ACU meets NM State in WAC championship game

LAS VEGAS – The championship game is set in the WAC Tournament, and Abilene Christian will partake in the festivities in year one in the new league. The No. 6 seed Wildcats (23-9, 11-7 WAC), who have beaten a pair of regular-season co-champions on their way to the title game, will meet the third member of the three-way tie, the No. 1 seed NM State, on Saturday night. It is a rematch of a Jan. 15 game in Las Cruces in which the Aggies (25-6, 14-4 WAC) won 77-63. This time around it for the automatic qualifying bid from the WAC into the NCAA Tournament. The game tips from the Orleans Arena at 9 p.m. CT / 7 p.m. PT, and airs on ESPNU, as well as 102.7 The Bear.

SERIES HISTORY VS. NM STATE

• ALL-TIME | 7th meeting (NMSU leads, 6-1)
• LAST MEETING | NMSU 77 - ACU 63 (Jan. 15, 2022 - Las Cruces, N.M.)
• STREAK | NMSU, w2
• IN ABILENE | n/a
• IN LAS CRUCES | NMSU leads, 1-0
• NEUTRAL | NMSU leads, 5-1
• POSTSEASON | First meeting

ACU STORYLINES

• HEADED TO THE 'SHIP
  • Abilene Christian played in each of the last two Southland Conference Tournament championship games before moving over to the Western Athletic Conference, and in their first year with the new league, the result is the same after a thrilling 78-76 victory over the No. 2 seed Seattle U in the semifinal round. In a game of two very different halves, ACU held on with free throws down the stretch, hitting 28-of-39, to preserve the victory over the WAC regular season co-champion Redhawks. Airion Simmons scored 21 points, and Tobias Cameron dropped a career-high 18 points in the win.
• QUARTERFINAL WIN
  • 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.
• 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 23 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 13-2 in neutral site games since the 2018-19 season, including going 3-0 so far this postseason.

SCOUTING #1 NM STATE (25-6, 14-4 WAC)

• The Aggies finished the regular season as co-champions in the WAC and earned the No. 1 seed in the tiebreaker.
• Teddy Allen earned WAC Player of the Year and WAC Newcomer of the Year honors after averaging 20.6 points per game in WAC play. Allen was named to the first team while Johnny McCants and Sir'Jabari Rice were named second team. McCants was also named to the all-defensive team.
• NM State topped No. 4 Grand Canyon in the semifinal, 75-70, to advance to the championship after earning a three-round bye.

Follow ACU Men's Basketball on Social Media
Twitter: @ACU_MBB | @ACUsports
Instagram: @acu_mbb | @acusports
Facebook: /ACUWildcatMensBasketball | /ACUSports

#NewJourneySameGoal | #GoWildcats | #WACVegas