ABILENE – Abilene Christian fans can welcome back and then cheer against Joe Golding when Texas-El Paso visits the Wildcats on Sunday at 3 p.m.
Golding led ACU to two NCAA Tournaments and its first NCAA Tournament victory during his 10 years as the head coach. His Miners are 6-4 on the season.
ACU enters at 5-6 after a 120-69 win over Howard Payne last Sunday.
ACU Storylines
Golding Returns: The game vs. UTEP marks the return of former ACU head coach Joe Golding. Golding weathered the transition from Division II to D-I and is fondly remembered for leading the Cats to their first NCAA Tournament in 2019 and first NCAA Tournament win in 2021.
Airion Point: Airion Simmons has hit his stride in the last three games, averaging 16.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.7 steals in that span. Simmons leads the team with 13.9 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 rebounds per game this season. He is second in the WAC with a 49.1 field goal percentage.
Getting to the Line: ACU is 27th in the NCAA in free throws made per game with 17.9. The Wildcats are shooting 72.8 percent from the charity stripe this season.
Forcing Mistakes: The Wildcats are forcing 16.4 turnovers per game, which is 21st in the NCAA. ACU also leads the WAC with a positive 3.2 turnover margin. The Cats average 8.5 steals per game, which is 66th in the NCAA.
Last Game: ACU established a new D-I school record with 60 rebounds in a 120-69 win over Howard Payne last week. It was the second 120-point game of the era for the Wildcats. ACU had 32 assists in the game.
Muodubem Muoneke had a career-best 19 points.
Ali Abdou Dibba had 17 points, Aidon Igiehon had a career-best 15 points,
Airion Simmons scored 11 and
Leonardo Bettiol added 10.
Scouting UTEP
- UTEP is 6-4 this season after a 71-49 loss at Oregon.
- The Miners have a strong transition game and average 19.8 fast break points per game. They are sixth nationally in that category.
- UTEP is eighth in the NCAA with 11.4 steals per game and fifth with 18.4 forced turnovers per game. Tae Hardy leads the Miners with 14.9 points, 3.4 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Hardy, Otis Frazier III (11.1 points per game) and Zid Powell (10.8) give UTEP three double-figure scorers on average.
