The ACU men’s basketball team held one of the nation’s best scoring teams to its season-low in points Wednesday night in Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats (14-10, 9-4 SLC) bounced back from their loss to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday with a convincing 81-67 victory over Houston Baptist.
Entering the game, the Huskies (3-19, 3-10 SLC) were averaging over 81 points per game but were last in NCAA in points allowed per game (97.7 PPG). Finishing with 67 points, it was their lowest total of the season.
“I didn’t know that, that’s good,” Head Coach Golding said. “We definitely need to pat our guys on the back for that. We needed to challenge our guys on that, and I thought we did a really good job responding.”
Sophomore forward Clay Gayman scored 14 of the Wildcats first 28 points and finished the night with 19 points on 7-10 shooting and five rebounds.
“They’re a big team, but tonight it was one of those nights where I stepped up,” Gayman said. “On any other night, somebody can step up, but it’s just a matter of who’s feeling it and who’s not.”
Gayman is averaging 8.7 points per game this season but has scored in double figures in his past four consecutive games.
Early in the game, ACU got off to an explosive start defensively, forcing six turnovers before the Huskies had their first field goal make. They also made passing the ball an important part of their game, finishing with 24 assists.
“I think one of the better things we did earlier in the year was pass the basketball,” Golding said. “We went through a stretch where we couldn’t score the ball earlier in the year, but we’ve gotten back to moving the ball around.”
Looking ahead, ACU travels south to play Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (10-15, 6-8 SLC) Saturday at 3:30 p.m.
Golding’s strategy for their upcoming game is focused on a higher power.
“Pray, that’s a good thing right there,” Golding said. “We got to continue to pray and hope the good Lord has got a good plan for us, and we got to continue to work.”
