ABILENE – Abilene Christian finishes off its four-game road swing this week with visits to UT-Rio Grande Valley on Thursday at 6:30 p.m. and Stephen F. Austin on Saturday at 2 p.m.
The Wildcats are 8-15 overall and 3-9 against the Western Athletic Conference.
The Vaqueros are 6-17 overall and 2-10 in the WAC after a 92-84 loss at Stephen F. Austin on Thursday.
Stephen F. Austin is 14-10 overall and 7-6 in the WAC after a 71-63 loss at UTA on Saturday.
ACU STORYLINES
A LOOK AT US: Ali Abdou Dibba leads the Wildcats at 15.1 points per game.
Airion Simmons is averaging 13.3 points and a team-leading 6.5 rebounds.
Hunter Jack Madden is the team's three-point threat at 40.4 percent and averages 11.8 points per game.
Kavion McClain, averaging 6.3 points, leads the team with 3.5 assists per game.
TURNOVERS: ACU's signature turnover-based defense is 16th nationally in turnovers forced per game, averaging 15.5. The Wildcats also are 52nd nationally and first in the Western Athletic Conference with a 2.6 turnover margin. ACU is 56th nationally with 8.0 steals per game.
Ali Abdou Dibba is seventh in the WAC with 1.45 steals per game.
TOEING THE LINE: The Wildcats are a top-25 team in getting to the free-throw line. The Cats are 24th in the NCAA with 23.5 free throws per game and 25th with 16.9 free throws made. ACU is shooting 72 percent from the charity stripe, led by
Hunter Jack Madden at 78.7 (sixth in the WAC).
AGAINST THE WAC: ACU is 3-9 against the WAC and 0-6 in WAC road games.
Ali Abdou Dibba averages 15.6 points and 2.2 steals per game against the league.
Airion Simmons leads the Wildcats in rebounds in WAC contests, averaging 7.3 boards to go with his 14.2 points per game.
Hunter Jack Madden averages 11.7 points against WAC opponents.
ROAD WORK: ACU is 1-9 in true road games this season with losses in its nine road games since opening with a win at Oklahoma State. Ali Dibba averages 15.1 points and 5.2 rebounds on the road.
Hunter Jack Madden gets 11.3 points on average in the true road contests.
Airion Simmons averages a team-leading 5.9 rebounds to go with 10.3 points per road game.
Kavion McClain is averaging for assists per road game and is 10-10 at the free throw line on the road.
TRENDING: The Wildcats have shot 32.2 percent from the field and 23.5 percent from three-point range over the last three games (home vs. Tarleton State and road games at Seattle and Utah Valley).
Ali Abdou Dibba (47 percent from the field) and
Airion Simmons (43 percent from three-point) have been the standouts.
Airion Simmons is averaging 11 points and 6.7 rebounds over the last three games.
Kavion McClain has averaged 4.3 assists per game over the three-game stretch.
HISTORY WITH UTRGV: ACU has a 6-1 advantage in the all-time series, including a 91-81 overtime victory this season in Abilene.
JV Seat grabbed an offensive rebound and scored the go-ahead basket with 1.5 seconds left in overtime to give Abilene Christian its first WAC win of the season. Five Cats scored in double figures, led by
Ali Abdou Dibba with 23.
Hunter Jack Madden had 17,
Leonardo Bettiol scored 14 and
Kavion McClain and
Airion Simmons added 12 each. Simmons led the rebounding effort with nine. McClain had five assists and six steals.
SCOUTING UTRGV: UTRGV has lost its last six games. UTRGV gets to the line even more than ACU. The Vaqueros are 10th nationally in made free throws per game and sixth in attempts, going 18 for 24 per game. Elijah Elliott leads the Vaqueros with 16.9 points and 2.1 steals per game. Hasan Abdul-Hakim averages 13.9 points and a team-leading 6.2 rebounds per game.
HISTORY WITH SFA: ACU is 19-27 all-time against Stephen F. Austin. The Jacks beat ACU 79-74 in overtime last fall. Ali Dibba scored 21 points and
Airion Simmons added 12 points, seven rebounds and six steals in the loss. Matt Hayman had 25 points for SFA.
SCOUTING THE JACKS: SFA forces more than 18 turnovers per game, ranking fourth in the NCAA. Latrell Jossell leads the WAC with a 90.7 percentage at the free throw line. He also leads the team with 11.8 points and 1.8 steals per game. Sadaidriene Hall averages 10.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.
LAST GAME: Abilene Christian struggled to a 24-percent shooting day and dropped a 74-45 decision at Utah Valley on Saturday.
Ali Abdou Dibba scored 17 points in his first game back from injury and
Hunter Jack Madden added 11.
Kavion McClain racked up seven assists and
Airion Simmons led the team with five rebounds.
