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Contributed by Lance Fleming, Associate Director of Athletics for Media Relations
HAMMOND, La. - The ACU Wildcats' season-long issues on the road reared their ugly head once again Saturday as the Wildcats lost on the road for the 10 th time this season in an 81-60 loss to Southeastern Louisiana at the University Center.
The loss drops the Wildcats to 10-13 overall and 5-5 in the Southland Conference, while the Lions improve to 5-17 and 3-6. ACU will be back in action Monday at 7 p.m. when it takes on Lamar in Beaumont. The Wildcats knocked off Lamar, 80-71, last Saturday in Abilene.
The Wildcat offense couldn't figure out Southeastern Louisiana's zone defense, while Southeastern's offense had its way with the ACU defense. In five previous conference road games prior to Saturday, ACU had allowed opponents to shoot at a clip of 53.6 percent from the field, and Southeastern followed suit, shooting 57.7 percent from the floor (30 of 52).
"We were just not very good defensively," ACU head coach Joe Golding said. "They executed their offense and we didn't do anything about stopping their guards from getting into the lane. We didn't get stops, and that kept us from getting out in transition and getting easy buckets."
With Southeastern shooting at better than 57 percent in the game, the Wildcats were more often than not forced to contend with Southeastern's 2-3 zone defense, which limited ACU to 41.5 percent shooting from the floor (22 of 53) and contributed to 18 turnovers by the Wildcats. In six conference road games, the Wildcats have now committed 88 turnovers (14.7 per game) and shot just 40.0 percent from the field (125 of 312).
Southeastern carried a 36-26 lead into halftime after ACU shot just 37 percent in the first half (10 of 27 after hitting 7 of its first 11) compared to 60.8 percent by Southeastern (14 of 23). The Lions quickly extended that lead, outscoring the Wildcats 13-4 in the first four minutes of the second half to take a 49-30 lead.
Sophomore forward Drake Green , though, gave the Wildcats some spark off the bench with two rebounds in a steal over a span of 3:37 to help ACU reel off an 11-0 run to get back into the game. Freshman guard Jaylen Franklin had nine of his game-high 20 points in the run that pushed the Wildcats back into contention at 49-41 with 12:23 to play.
But Southeastern answered with a spurt of its own, outscoring the Wildcats 14-6 over the next four minutes to push its lead back to 16 points (63-47) and ACU would never get closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
ACU had averaged 14.0 turnovers per game in its first five conference road games, but had 18 Saturday that turned into 25 Southeastern points. The Lions also dominated the game in the paint, outscoring ACU 40-22, and off the bench where the Lions outscored the ACU reserves 33-16.
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HAMMOND, La. - The ACU Wildcats' season-long issues on the road reared their ugly head once again Saturday as the Wildcats lost on the road for the 10 th time this season in an 81-60 loss to Southeastern Louisiana at the University Center.
The loss drops the Wildcats to 10-13 overall and 5-5 in the Southland Conference, while the Lions improve to 5-17 and 3-6. ACU will be back in action Monday at 7 p.m. when it takes on Lamar in Beaumont. The Wildcats knocked off Lamar, 80-71, last Saturday in Abilene.
The Wildcat offense couldn't figure out Southeastern Louisiana's zone defense, while Southeastern's offense had its way with the ACU defense. In five previous conference road games prior to Saturday, ACU had allowed opponents to shoot at a clip of 53.6 percent from the field, and Southeastern followed suit, shooting 57.7 percent from the floor (30 of 52).
"We were just not very good defensively," ACU head coach Joe Golding said. "They executed their offense and we didn't do anything about stopping their guards from getting into the lane. We didn't get stops, and that kept us from getting out in transition and getting easy buckets."
With Southeastern shooting at better than 57 percent in the game, the Wildcats were more often than not forced to contend with Southeastern's 2-3 zone defense, which limited ACU to 41.5 percent shooting from the floor (22 of 53) and contributed to 18 turnovers by the Wildcats. In six conference road games, the Wildcats have now committed 88 turnovers (14.7 per game) and shot just 40.0 percent from the field (125 of 312).
Southeastern carried a 36-26 lead into halftime after ACU shot just 37 percent in the first half (10 of 27 after hitting 7 of its first 11) compared to 60.8 percent by Southeastern (14 of 23). The Lions quickly extended that lead, outscoring the Wildcats 13-4 in the first four minutes of the second half to take a 49-30 lead.
Sophomore forward Drake Green , though, gave the Wildcats some spark off the bench with two rebounds in a steal over a span of 3:37 to help ACU reel off an 11-0 run to get back into the game. Freshman guard Jaylen Franklin had nine of his game-high 20 points in the run that pushed the Wildcats back into contention at 49-41 with 12:23 to play.
But Southeastern answered with a spurt of its own, outscoring the Wildcats 14-6 over the next four minutes to push its lead back to 16 points (63-47) and ACU would never get closer than 12 points the rest of the way.
ACU had averaged 14.0 turnovers per game in its first five conference road games, but had 18 Saturday that turned into 25 Southeastern points. The Lions also dominated the game in the paint, outscoring ACU 40-22, and off the bench where the Lions outscored the ACU reserves 33-16.
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