STEPHENVILLE – The ACU Wildcats kick off the final two weeks of regular-season play Thursday night at Tarleton State, the first of two road games this week that will go a long way in determining what seed ACU will earn for next month's Hercules Tires WAC Basketball Tournament in Las Vegas.
The Wildcats and Texans will tip off at 7 p.m. at Wisdom Gym before playing UT-Arlington on Saturday at 2 p.m. at the College Park Center in Arlington. Those two teams are immediately behind ACU, tied for fifth in the WAC with identical 6-7 league records.
ACU has won five straight games to move from seventh place in the WAC standings to a tie for third. In moving up four spots, the Wildcats passed Seattle, UTA, and Tarleton State. ACU is tied with Cal Baptist for third place, but the Lancers hold the tiebreaker edge over ACU thanks to two regular-season wins over the Wildcats.
If the Wildcats can hang onto a spot from 3-6 in the standings, they won't play in the tournament until the quarterfinals on Thursday, March 13, at the Orleans Arena. Utah Valley leads the league at 12-1, followed by Grand Canyon (10-2), Cal Baptist and ACU (6-6), and UTA and Tarleton State (6-7).
After this week's two road games, the Wildcats will finish the regular season next week with home games against Utah Valley (Thursday, March 6) and Grand Canyon (Saturday, March 8).
The Wildcats are led in scoring by junior guard Quion Williams, averaging 13.8 points and 5.1 rebounds [per game. He's also averaging 1.12 steals per game. Junior forward Leo Bettiol averages 13.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game.
In conference play, Williams leads the team in scoring (13.1 pg), followed by Bradyn Hubbard (12.3 ppg) and Bettio (10.2 ppg). Hubbard has been terrific in ACU's 12 league games, scoring in double figures in 10 of 12 games, with a high-point game of 17 at Southern Utah in a win on Feb. 8. He posted a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds on Feb. 20 in a home win over Southern Utah.
Abilene Christian was the top team in turnovers forced per game in NCAA Division I as of Feb. 25, forcing 17.0 turnovers per game. The Wildcats also checked in as the national leader in steals per game (10.8).
SCOUTING TARLETON STATE
• Abilene native Billy Gillispie won his 200th career game on Jan. 30 against Utah Tech. Gillispie has won 70 games at Tarleton State, tied for the most wins he's had at any of his six stops as a head coach (he won 70 games at Texas A&M from 2004-07.
• Tarleton State ranks second in the country (behind ACU) in forced turnovers per game. While ACU is forcing 17.5 turnovers per game in WAC play, the Texans are forcing 16.23 per game.
• The Texans are seventh in the country in steals per game at 10.0 per game (ACU leads the country in steals per game with 10.8.
• Freddy Hicks returned to the floor for the Texans last week after he left the game in the second half against ACU on Jan. 23 with an injury. He is 21 points short from notching 1000 points as a Texan, the first to accomplish the feat in the D1 era.
• Dantwan Grimes is one of the top reserves in the WAC. He is 10th in the league minutes played per game in WAC play (30 minutes, 33 seconds per game) and is the only player in the top 10 not to have started a game. He is 19th in the league in scoring (10.85 points per game).
• Grimes led the Texans in scoring with 14 points in a 67-56 loss at ACU on Jan. 23.
SCOUTING UT-ARLINGTON
• The Wildcat and Mavericks played one of the best and most entertaining of the WAC season on Jan. 25 as the Mavs walked out of Moody Coliseum with a 79-76 overtime win.
• Lance Ware, UTA's 6-10 grad transfer, leads the Mavericks in scoring at 14.0 ppg. He had 18 points, 14 rebounds, five blocks, and two steals in a dominant performance in UTA's win over ACU.
• Ware has scored in double figures in 20 of the 22 games he's played this season and has recorded double-doubles in nine games this season.
• Raysean Seamster, a 6-8 junior forward, is averaging 11.2 ppg and 4.8 rpg for the Mavs. He had 16 points and six rebounds in the win over ACU on Jan. 25.
