Wildcats prep for semifinal showdown

LAS VEGAS – The Wildcats are semifinal bound after a thrilling upset victory over SFA in the quarterfinals of the WAC Tournament. No. 6 Abilene Christian will have a tough test in the semis as they face No. 2 Seattle with a trip to the championship game on the line. In the teams' first meeting, a hot-shooting Seattle team handed the Wildcats their fifth-straight loss before ACU would go on to close the regular season winning 11 of their final 13. The game tips at 10:30 p.m. CT / 8:30 p.m. PT, and airs on both ESPN+ and 102.7 The Bear.

SERIES HISTORY VS. Seattle

• ALL-TIME | 2nd meeting (SEA leads, 1-0)
• LAST MEETING | SEA 72 - ACU 62 (Jan. 20, 2022 - Abilene, Texas)
• STREAK | SEA, w1
• IN ABILENE | SEA leads, 1-0
• IN SEATTLE | n/a
• NEUTRAL | n/a
• POSTSEASON | First meeting

ACU STORYLINES

• SEMIFINAL BOUND
  • After dropping both of their regular season meetings against SFA, the Wildcats put on a dominant defensive effort on the way to a 76-62 victory to punch their ticket to the semifinal. The Wildcats held an 11-point lead at the half and put their foot on the gas early in the second to push their lead to as many as 21 on the night. The Lumberjacks threatened a comeback midway through the second half but another long scoring drought allowed the Wildcats to hold the momentum and move to the next round.
• MORRIS GOES FOR A CAREER-HIGH
  • Mahki Morris put up 22 points for the Wildcats in their win over the Lumberjacks on Thursday night. He surpassed a previous career-high of 20 points and did it on an efficient 8-10 from the field and 3-5 from long range. The senior has 17 double figure scoring games on the year and has hit the double digit scoring mark in each of the last four contests. 
• SECOND ROUND VICTORY OVER UVU
  • ACU earned a hard-fought, come-from-behind victory Wednesday night in the second round, topping the No. 7 seed Utah Valley, 82-74, to advance. The Wildcats trailed by as many as 10 points midway through the first half, but eventually got their first lead with 12 minutes to play. ACU dominated the second half, outscoring Utah Valley 45-33 to win by eight. The defense turned UVU over 21 times, and scored 24 points off turnovers, and combined all that with 11 made three-pointers in the impressive win.
• SIMMONS, CAMERON DOMINATE UVU
  • Airion Simmons led ACU with 19 points against UVU  on 7-of-12 shooting, including four three-pointers, tying his career-high. Tobias Cameron matched his career-best with 17 points in 32 minutes played, and hit three from downtown, finishing 6-of-10 shooting.
• 20 WINS AGAIN
  • After totaling just three 20-win seasons in their first 97 years of the program, the Wildcats have strung together four consecutive 20-win regular seasons. The Wildcats totaled 27 wins in 2018-19, 20 wins in 2019-20, 24 wins in 2020-21, and have 21 wins so far this year.
• SIMMONS EARNS ALL-WAC ACCOLADES
  • Airion Simmons led the Wildcats in scoring (13.3 ppg) and rebounding (6.4 rpg) in 16 conference games played on his way to an All-WAC Second team selection. The junior had two double-doubles in conference play including a monster night at home against UTRGV where he went for 31 points and 14 rebounds, both career highs.
• NCAA LEADERS
  • The Wildcats lead the country in three defensive categories heading into the postseason. ACU forced 21.79 turnovers a game with the second-best team forcing 19.68. The Wildcats turnover margin is also leading the country at plus-9.0 with the next best team checking in at plus-5.8. The Wildcats are also the nation-leader in steals per game at 11.3.
• PUT IT IN NEUTRAL
  • The Wildcats will be hitting a neutral court for the first time this season after they were unable to make the trip to the Bahamas for an MTE earlier this season. The team is 12-2 in neutral site games since the 2018-19 season, including going 2-0 so far this postseason.

SCOUTING #2 Seattle (23-8, 14-4 WAC)

• The Redhawks finished the regular season as co-champions in the WAC and earned the No. 2 seed in the tiebreaker. 
• Both Darrion Trammell and Cameron Tyson earned All-WAC first team honors on the year, while Trammell was also named to the All-Defensive team. In his first season as the head coach, Chris Victor was named the Coach of the Year. 
• Seattle will be playing for the first time in six days as they had a bye up to the semifinal round. The team last played on March 5, a 74-66 victory over Chicago State at home. 
• Trammell leads the team in scoring, assists, and steals and was also the conference leader in steals on the year. 

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