After a 16-16 record last season, the men’s basketball team will begin its season on Monday against the McMurry University Warhawks in Moody Coliseum.
The Wildcats’ 16 wins earned them the fourth seed in the Western Athletic Conference tournament, where they lost in the first round to Seattle University.
In its exhibition game on Oct. 25, the team defeated Texas A&M Corpus Christi 82-77. Bradyn Hubbard, senior forward from Tulsa, Oklahoma, was the Wildcats’ leading scorer with 25 points.
“To go against a quality opponent on the road was really pleasing to me,” Head Coach Brette Tanner said. “It showed me that this team has a chance to do some things in the non-conference.”
Tanner is entering his fourth season in the position.
In total, Tanner lost seven players from last season, three of whom were starters. Hubbard is one of two returning starters from last season, along with Rich Smith, senior guard from Bronx, New York. Hubbard was the team’s third leading scorer last season, averaging 11 points per game, enough to earn him one of the five spots on the preseason All-WAC team.
“We’ve been through a lot this offseason,” said Hubbard. “We’re going to keep working during practice and keep getting closer as time goes on, but we’re ready to start the season and have a great first half of the season.”
Tanner retained five other players along with the two starters:
- Yaniel Rivera, junior guard from Bayamon, Puerto Rico
- Christian Alston, sophomore guard from Memphis, Tennessee
- Ma’Shy Hill, junior forward from Austin
- Cade Hornecker, redshirt junior forward from Amarillo
- Joseph Venzant, redshirt senior guard from Midland
Six new faces joined the team this year, with three transfers and three freshmen:
- Zy Wright, senior guard, Gordon State
- Cbo Newton, redshirt sophomore guard, Grambling State
- Joseph Scott, junior forward, Mineral Area College
- Tylan Lewis, freshman guard from Nashville, Tennessee
- Isaiah Carrillo, freshman guard from Abilene
- Isaac Dye, freshman guard from State College, Pennsylvania
Of the three transfers, only one has previous experience at the Div. I level– Newton, who averaged seven PPG in 29 games, nine of which he started.
Tanner said his team will be a better offensive team this season after averaging 70.6 PPG last season. He also said the team will shoot the ball better from the perimeter after shooting 30% from three-point range on 4.6 attempts per game. In the exhibition game, the team shot 47.1% going 8-17 from beyond the arc.
Tanner said the Wildcats will have one of the most difficult schedules in mid-major basketball this season. The team’s schedule features three NCAA tournament teams from last season: Omaha, No. 8 BYU and No. 13 Arizona. The game against BYU will be aired on national television on TNT.
ACU was selected to finish third in the conference in the preseason coaches’ poll behind Utah Valley and California Baptist.
In what will be the WAC’s final year of competition before it is rebranded to the United Athletic Conference, the conference schedule will look different this season. With seven teams, including ACU, the conference schedule will feature the Wildcats playing each WAC opponent three times compared to the two times in previous years.
After Monday’s game, the Wildcats will be in Moody Coliseum for their next two games against Omaha and Southwestern Adventist.
