ABILENE – Abilene Christian wraps up the pre-Christmas portion of its schedule on Thursday with a trip to the University of Arkansas.
ACU rolls in on a two-game winning streak after an 88-82 win over UTEP, which moved the Wildcats to 5-6 on the season.
Arkansas is 7-4 this season after a 69-66 win over Lipscomb on Saturday.
The game can be seen on the SEC Network and heard in the Big Country on FM 101.7 The Patriot.
ACU Storylines
Last Three Games: Leonardo Bettiol has averaged 10.7 points per game over the last three games and has been an efficient weapon. He is shooting 83.3 percent from the field and 80 percent from the free-throw line over the last three outings. ACU has taken care of business in the rebounding category, averaging a 6.7 rebounding margin.
Kavion McClain has trended up in assists in the last three games, averaging five per game.
At the Line: Abilene Christian is ninth in the NCAA with 26.7 free throws attempted per game and 10th in the nation with 19.4 made free throws per game. The Wildcats are shooting 72.4 percent from the charity stripe this season, led by
Hunter Jack Madden at 85.9.
Turnovers: ACU leads the Western Athletic Conference with a 2.2 turnover margin and is 21st in the NCAA with 16.27 forced turnovers per game. The Wildcats average 8.2 steals per game and have been led by
Airion Simmons with 1.5 per game.
Scoring it: Ali Abdou Dibba leads the Wildcats at 13.8 points per game, followed by
Airion Simmons at 13.1 and
Hunter Jack Madden at 11.5. Simmons leads the team with 5.7 rebounds per game and
Kavion McClain is second in the league and leads the team with 3.7 assists per game. ACU gets a WAC-leading 26.91 bench points per game.
Last Game: After 14 lead changes and 12 ties, ACU took the lead for good in the last five minutes to beat UTEP, 88-82. The game pitted ACU and Head Coach Brett Tanner against his best friend and ACU coaching legend Joe Golding. Golding led ACU to its first two NCAA Tournaments and its first NCAA Tournament win.
Hunter Jack Madden scored 10 points in the final five minutes to preserve the win. He had two three-pointers after UTEP had scored to pull within a basket.
Ali Abdou Dibba led ACU with 19 points with Madden getting 18. Leo Bettiol and
Immanuel Allen came off of the bench for 14 and 10 points, respectively.
Scouting Arkansas
- Arkansas is 7-4 this season after a 69-66 win over Lipscomb.
- The Razorbacks have won three of their last four games, including an 80-75 win over Duke.
- Arkansas is third nationally with 6.8 blocked shots per game and has three players in the SEC top 10 in blocked shots, led by Trevon Brazile with 18. Brazile also leads the team with seven rebounds per game and averages 9.8 points per game.
- UA gets to the free throw line 26.5 times per game, which is 13th in the NCAA, and converts 18.8 per game, which is 14th nationally. Khalif Battle is eighth in the NCAA with 65 free throws made this season.
- Tramon Mark averages 16.1 points per game and Khalif Battle averages 15.1 points per game.
