. It was hard for (Payten) Ricks, Trey (Lenox) and (Hayden) Howell. Those were the three (seniors) that didn't get a chance to play. I think this year validated us also. We're building a real program. It has nothing to do with me. It has everything to do with these two guys (Pleasant and Miller) and that locker room. We have a special group, special dudes that work hard. They let us coach them really, really hard, and we love on them harder off the floor. It's just special. We've got something unique going here, and it's a lot of fun to be a part of." - head coach Joe Golding
- "I just want to thank the Southland Conference. They gave us the opportunity to go Division I basketball six or seven years ago, whatever it was, and ACU was just a little old DII school out in West Texas. They gave us the opportunity to be a member of this league. We take a lot of pride in that. We will play with heart with the Southland Conference across our chest. … They gave our university to put ourselves on the map, and we're forever indebted to the Southland Conference." - head coach Joe Golding
- "We have no idea what it's going to look like down there (NCAAs). But we're going to get to experience it. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity to do this with everything going on. So, it will something these kids will be able to look back on when it's talked about and say there were a part of that." - head coach Joe Golding
Up Next
ACU heads to Indiana and awaits Selection Sunday to learn its first-round opponent in the 2021 NCAA Tournament.
