ABILENE – Abilene Christian heads to Utah this week for it final regular-season road games.
The Wildcats play at Southern Utah at 7:30 p.m. Central on Thursday and Utah Tech at 8 p.m. Central on Saturday.
ACU enters at 12-15 on the season and 7-9 in the Western Athletic Conference after a thrilling win against Grand Canyon that moved the Cats' winning streak to four games.
SUU is 9-18 overall and 4-12 in the league after losing its last five games.
Utah Tech is 10-17 overall and 6-10 against the WAC after losing its third consecutive game – an 89-78 loss at UTA on Saturday.
ACU Storylines
Clinchers: ACU could clinch a spot in the WAC Tournament with a pair of wins in Utah this week. Two ACU wins would get the Cats to 9-9 and give them the head-to-head tiebreaker over Utah Tech. ACU is in a three-way tie for sixth in the WAC. ACU's remaining games are this week's trip to Utah and home games next week against Utah Valley (9-8) and Seattle (11-6).
Streaking: ACU has won its last four games with victories at UTRGV and Stephen F. Austin, as well as home wins against California Baptist and Grand Canyon.
Ali Abdou Dibba averages 18.8 points and six rebounds to lead the Cats during the streak.
Hunter Jack Madden is shooting 48 percent from three-point range, averaging 17 points and leads the team with seven steals in the current winning streak.
Winning Stats: In ACU's 12 wins this season, the Wildcats average 79.9 points and allow 68.4, shoot 48 percent from the field and hold opponents under 27 percent from three-point range. The defense forces 15.3 turnovers and the Cats out-rebound their opponents 36 to 34. Dibba averages 17.9 points, Madden gets 15.3 points per game and
Airion Simmons contributes 12.6 points per game in ACU wins this season. Simmons gets 6.8 rebounds, Madden averages 1.4 steals and
Kavion McClain gets 3.8 assists per ACU win this season.
Road Cats: After winning its last two road games, ACU is 3-9 in true road games this season. Dibba averages 15.7 points, Madden averages 13.3 and Simmons collects 10.6 points per road game.
Against the League: ACU is 7-9 against the WAC after winning its fourth consecutive game on Saturday. Dibba averages 16.5 points and 1.9 steals in WAC games. Simmons gets 13.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game and
Hunter Jack Madden averages 13 points against the league. ACU has a positive-three turnover margin in WAC contests.
Turnovers: Abilene Christian leads the WAC and is 41st in the NCAA in turnover margin at 2.7. The Cats are 17th nationally, forcing 15.2 turnovers per game. The Wildcats are 62nd in the nation with 7.9 steals per game. Dibba leads ACU with 1.4 steals per contest.
To the Line: ACU is 21st in the NCAA with 23.6 free throw attempts per game and 18th with 17.2 made free throws per game. Dibba is sixth in the WAC with 131 free throw attempts this season and Madden is fifth with his 80.8 free throw percentage.
Leaders: Ali Abdou Dibba leads the Wildcats with 15.7 points per game, followed by
Airion Simmons at 13.12 and
Hunter Jack Madden at 12.6. Simmons leads ACU with 6.2 rebounds per game and
Kavion McClain averages 3.6 assists per game.
History with SUU: ACU is 0-2 in the all-time series with the Thunderbirds, including an 82-67 loss at Moody last month.
Leonardo Bettiol had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds before fouling out in the previous contest against SUU. Dominique Ford had 23 points for SUU in Moody this year.
Scouting the Thunderbirds: Ford leads the team with 16.7 points per game while Zion Young and Parsa Fallah average 13.3 points. Fallah leads the WAC with his 57.1 percent shooting. He sat out the previous game against ACU.
History with Utah Tech: The Wildcats are 4-0 all-time against Utah Tech, including an 82-60 win last month. ACU played Utah Tech at McMurry. Simmons had 17 points and seven rebounds and Bettiol had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in the win earlier this season. Tanner Christensen scored 15 points and had nine rebounds for Utah Tech. ACU shot 52 percent in the game.
Scouting the Blazers: UT has four players averaging in double figures, led by Noa Gonsalves at 12 points per game. The Blazers host Tarleton State on Thursday.
Last Game: ACU got its first win in the Grand Canyon series with a stirring 79-73 win. Dibba had 24 points in the win. The Cats finished on an 8-0 run, ignited by a three-pointer by
Kavion McClain with 50 seconds to go. McClain was fouled 20 seconds later and sank both free throws for a 76-73 lead.
