Wildcats host Utah Valley for final home game of the year

ABILENE – The Wildcats will match up with the top-ranked Utah Valley Wolverines on Saturday night looking to bounce back from a tough double overtime loss on Wednesday night. UVU is coming off a loss at Tarleton on Thursday night so both teams will be itching to get back in the win column. ACU holds the 2-1 advantage in the series but the Wolverines earned a dominant win when the teams met in Orem in January. First place in the conference is on the line for UVU and the Wildcats are battling for seeding position in the tournament with only two games left on the schedule. 

SERIES HISTORY VS. UTAH VALLEY

• ALL-TIME | 4th meeting (ACU leads, 2-1)
• LAST MEETING | UVU 84, ACU 54 (Jan. 18, 2023 -  Orem, Utah)
• STREAK | UVU, w1
• IN ABILENE | n/a
• IN OREM | tied 1-1
• NEUTRAL | ACU leads 1-0
• POSTSEASON | ACU leads 1-0

ACU STORYLINES

• HONORING OUR SENIORS | ACU will honor six seniors following the game against UVU on Saturday night. Yuot Gai, Manny Allen, Airion Simmons, Joe Pleasant, Tobias Cameron, and Damien Daniels will be heralded for their contributions to the program over the last several years. This is a group that has had a part in two conference championships, a win in the NCAA Tournament, and most will leave as the winningest players in program history. Be sure to stick around after the completion of tomorrow evening's game to honor these amazing athletes. 
• EXPLAINING THE REMAINDER OF THE SCHEDULE | With the news out of Las Cruces involving the NM State men's basketball team, ACU will not play two its remaining games this season, both of which were scheduled against the Aggies. According to the WAC announcement, ACU will get two wins via forfeit because of the games not being played, and the two wins have already been added to the win total for the season. ACU now has just four games remaining in the final three weeks of the regular season, beginning Friday night at GCU.
• DOUBLE OT LOSS TO SFA | ACU came up just short on Wednesday night when they battled in double overtime against the Lumberjacks at home. Ali Dibba scored a season-high 21 points and Joe Pleasant had one of his best games of the year with 18 points and 12 rebounds. The Wildcats held a 20-13 advantage on forced turnovers and a 23-15 advantage on points off turnovers but SFA shot over 50 percent from the floor and made clutch plays down the stretch to secure the win. 
• 70 IS THE MAGIC NUMBER | The Wildcats have 14 losses, all when allowing their opponents to score 70-plus points in the game. The team does have three wins when allowing an opponent to score more than 70, a 92-82 win at NAU, the 81-76 win over Utah Tech at home, and at CBU 87-71.
• BALANCED BALLIN’ | The Wildcats have four players averaging nine or more points per game and seven players averaging 7.6 or more points. The team is ranked 21 in the NCAA for assists per game with 16.0, with the best in the WAC. Joe Pleasant leads the Wildcats averaging 4.5 rebounds, but six different players are averaging at least three boards a game. There have been seven different players to lead
  the team in scoring in a game this year and 11 players have registered at least one game with double-figure scoring.
• LIGHTS, CAMERA, WACTION | The top 12 teams in conference play will earn a berth into the tournament in Las Vegas, but they will be seed-ed by the new system. The Wildcats currently sit at 9th in the resume seeding system with -1.45 points.
• WAC RESUME SEEDING | Conference win/loss records will determine who makes it to WAC Vegas but the resume seeding system will determine the order in which teams are seeded.

SCOUTING UTAH VALLEY (21-7, 12-3 WAC)

• With their loss at Tarleton, the Wolverines now hold just a one-game lead in the race for the regular season title. They still congtrol their destiny as they close out the season but that loss could put their No. 1 seed in the tournament at risk. 
• Four players are averaging double figures for UVU with Le'Tre Darthard leading the team with 13.8 points per game. 
• Aziz Bandaogo is a dominant force inside who is leading the team and the conference in blocked shots and rebounds per game. 

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