The Wildcats will enter Western Athletic Conference play on Thursday against Utah Tech with an 8-5 record after winning 75-68 in their game against Texas Southern University on Dec. 22.

The win came after the team dropped its last two games against Big 12 opponents No. 1 Arizona and No. 10 BYU. Despite losing by double digits in both games, the Wildcats’ defense shone, forcing 19 turnovers against Arizona and 18 against BYU — both season highs for each team.

“That’s something I’ve been waiting for our team to do,” Head Coach Brette Tanner said. “I don’t think we’ve been very good defensively this year. I think our offense has gotten a little bit better, but our defense has taken a hit, so to see that, I was really pleased.”

ACU was able to keep the score close against BYU for most of the game until the 11:58 mark of the second half, when the Wildcats trailed 54-52. BYU then went on a 13-0 scoring run, led by the game’s leading scorer, AJ Dybansta, with 35 points, putting the game out of reach.

Cbo Newton, redshirt sophomore guard from Ruston, Louisiana, led the team in scoring in both games, with 17 points against Arizona and 23 points against BYU.

Against Texas Southern, Bradyn Hubbard, senior forward from Tulsa, Oklahoma, led the team in scoring with 22 points.

Hubbard and Newton are both top three in scoring for the team, averaging 15.9 and 9.3 points per game, respectively.

Tanner said the two have both been playing some of their best basketball of the season.

Against Texas Southern, the Wildcats trailed until 12 minutes were left in the game, when they took the lead and did not give it back.

Tanner said he felt his team needed to experience that situation and thinks it will help going into conference play.

The Wildcats will look to defend their 5-0 home record against two Utah schools: Utah Tech University on Thursday and Utah Valley University on Saturday.

Utah Tech enters the game with an 8-7 record, including one WAC win over Southern Utah. ACU defeated UTU both times the teams played last season and lost to UVU twice.

UVU currently has an 11-3 record, but that will change before Saturday because of the team’s Thursday game against Tarleton State.

After their games against UTU and UVU, the Wildcats will hit the road but stay in Texas to face Tarleton State and the University of Texas at Arlington.