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CORPUS CHRISTI - Fresh off one of their best offensive performances of the season, the ACU Wildcats head to South Texas where their overall game will have to be at a season-best if they expect to upset Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in a Southland Conference contest.
Tuesday night's tipoff between the Wildcats and Islanders is set for 7 p.m. from the American Bank Center, which is situated a few hundred feet from the Gulf of Mexico. The game can be heard locally on 98.1 FM The Ticket with The Voice of the Wildcats Grant Boone calling the play-by-play action.
While the Wildcats enter the game at 12-15 overall, 7-7 in the league and in sixth place in the conference standings, the Islanders enter the contest at 20-6 and 11-3 and still with a chance to catch Stephen F. Austin (13-0) for the league's regular-season title, although they'll need a lot of help from SFA opponents to make that happen.
The Lumberjacks and Islanders are the only two teams in the league with 20 wins this season, mainly because they rank first and second, respectively, in scoring defense in the league, allowing 64.2 points per game (SFA) and 68.7 ppg (Corpus Christi) on the season.
The Wildcats were able to snap a two-game losing streak Saturday with a 91-80 win over Southeastern Louisiana, thanks mainly to an offense that put up 90-plus points in a game for the fourth time this season, but only the second time against an NCAA Division I opponent (100 points at Colorado State in a 108-100 double-overtime loss on Nov. 24).
ACU had five players in double figures, hit 54 percent of its shots from the floor (27 of 50), including 42.1 percent from 3-point range (8 of 19) and buried 29 of 34 free throws, including 26 of 31 in the second half. That second-half performance from the free throw line was important as the Wildcats were able to maintain their lead over the Lions, never letting their advantage slip below five points (68-63).
Freshman guard Jaylen Franklin - who scored 11 of his team-high 15 points in Sunday's second half - continues to lead the Wildcats in scoring at 15.8 ppg, while shooting 50.2 percent from the field (149 of 297). He's also been to the free throw line 171 times this season, hitting 108 of them and shooting 63.2 percent from the line. Sunday against the Lions, however, he was magnificent at the line, hitting 11 of 14 shots from the stripe.
Senior guard Parker Wentz has a chance to make ACU history Tuesday night against Corpus Christi. If Wentz - statistically the best 3-point shooter in ACU history - plays at all in the game against the Islanders, he will become ACU basketball's all-time leader in games played with 115, surpassing the duo of Rodney Fedell and Randall Moore, who both played 115 games from 1976-80.
Wentz is third on the team in scoring at 8.9 ppg, but he leads the Southland Conference in 3-point field goal percentage (45.5 percent) on 61 of 134 shooting from beyong the arc. Freshman forward Jaren Lewis came off the bench Sunday to record 10 points and eight rebounds, and he continues to be second on the team in scoring per game at 9.0 ppg.
Senior point guard Jalen Little scored 10 points and had four rebounds, four assists and three steals as he scored in double figures for the fifth time in the Wildcats' last six games. Prior to this recent stretch, Little had one career double-figure scoring game in his two years at ACU.
Junior forward Rashawn Thomas - who will be a candidate for numerous Southland Conference and NCAA post-season honors - leads the Islanders in scoring and is fourth in the league at 17.2 ppg, while leading the league in rebounding at 8.5 rpg.
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Tuesday night's tipoff between the Wildcats and Islanders is set for 7 p.m. from the American Bank Center, which is situated a few hundred feet from the Gulf of Mexico. The game can be heard locally on 98.1 FM The Ticket with The Voice of the Wildcats Grant Boone calling the play-by-play action.
While the Wildcats enter the game at 12-15 overall, 7-7 in the league and in sixth place in the conference standings, the Islanders enter the contest at 20-6 and 11-3 and still with a chance to catch Stephen F. Austin (13-0) for the league's regular-season title, although they'll need a lot of help from SFA opponents to make that happen.
The Lumberjacks and Islanders are the only two teams in the league with 20 wins this season, mainly because they rank first and second, respectively, in scoring defense in the league, allowing 64.2 points per game (SFA) and 68.7 ppg (Corpus Christi) on the season.
The Wildcats were able to snap a two-game losing streak Saturday with a 91-80 win over Southeastern Louisiana, thanks mainly to an offense that put up 90-plus points in a game for the fourth time this season, but only the second time against an NCAA Division I opponent (100 points at Colorado State in a 108-100 double-overtime loss on Nov. 24).
ACU had five players in double figures, hit 54 percent of its shots from the floor (27 of 50), including 42.1 percent from 3-point range (8 of 19) and buried 29 of 34 free throws, including 26 of 31 in the second half. That second-half performance from the free throw line was important as the Wildcats were able to maintain their lead over the Lions, never letting their advantage slip below five points (68-63).
Freshman guard Jaylen Franklin - who scored 11 of his team-high 15 points in Sunday's second half - continues to lead the Wildcats in scoring at 15.8 ppg, while shooting 50.2 percent from the field (149 of 297). He's also been to the free throw line 171 times this season, hitting 108 of them and shooting 63.2 percent from the line. Sunday against the Lions, however, he was magnificent at the line, hitting 11 of 14 shots from the stripe.
Senior guard Parker Wentz has a chance to make ACU history Tuesday night against Corpus Christi. If Wentz - statistically the best 3-point shooter in ACU history - plays at all in the game against the Islanders, he will become ACU basketball's all-time leader in games played with 115, surpassing the duo of Rodney Fedell and Randall Moore, who both played 115 games from 1976-80.
Wentz is third on the team in scoring at 8.9 ppg, but he leads the Southland Conference in 3-point field goal percentage (45.5 percent) on 61 of 134 shooting from beyong the arc. Freshman forward Jaren Lewis came off the bench Sunday to record 10 points and eight rebounds, and he continues to be second on the team in scoring per game at 9.0 ppg.
Senior point guard Jalen Little scored 10 points and had four rebounds, four assists and three steals as he scored in double figures for the fifth time in the Wildcats' last six games. Prior to this recent stretch, Little had one career double-figure scoring game in his two years at ACU.
Junior forward Rashawn Thomas - who will be a candidate for numerous Southland Conference and NCAA post-season honors - leads the Islanders in scoring and is fourth in the league at 17.2 ppg, while leading the league in rebounding at 8.5 rpg.
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