ACU meets Utah Valley in second round

LAS VEGAS – The Wildcats post-season will begin tonight at the Orleans Arena in the second round of the 2022 WAC Basketball Tournament. Abilene Christian cemented their fourth-consecutive 20-win regular season in the final game of the regular season and are hopeful they can carry that momentum into the tournament. ACU will face No. 7 Utah Valley at 10:30 p.m. CT / 8:30 p.m. PT in a rematch of the two teams' first WAC game of the season. The Wildcats came away with the 80-76 win in that meeting. 

SERIES HISTORY VS. UTAH VALLEY

• ALL-TIME | 2nd meeting (ACU leads, 1-0)
• LAST MEETING | ACU 80 - UVU 76 (Dec. 30, 2021 - Orem, Utah)
• STREAK | ACU, w1
• IN ABILENE | n/a
• IN OREM | ACU leads, 1-0
• NEUTRAL | n/a
• POSTSEASON | First meeting

ACU STORYLINES

• 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 20 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 10-2 in neutral site games since the 2018-19 season, including going 6-1 last season.

SCOUTING #7 UTAH VALLEY (20-11, 10-8 WAC)

• The Wolverines are coming off of a 69-47 victory over No. 10 Chicago State in the first round of the WAC Tournament. Fardaws Aimaq went for 20 points and six rebounds while Trey Woodbury made his first appearance of the year scoring five points off the bench. 
• Aimaq was named to the All-WAC first team as well as being named the Defensive Player of the Year as the top vote-getter for the All-Defensive team. 
• The team shot 6-11 from deep against Chicago State and shot 49 percent from the field. 

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