The Wildcats (6-5) are now 5-0 in the Moody renovated Moody Coliseum after taking home a 83-64 win against the Texas A&M-Commerce Lions (4-7).
ACU got out to a quick start in the first against a Lions team who comparatively, is a much bigger team than the Wildcats. A dunk from senior forward Joe Pleasant sparked a quick 7-0 spurt that gave the Wildcats a 22-14 lead with 10:57 left in the first half.
The Wildcats continued to grow throughout the first half, the team 36-18 with 2:31 to play in the first half, and they entered the locker room at halftime leading 39-26. According to head coach Brette Tanner, he credited the strong start for helping set the tempo to win the game.
“I think we played really well, we did a great job in the way we started the game,” Tanner said, “The way we start usually sets the tempo, and we started the game turning them over. We started the game limiting them to one shot. And when you can do that, then that just sets the tone for the game.”
Starting in the second half, the Lions tried to make up some ground, cutting ACU’s lead to nine points. But the Wildcats quickly turned things around with a 10-0 run, and got to a 20-point lead with 11:05 left in the game. The Wildcats led by 26 points during the afternoon matchup, but ultimately took home the 19-point win.
ACU finished the game shooting the ball ball 51 percent from the field, 40 percent from the 3-point line and 73 percent from the free-throw line. They also caused the Lions to turn the ball over 18 times, scoring 18 points off the turnovers. Meanwhile, the Wildcats only had nine turnovers. ACU also outrebounded the Lions 30-26 allowing for 16 second chance points.
After the game, Tanner said he was happy to see the Wildcats’ implement a multifaceted offense, and his hoping the team is finally finding their groove after having many the new faces on the roster starting this season.
“We scored a lot of different ways today and that’s a complete basketball game, you know, it’s a complete basketball team,” Tanner said. “We have a lot of new faces, like I talked about all year, for the first time in a long time. It’s taken some time to find itself. But I’m really excited because I feel like that we’re starting to find our rhythm. Guys are starting to figure out their roles. But if they do that and, you know, I think maybe we’re clicking hopefully at about the right time.”
Five Wildcats finished the Saturday afternoon matchup in double digits. Graduate guard Tobias Cameron and sophomore guard and transfer from Chicago State, Ali Abdou Dibba, both finished with 10 points and five rebounds. Junior guard Hunter Jack Madden had 11 points shooting 2-2 from the 3-point line and and Pleasant finished the game with 15 points.
Ultimately leading the Wildcats was redshirt senior guard Immanuel Allen. He finished the night with a career-high 19 points shooting 57 percent from the field and 10-11 from the free-throw line. According to Allen, he was proud of how his team played, and his team still needs to work on playing a full 40 minutes of a game.
“I thought the team played really well,” Allen said. “A big emphasis for us was completing the 40-minute game and obviously, we played really well in the first half. So at halftime our biggest thing was to make sure we completed a whole 40 minute game. We started off kind of slow in the first half, but we started to pick it up. We’re almost there, but not yet. We still have work to do.”
Now, the Wildcats prepare to enter their final two games of their non-conference schedule in hopes to be best prepared for the beginning of conference play.
First, they travel Bakersfield, California to take on the California State University-Bakersfield Roadrunners. The game will take place just over a year after the two teams first matchup, where the Wildcats ultimately defeated the Roadrunners in the Teague Center, 69-59.
“I know I sound like a broken record, but we want to get better,” Tanner said. “We got to go all the way to California right after finals week. So practice is never really that great during finals week for obvious reasons. Then we got to jump on a plane Friday and head to California and play against a really good Bakersfield team that gave us fits here last year. They’re really good defensively. They play hard, and we’re going to have to match their intensity. If we can do that, maybe we’ll have a chance.”
The Wildcats and Roadrunners rematch will begin at 9 p.m. on Saturday with the game streaming live on ESPN+ and the ACU Sports Network.
