ABILENE – Abilene Christian journeys to Bowling Green for a 2 p.m. basketball at Western Kentucky on Saturday.
The Wildcats are 5-7 after an 83-73 loss at Arkansas.
Western Kentucky comes in at 10-3 following a 73-70 win at California Baptist.
ACU Storylines
Last Three Games: Kavion McClain has embraced his role as a distributor over the last three games, averaging 6.0 assists per game. He also has averaged 8 points per game.
Ali Abdou Dibba has averaged 18 points per game in the last three contests while shooting 61.8 percent from the field.
Leonardo Bettiol averages 12.7 and
Hunter Jack Madden is averaging 10.7 points per game over the last three games. Over the last three games, ACU has gotten to the free throw line 100 times, including a school-record 48 trips in the win over UTEP. The Wildcats have averaged 43 rebounds in the past three games, led by
Airion Simmons at 6.0.
Forcing Mistakes: Abilene Christian leads the WAC and is 64th in the NCAA with a 2.8 turnover margin. The Cats are 17th in the nation in forcing turnovers, getting 16.3 per game. ACU is 65th nationally in steals per game at 8.3.
Airion Simmons leads the Wildcats with 1.42 steals per game.
Free Cats: ACU is 15th in the NCAA at getting to the free throw line, averaging 26.2 free throw attempts per game. The Cats are 17th in free throws made per game at 18.8. The Wildcats had a school-record 48 attempts in the win over UTEP.
Hunter Jack Madden is ACU's top free-throw shooter at 81.4 percent. He has attempted 59 free throws this season and
Ali Abdou Dibba has attempted 53.
Scoring Leaders: Ali Abdou Dibba leads the Wildcats at 14.2 points per game, followed by
Airion Simmons at 12.6 and
Hunter Jack Madden at 11.3
Hunter Jack Madden has been the most productive three-point shooter, hitting 40.4 percent from the perimeter.
Cameron Steele leads the team with a 44.4 percent accuracy mark but in limited attempts.
Series History: ACU is 0-2 in the series but the teams haven't met since the 1965-66 season.
Scouting WKU
- Western Kentucky is 10-3 this season after a 73-70 win at California Baptist last week.
- The Hilltoppers are 10th nationally in three-point percentage defense, holding opponents to 26.5 percent.
- Brandon Newman leads WKU with 6.6 rebounds per game and Babacar Faye averages 6.0, which has the Toppers at 24th in the NCAA at 41.7 rebounds per game.
- Don McHenry, who shoots 87.2 percent from the free-throw line, leads WKU with 15.1 points per game. He also leads the team with 2.6 assists per game.
- WKU is 38th in the nation with 28.92 bench points per game.
