ABILENE – Abilene Christian hosts Texas-Rio Grande Valley at 5 p.m. on Saturday as the Cats return to Western Athletic Conference action.
ACU is 5-8 on the season and 0-2 in the league after an 86-84 loss at Western Kentucky on Dec. 30.
UTRGV plays Stephen F. Austin on Thursday and is 4-9 overall and 0-2 heading into that game.
ACU Storylines
Last Three Games: Ali Abdou Dibba is averaging 20.7 points per game over the last three games, including a career-best 25 points in the contest at Western Kentucky, He also leads the team with six rebounds per game in the last two weeks of December. Three Cats are averaging double-figures in the scoring column in the last three games. In addition to Dibba's 20.7,
Hunter Jack Madden is getting 15.7 points per game and
Leonardo Bettiol is at 12.7.
Three-ball: Abilene Christian leads the Western Athletic Conference in three-point shooting percentage at 34.5 percent. ACU, however, doesn't go to that well often. The Cats are ninth in the WAC in attempts.
Hunter Jack Madden leads the team at 45.5 percent, followed by
Cameron Steele at 43.8.
On the Line: The Cats are 21st nationally in free throws made per game at 18.1 and 22nd in attempts at 24.8 despite just getting to the free throw line nine times last game. ACU is shooting 72.8 percent from the line with three starters above 80 percent for the season.
Kavion McClain shoots 83.3 percent, followed by
Cameron Steele at 81.8 and
Hunter Jack Madden at 81.7.
Shoots and Scores: ACU is led in scoring by
Ali Abdou Dibba at 15 points per game, followed by
Airion Simmons at 12.6 and
Hunter Jack Madden at 12. Dibba leads ACU and is second in the Western Athletic Conference with his 46.7 field goal percentage.
Kavion McClain is second in the WAC at 3.9 assists per game.
Series History: ACU is 5-1 in the all-time series but the loss came in last year's meeting in Edinburg, 103-86.
Immanuel Allen had 26 points and
Ali Abdou Dibba scored 10 in that game. UTRGV dominated in rebounding, 43-23, in last year's game.
Last Outing: Abilene Christian missed a buzzer-beater and fell 86-84 at Western Kentucky on Dec. 30.
Ali Abdou Dibba had his first double-double of the season with 25 points and 10 rebounds.
Hunter Jack Madden scored 21 points,
Kavion McClain added 14 and
Leonardo Bettiol threw in 10.
Scouting UTRGV
- Current WAC Newcomer of the Week Elijah Elliott gets his shots. He is 59th in the NCAA in field goal attempts (184) and 60th in free throw attempts (76). He is a 75 percent free-throw shooter.
- Elliott leads UTRGV at 15.7 points per game, followed by Hasan Abdul-Hakim at 13.4 and Ahren Freeman at 10.5.
- UTRGV is 36th nationally with 15.15 fast break points per game. The Vaqueros are 21st in turnovers forced (16 per game) and 22nd in steals (9.7 per game).
- The Vaqueros attack the basket and get fouled. UTRGV is sixth in the nation with 26.7 free throw attempts per game and 17th at 18.5 free throws made per game.
