In their final game inside Moody Coliseum for almost a month, the Wildcats beat the Texas State University Bobcats by 72-60. 

The Wildcats held the lead for the game’s duration after scoring at the 18:58 mark in the first half. The lead swelled to as much as 16 as the Wildcats continued to build momentum throughout the game. 

A key piece of the Wildcats’ success was their defense as they held the Bobcats to shoot just 40.5% from the field and 37.5% from behind the three-point line.

“I thought that’s as good as we’ve been defensively,” said Head Coach Brette Tanner. 

Senior guard Hunter Jack Madden led the team in scoring with 23 points on 7-11 shooting from the field and 6-8 from three. Madden added four rebounds and assists before fouling out late in the second half. 

“He shot with confidence,” Tanner said. “You’re open, you shoot it.” 

The Wildcats also got significant contributions from their bench, putting up 24 points compared to the Bobcats’ three points from their bench. 

“The thing I am most proud of is that guys came in off the bench and were ready to go,” Tanner said. “Extremely proud of those guys.” 

The Bobcats were unable to get their offense running for the majority of the game, making just two of their first nine shots through the 8:30 mark in the first half. 

Both teams have been known to play a physical style of basketball, which led to the 52 fouls between both teams. 

Tanner was unhappy with the number of fouls committed but was pleased with his team’s response to their mistakes.

“We fouled too much,” he said. “But when we foul we tend to play better.” 

Despite the win, Tanner wants the team to commit fewer turnovers. 

“We’ll get there,” he said. “Once we cut our turnovers down, I think we’ll start seeing even more success.”

The Wildcats played their second Conference USA game on Wednesday against Kennesaw State University in Kennesaw, GA. They fell to the Owls by a final score of 84-78, the team’s first loss since Nov. 9.

The game between the Wildcats and Owls was one of several games featured in the Conference USA – Western Athletic Conference challenge taking place between the two conferences. ACU played in two of these games, losing to both Middle Tennessee University and Kennesaw State. As of Nov. 20 Conference USA leads the WAC 6 wins to 4.

The Wildcats held the lead at halftime by a score of 42-40 after starting the game shooting 51.7 percent from the field and 57.1 percent from three.

The Owls responded in the second half on the shoulders of Simeon Cottle who scored 22 points in 36 minutes. Cottle was perfect from the free-throw line, going 10-10 from the stripe. The Owls had key contributions from Adrian Wooley, who played all 40 minutes and scored 17 points, and Jamil Miller who had 17 points on 5-6 shooting in 30 minutes.

The Wildcats’ Quion Williams led the team with 19 points and six rebounds but failed to make a three-point field goal, going 0-3 from behind the arc. Leonardo Bettiol added 18 points before fouling out.

Fouling has been an issue for the Wildcats to start the year as the team has logged 107 through its first five games, 21.4 per game with 32 and 25 in their last two games respectively. Despite the high number of fouls, the Wildcats only turned the ball over seven times against the Owls; a season low for the team.

The Cats will look to get back in the win column Monday against Southern Mississippi University in the first of two games the team will play in Bozeman, Montana as it competes in the Basketball Travelers Invitational.

The Golden Eagles will enter the tournament with a 2-2 record and will face Montana State University before playing the Wildcats. Inversely, the Wildcats will gain an advantage by facing the Golden Eagles for their first game of the tournament while USM will be on the tail end of back-to-back games.

The Bobcats will host the tournament and look to take advantage of two smaller opponents after losing four out of five to start the season. However, the Bobcats are scoring just 75 points per game compared to the Golden Eagles’ 85 and the Wildcats’ 82.