ABILENE – Abilene Christian finishes a three-game road string and makes its return to Moody Coliseum this week as the Wildcats visit Tarleton State on Thursday at 7 and host Texas-Arlington at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
The Wildcats are 6-10 on the season and 1-4 in the Western Athletic Conference after a tough loss at California Baptist on Saturday.
Tarleton State is 10-6 overall and 3-2 in league play after a pair of losses in the road swing to California Baptist and Grand Canyon. They lost to the Lopes on Saturday, 74-48.
Texas-Arlington is 8-9 overall and 3-3 in the WAC after knocking off Seattle 80-75 on Saturday. UTA plays UTRGV on Thursday.
ACU Storylines
On the Attack: Abilene Christian's attacking offense has paid off in trips to the free throw line this season ACU is 15th in the NCAA with 24.8 free throws attempted per game and 17th with 17.9 free throws made per game. Three Wildcats who have played in every game shoot at or better than 80 percent at the line.
Kavion McClain is at 85 percent, followed by
Cameron Steele at 84.6 and
Hunter Jack Madden and
Nasir DeGruy at 80 percent each.
Get it Back: ACU is giving itself opportunities with its WAC-leading 2.9 turnover margin. ACU is 19th in the NCAA with 16.1 forced turnovers per game.
Kavion McClain leads the WAC in assist/turnover ratio at 1.91.
Scoring Threats: Ali Abdou Dibba leads the Wildcats in scoring this season at 15.,3 points per game, followed by
Airion Simmons at 12.7 and
Hunter Jack Madden at 12.1.
Stat Sheet Stuffer: Airion Simmons has filled up the stat sheets this season. Along with his 12.7 scoring average and team-leading 6.3 rebounds per game, Simmons averages 2.3 assists and shares the team's steals lead with
Kavion McClain at 1.3 per game.
Against the WAC: Four Wildcats are averaging 10 or more points in WAC games, led by
Ali Abdou Dibba at 16.8.
Airion Simmons averages 13.8, followed by
Hunter Jack Madden at 12.2 and
Leonardo Bettiol at 10.6.
Leonardo Bettiol shoots 56.4 percent from the field against the league and
Ali Abdou Dibba is at 50 percent in those five games. ACU gets to the free throw line 25.4 times per WAC game.
Last Game: ACU fell at California Baptist, 68-53.
Airion Simmons had 17 points and 11 rebounds for his second double-double of the season and his first since he went for 11 and 11 in a season-opening win at Oklahoma State.
Leonardo Bettiol scored 15 points and
Hunter Jack Madden put up 13.
History with Tarleton State: Tarleton State leads the all-time rivalry 41-39. Tarleton State won in Stephenville last season, 72-63.
Ali Abdou Dibba had 14 points for ACU while Lue Williams and Jakorie Smith had 15 each to pace the Texans
History with Texas-Arlington: ACU leads the all-time series 22-9. Texas-Arlington won earlier this season in Arlington, 86-71.
Hunter Jack Madden scored 19 points for ACU, followed by
Airion Simmons at 17 and Ali Abdul Dibba at 14. DaJuan Gordon came off the bench for at points and Brandyn Talbot scored 14 with four three-pointers.
Trending: Airion Simmons is averaging 13.3 points, nine rebounds and three assists over the last three games.
Ali Abdou Dibba checks in at 16.3 points and 5.7 rebounds.
Leonardo Bettiol is getting 14.7 points and
Hunter Jack Madden adds 12.3 in those three games.
Scouting Tarleton State
- Jakorie Smith leads the Texans at 13.8 points per game, followed by KiAndre Gaddy at 12 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots per game.
- Lue Williams is averaging 11.6 points and Devon Barnes gets 10.8 points per game.
- TSU is 5-1 at home this season, including a 2-0 mark against the league in Stephenville.
- Scouting Texas-Arlington
- UTA leads the WAC with 15.9 assists per game. Phillip Russell leads the team with 4.4 assists per game.
- The Mavericks average 8.7 three-pointers on 25.6 attempts per game, leading the WAC in both categories.
- Shemar Wilson leads the WAC with two blocks per game.
- UTA features a nice 1-2 rebounding punch with Shemar Wilson at 7.9 and DaJuan Gordon at 7.6 rebounds per game.
- Phillip Russell leads Texas-Arlington with 15 points per game with Shemar Wilson at 12.8 and DaJuan Gordon at 10.9.
