Wildcats to face Troy in opening round of CBI

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – After an exciting run to the WAC championship game last weekend, the Wildcats are back in action on Sunday night in the first round of the College Basketball Invitational (CBI). Abilene Christian comes in as the six-seed and will face the 11th-seeded Troy at the Ocean Center. A stretch of four games in four days took its toll on ACU in Las Vegas, but the Wildcats will look to put together a similar run in hopes of reaching another title game. 

SERIES HISTORY VS. TROY

• ALL-TIME | 1st meeting 
• LAST MEETING | n/a
• STREAK | n/a
• IN ABILENE | n/a
• IN LAS CRUCES | n/a
• NEUTRAL | n/a
• POSTSEASON | First meeting

ACU STORYLINES

• VIVA LAS VEGAS
  • The Wildcats put together a stellar run in Sin City as they took down two of three conference co-champions on their way to a runner-up finish in the WAC Tournament. Airion Simmons and Mahki Morris were each named to the all-tournament team.
• 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.

SCOUTING #11 TROY (20-11, 10-6 SBC)

• After a 10-6 finish in the Sun Belt Conference, the Troy Trojans earned the four-seed and a first round bye in their conference tournament. The Trojans won their first game over Little Rock before falling to eighth-seeded Louisiana in the semifinals.
• Troy relies on a balanced scoring attack with six players averaging 6.8 points per game or more. Efe Odigie leads the team in scoring at 11.6 points per game and rebounding at 6.6 rebounds per game.
• The team also has a deep rotation with 12 of their 18 players playing in 20 or more games on the year. 

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