The Wildcats lost their sixth straight game, falling to California Baptist University 60-54 on Saturday. They now have a record of 0-4 in Western Athletic Conference games and 8-11 on the season.
After failing to win a game in the last month, ACU hosted CBU, hoping to break the streak and get its first conference win. After leading for 29 minutes and having the advantage in nearly every stat, the Wildcats appeared to be able to pull off the win.
Despite the month-long losing streak, Head Coach Brette Tanner still believes in his program and his players.
“Trust me when I say this, we’re gonna turn this thing around, it’s what we do,” Tanner said. “I believe in me, my staff, I believe in the guys in the locker room.”
At the beginning of the game, ACU went on a 14-2 run that lasted for six minutes while forcing five CBU turnovers in the first five minutes that led to a six-minute scoring drought for the Lancers.
At the end of the first half, CBU went on a 12-4 run to trail by only four points at the half 28-24.
Throughout the game, the Wildcats’ defense was able to force CBU to turn the ball over and take bad shots late in the shot clock. ACU won the turnover battle 17-10 and scored 16 points off those turnovers.
Despite playing a clean game with only 10 turnovers, the Wildcats turned the ball over three times in the final two minutes in a four-point game allowing the Lancers to extend their lead.
Another weak spot for ACU was free throws, as both teams shot 21, but ACU made 12 compared to CBU’s 16.
Tanner said that the team needs to knock down free throws when there’s pressure.
“We’ve got to make free throws. That’s kind of our theme,” Tanner said. “You know it tends to be when the game’s on the line, it’s getting tight, right? We made those free throws the other night, but the game wasn’t tight. So, it’s a little easy. There’s no pressure.”
ACU has struggled to shoot the ball this season, and it showed on Saturday. The Wildcats shot 35% from the field, 29% from three, and 57% from the free-throw line.
Starter Hunter Jack Madden, senior guard from Sydney, Australia, experienced another scoreless night, his fourth in the last five games. Madden is normally an efficient scorer for the Wildcats but has been in a slump for the last month shooting 7% from three in the last five games.
“He’s got to toughen up, I told him that,” Tanner said. “I love him to death, but we got to stop feeling sorry for ourselves or its next man up mentality. He wants to do well but he’s got to fight through what he’s dealing with.”
Throughout the losing streak, Tanner has changed a few of the pieces in the starting lineup, but he has kept four of the starters the same, Madden, Quion Williams, Leonardo Bettiol and Rich Smith.
“That’s something I have to look at and evaluate, and it probably is time to make some shifts,” Tanner said.
ACU will host the No. 4 team in the WAC standings, Tarleton State University, on Thursday with hopes of getting back in the win column for the first time in a month.
