Tweet
Contributed by Lance Fleming ACU Associate Director of Athletics for Media Relations
ABILENE - ACU men's basketball coach Joe Golding announced his team's complete 2016-17 schedule Friday, and for the first time since beginning the transition to NCAA Division I affiliation in 2013-14, the ACU men's basketball team will play a team coming off an appearance in the NCAA Final Four.
On Friday, Nov. 25 - the day after Thanksgiving - the Wildcats will be in Norman, Okla., to take on the Oklahoma Sooners, who last year finished 29-8 and reached the NCAA Final Four where they lost to eventual national champion, Villanova, 95-51, in the semifinals. The Sooners - led by head coach Lon Kruger - lost four of their top six scorers from last year's squad, returning only Jordan Woodard (13.0 points per game) and Khadeem Lattin (5.6 ppg).
ACU's other non-conference NCAA Division I games will feature a same-season home-and-home against Charleston Southern and road games at New Hampshire, New Mexico, Sacramento State and San Francisco. Those six teams (including OU) finished a combined 75-81 last season (9-21 by Charleston Southern) with two (OU to the NCAA and New Hampshire to the CIT) reaching post-season tournaments beyond their own conference tournaments.
The non-conference schedule will provide the Wildcats a good test, but shouldn't be the daunting slate they've faced in each of their first three seasons at the Division I level when they've faced the likes of Maryland, Duquesne, Iowa, Portland, Cal-Riverside, Colorado State, Nebraska, Drake, TCU, Oakland, Houston, Boise State, Grand Canyon, Towson and Xavier.
"This schedule is probably more fair to our guys than the ones we've played our first three years of this transition," ACU head coach Joe Golding said. "We've got a good mix of teams on this year's schedule as opposed to some of those schedules we've played the last three years. We'll be traveling to some new places (New Hampshire and South Carolina), which will give us a chance to make more people aware of ACU. I'm looking forward to getting this thing started and how this group will play this season."
Golding's team is one of the up-and-coming teams in the Southland Conference and in mid-major basketball. Reigning Southland Conference Freshman of the Year, Jaylen Franklin, returns to the starting lineup, along with fellow sophomores Jaren Lewis, Hayden Howell and Hayden Farquhar. They'll be joined by senior Jovan Crnic, juniors Isaiah Tripp, Drake Green and Diamante Langston, and freshmen B.J. Maxwell, Payten Ricks, Trey Lenox, Kolton Kohl and Jalone Friday.
The Wildcats finished 13-18 overall and 8-10 in the Southland Conference, a record that would have been good enough for them to qualify for the Southland Conference Post-Season Tournament had they been eligible. ACU won't be eligible for conference or NCAA post-season tournaments until the 2017-18 season when their four-year transition ends.
ACU will open the season on Friday, Nov. 11, with a home game against Schreiner before going to Durham, N.H., the next Thursday (Nov. 17) to take on the Wildcats of the University of New Hampshire, which beat ACU, 86-75, last season in Abilene. UNH finished 20-13 last year and reached the second round of the CIT. The Wildcats will then be back at home on Tuesday, Nov. 22, when they host Charleston Southern in a 7 p.m. game.
The Wildcats will take on the Sooners on Friday, Nov. 25, at 2 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center, the first time the Wildcats have played at OU since Dec. 6, 1982, when the Sooners beat the Wildcats, 110-61, behind 51 points from freshman Wayman Tisdale. He set the OU single-game record for field goals in a game that night with 22, a mark that hasn't been broken since that night. ACU is 0-2 all-time against the Sooners with the other loss coming on Dec. 1, 1969, when the Sooners took an 83-59 victory.
ACU will venture to The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M., on Wednesday, Nov. 30, to take on the New Mexico Lobos, who are coming off a 17-15 season in 2015-16. That game will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the venerable arena on the UNM campus. The Pit opened on Dec. 1, 1966, with New Mexico defeating ACU, 62-53. A few days after the game against New Mexico, the Wildcats will be in Charleston, S.C., to take on Charleston Southern on Dec. 3 before returning home for a pair of non-Division I games (Northern New Mexico on Dec. 10 and Randall University on Dec. 14).
The Wildcats will then go back on the road for four straight games: Dec. 17 at Sacramento State and Dec. 19 at San Francisco before taking a break for the Christmas holidays. ACU will open the conference season on the road for back-to-back games at New Orleans (Dec. 29) and Southeastern Louisiana (Dec. 31).
ACU's Southland Conference schedule features nine home games and nine road games, including a home game (Saturday, Jan. 7) against three-time defending league champion Stephen F. Austin. The Wildcats will play home-and-home games against New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana, Central Arkansas, Incarnate Word, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Sam Houston State, and will play single games against SFA (home), Lamar (home), Nicholls (away), Northwestern State (home), McNeese (away) and Houston Baptist (away).
More...
ABILENE - ACU men's basketball coach Joe Golding announced his team's complete 2016-17 schedule Friday, and for the first time since beginning the transition to NCAA Division I affiliation in 2013-14, the ACU men's basketball team will play a team coming off an appearance in the NCAA Final Four.
On Friday, Nov. 25 - the day after Thanksgiving - the Wildcats will be in Norman, Okla., to take on the Oklahoma Sooners, who last year finished 29-8 and reached the NCAA Final Four where they lost to eventual national champion, Villanova, 95-51, in the semifinals. The Sooners - led by head coach Lon Kruger - lost four of their top six scorers from last year's squad, returning only Jordan Woodard (13.0 points per game) and Khadeem Lattin (5.6 ppg).
ACU's other non-conference NCAA Division I games will feature a same-season home-and-home against Charleston Southern and road games at New Hampshire, New Mexico, Sacramento State and San Francisco. Those six teams (including OU) finished a combined 75-81 last season (9-21 by Charleston Southern) with two (OU to the NCAA and New Hampshire to the CIT) reaching post-season tournaments beyond their own conference tournaments.
The non-conference schedule will provide the Wildcats a good test, but shouldn't be the daunting slate they've faced in each of their first three seasons at the Division I level when they've faced the likes of Maryland, Duquesne, Iowa, Portland, Cal-Riverside, Colorado State, Nebraska, Drake, TCU, Oakland, Houston, Boise State, Grand Canyon, Towson and Xavier.
"This schedule is probably more fair to our guys than the ones we've played our first three years of this transition," ACU head coach Joe Golding said. "We've got a good mix of teams on this year's schedule as opposed to some of those schedules we've played the last three years. We'll be traveling to some new places (New Hampshire and South Carolina), which will give us a chance to make more people aware of ACU. I'm looking forward to getting this thing started and how this group will play this season."
Golding's team is one of the up-and-coming teams in the Southland Conference and in mid-major basketball. Reigning Southland Conference Freshman of the Year, Jaylen Franklin, returns to the starting lineup, along with fellow sophomores Jaren Lewis, Hayden Howell and Hayden Farquhar. They'll be joined by senior Jovan Crnic, juniors Isaiah Tripp, Drake Green and Diamante Langston, and freshmen B.J. Maxwell, Payten Ricks, Trey Lenox, Kolton Kohl and Jalone Friday.
The Wildcats finished 13-18 overall and 8-10 in the Southland Conference, a record that would have been good enough for them to qualify for the Southland Conference Post-Season Tournament had they been eligible. ACU won't be eligible for conference or NCAA post-season tournaments until the 2017-18 season when their four-year transition ends.
ACU will open the season on Friday, Nov. 11, with a home game against Schreiner before going to Durham, N.H., the next Thursday (Nov. 17) to take on the Wildcats of the University of New Hampshire, which beat ACU, 86-75, last season in Abilene. UNH finished 20-13 last year and reached the second round of the CIT. The Wildcats will then be back at home on Tuesday, Nov. 22, when they host Charleston Southern in a 7 p.m. game.
The Wildcats will take on the Sooners on Friday, Nov. 25, at 2 p.m. at the Lloyd Noble Center, the first time the Wildcats have played at OU since Dec. 6, 1982, when the Sooners beat the Wildcats, 110-61, behind 51 points from freshman Wayman Tisdale. He set the OU single-game record for field goals in a game that night with 22, a mark that hasn't been broken since that night. ACU is 0-2 all-time against the Sooners with the other loss coming on Dec. 1, 1969, when the Sooners took an 83-59 victory.
ACU will venture to The Pit in Albuquerque, N.M., on Wednesday, Nov. 30, to take on the New Mexico Lobos, who are coming off a 17-15 season in 2015-16. That game will coincide with the 50th anniversary of the venerable arena on the UNM campus. The Pit opened on Dec. 1, 1966, with New Mexico defeating ACU, 62-53. A few days after the game against New Mexico, the Wildcats will be in Charleston, S.C., to take on Charleston Southern on Dec. 3 before returning home for a pair of non-Division I games (Northern New Mexico on Dec. 10 and Randall University on Dec. 14).
The Wildcats will then go back on the road for four straight games: Dec. 17 at Sacramento State and Dec. 19 at San Francisco before taking a break for the Christmas holidays. ACU will open the conference season on the road for back-to-back games at New Orleans (Dec. 29) and Southeastern Louisiana (Dec. 31).
ACU's Southland Conference schedule features nine home games and nine road games, including a home game (Saturday, Jan. 7) against three-time defending league champion Stephen F. Austin. The Wildcats will play home-and-home games against New Orleans, Southeastern Louisiana, Central Arkansas, Incarnate Word, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Sam Houston State, and will play single games against SFA (home), Lamar (home), Nicholls (away), Northwestern State (home), McNeese (away) and Houston Baptist (away).
More...