A COMMEMORATIVE PRINT ISSUE RECOGNIZING THE ACU MEN’S BASKETBALL HISTORIC 2020-21 SEASON ACUOPTIMIST.COM | Monday, March 29, 2021 | 1
WILDCAT MADNESS
ACU STUNS TEXAS, 53-52 FOR PROGRAM’S FIRST NCAA TOURNAMENT VICTORY
BY JAMIE SCHWABEROW |NCAA PHOTOS VIA GETTY IMAGES
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - MARCH 20: The Abilene Christian Wildcats take on the Texas Longhorns in the first round of the 2021 NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament held at Lucas Oil Stadium on March 20, 2021 in Indianapolis, Indiana BY OWEN SIMPSON EDITOR IN CHIEF
The Wildcats forced 23 turnovers and held Texas to a season-low 52 points in their first NCAA Tournament victory in school history March 20. “We showed tremendous heart tonight, a ton of adversity all night long, couldn’t get the ball to go in the basket, couldn’t find a way to score, but just continued to guard and found a way to get on the offensive glass,” said head coach Joe Golding. “So just an incredible win for our university and for our basketball team.” Junior forward Joe Pleas-
ant posted 11 points and eight rebounds on 4-for-9 shooting Saturday night, but no points were more important than two made free throws with 1.2 seconds remaining to put the Wildcats over the Longhorns, 53-52. “It’s an incredible feeling for the whole team,” Pleasant said. “We were real excited about this game, excited that we got an opportunity to play a good program, a good team like Texas and it feels even better to get a win like this.” ACU (24-4, 13-2) is the first 14-seed to advance to the Round of 32 since 2016 (Stephen F. Austin). Despite shooting just 30% as a team,
the Wildcats relied on their defense to extend their run into the tournament. Golding said that he believed Pleasant would hit both free throws to take the lead. Pleasant shot 59% from the free throw line on the season, the worst on the team. “We talked about what we were going to do when he made them both,” Golding said. “I knew he was making them. He works harder than anybody in our program. He lives in the gym. He’s there every day working on his game.” The Wildcats made the NCAA Tournament for the first time in program histo-
ry back in 2019 but suffered a blowout loss to Kentucky. Pleasant said this trip and team is different. “I felt like two years ago we were just kind of happy to be there,” Pleasant said. “It was first time experience, and this team, we were ready to take on another challenge, not just to be here, but to compete and try and get some wins down here.” Texas (19-8, 11-6 Big 12) drops its fourth-consecutive loss in the Round of 64 dating back to 2015. “Just really feel for our guys right now because up until tonight we had a phenomenal season, and this obviously isn’t the way that
any of us envisioned it ending, but this is one of the facts of the NCAA tournament,” said head coach Shaka Smart. “One team gets to stay, and one team goes home.” The Wildcats advance to the Second Round to face UCLA March 22 at 4:15 p.m. at Bankers Life Fieldhouse, the home of the Indiana Pacers. The game will air on TBS. “We’re going to have to get them focused,” Golding said. “Obviously our guys, they’re excited right now, but we have to get back to the hotel. It’s almost 1 o’clock in the morning. We got a long night ahead of us as a coaching staff.”
Wildcats conclude historic season against Bruins BY OWEN SIMPSON EDITOR IN CHIEF
ACU’s historic season reached its conclusion in the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament March 22 against UCLA, 67-47. After shocking the Texas Longhorns in the First Round, the Wildcats were hoping to become the first 14-seed in 25 years to reach the Sweet 16, but poor shooting sealed their fate. “We had a 10-point game. We’ve been there before. And then we had some good looks to start the second half, they just didn’t go down,” said head coach Joe Golding. “And then obviously UCLA executed offensively and they were able
to separate, hit some threes and got it to 20 points and then it’s going to be tough.” The Wildcats led 12-8 early, but they struggled to keep pace offensively with UCLA (20-9, 13-6 Pac-12). “They’ve got really, really good players,” Golding said. “They iso-ed us a bunch today and played us oneon-one, and if we go help and run around, they’ve got shooters all around the floor.” Senior guard Mahki Morris led the Wildcats in scoring with a season-high 14 points and 6-for-12 shooting. Despite the Wildcats’ loss, Golding believes the program is heading in the right direction. “It’s a brotherhood for the rest of our life,” Gold-
ing said. “We’re starting to build that at ACU over the last five or six years. It’s a family now. It’s a brotherhood that will last the rest of their life.” After their win against Texas, ACU (24-5, 13-2 SLC) wasn’t taken lightly by the Bruin coaching staff and players. “They’ve got some kids that play unbelievably hard,” said UCLA head coach Mick Cronin. “I thought the key to today’s game was the fact that we did not take them lightly. We had tremendous respect for them, their coaching, their opponent and their players.” While the season has reached its end, the memories will last for the players, coaches and fans.
“It’s a special, special, special group of dudes, man,” Golding said. “They just have incredible attitudes, and it’s special. You can say what you want; It is what it is. Abilene Christian beat the University of Texas 48 hours ago, and that’s an incredible feat by an incredible group of men that will be remembered forever for it.” All players were granted a redshirt season with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and have the option to return next year. The Wildcats have five seniors on the team (guards Coryon Mason, Mahki Morris, Reggie Miller and Paul Hiepler and center Kolton Kohl) that contributed 36 points per game in the 2020-21 season. No announcement re-
garding their return has been announced, but Hiepler and Kohl are expected to forgo an extra season. Golding said after a long and tumultuous season filled with postponements and cancellations, he’s looking forward to time off before next season’s preparation. “I’m going on a road trip, my man,” Golding said. “Hopefully I can find some water and a beach. I’m going to take my wife, and we’re going to get away for a little bit and hit the pause button. We’ve got to hit the pause button a little bit and get some rest, but then we’ve got to recruit and we’ve got to continue to build our program.”
SPORTS
ACUTV covered watch party
PAGE 2
SPORTS
Basketball season recap
PAGES 6-8
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2 | Monday, March 29, 2021 | SPORTS
ACUTV captures watch party in Wildcat Stadium BY CARRIE JOHNSTON ASSISTANT SPORTS DIRECTOR
After working together all season to put on broadcasts from the Teague Center, ACUTV, a student-employed broadcast studio with a staff of 50 students across all majors, and the Department of Athletics teamed up to host ACU’s March Madness watch party. But this was not the first event that both parties had to cover on March 20. Earlier that afternoon, ACUTV broadcasted the season’s final home volleyball game from the Teague Center on ESPN+. With most of their equipment in Teague, ACUTV had to move everything to Wildcat Stadium, set up all their cameras in places that have been previously scouted out and test everything to make sure things would work correctly, all in a matter of hours. “We shot the volleyball game,” said Hutton Harris, video production manager and director of ACUTV, “then we moved all our cameras to the football field. We got there around 3:30, and then we started to set up cameras the way we wanted them. Saturday’s preparations were a little crazy, but it’s nothing we haven’t done before.” After only getting a couple of hours of rest, Harris and his student staff met, ate dinner and talked about their goals and what they needed to accomplish at the watch party. “One goal that we had was for the students to enjoy this since this was a celebration of Abilene Christian,” Harris said. “Yes, we may have wanted to get great shots for the archives, but I also wanted all the students and my staff to have fun and gain experience.” But the main goal was for students to enjoy themselves but also be able to archive exciting shots for generations to come.” Then, the student team went out to their assignments. One student was Caleb Hemsworth, a sophomore information systems major from Colleyville. He had worked at ACUTV since 2020, but this was his first opportunity to work on a field camera during a large event. “I have never worked something of this scale before,” Hemsworth said, “so I was a little bit nervous but excited at the
same time. It was amazing to be close to the students and being able to capture their excitement.” Throughout the game, ACUTV was responsible for capturing and filming an assortment of content. Along with filming student reactions throughout the game, they were in charge of filming competitions media timeouts. But most importantly, they were able to record reactions to the game’s final moments. “As someone who has grown up with ACU for the past 30 years, I never thought I would see my school in March Madness,” said Harris. “One thing that I said a lot during the game was that we won’t ever be this close to making the second round. As a staff, we have watched the team this whole year, now the whole world was watching them, which was exciting.” Then Joe Pleasant made those free-throws and changed ACU forever.” Once the watch party and celebrations ended, ACUTV had a lot to finish that night. They needed to tear down or cover their equipment, export footage they gathered that night to send it to multiple people asking for it and created videos highlighting the event themselves. This kept some of the crew up late hours that night and Harris up until about 6:30 a.m. that morning. Hemsworth had no regrets working the game and would do it again in a heartbeat. “It was great to be there, though it was tough to focus, we were able to accomplish so much,” Hemsworth said. “I would absolutely do it again in a heartbeat.” With this being one of the last major events that ACUTV had to cover for the 2020-2021 school, Harris felt that doing this watch party was important to the staff, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic canceled many events they cover. “COVID cut football season short and cut a lot of other opportunities that we typically have,” Harris said, “so we needed to do this as a staff. But it was also important for the university to see how exciting this night was. Though this was one of the last things we will do this year, it was probably one of the most important things we do.”
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TOUGHER TOGETHER Even in the face of adversity, dedication to excellence always wins. Congratulations on a great season, Wildcats! From the proud ACU Alumni at First Financial Bank, we can’t wait for next season! Back Row: Caleb Robinson, Kyle McVey, Dayton Borger, Will Christoferson, Clay Trumble, Brad Magers, Bret Pinson Front Row: Amy Lane, Hannah Rimmer, Dillon Cobb, Sarah Bacon, Pam Brown Not Pictured: Shelley Allen, Brittany Balcomb, Ella Burgess, Brian Burton, Clint Davidson, John Ferguson, Abby Fortson, Geo Goodwin, Lauren Harp, Yancey House, Sheri Kendrick, Tim Laws, Jeff Leving, Austin Mayes, Tyler Mayes, Marcus Morris, Tim Pittman, Joe Rocco, Kirk Thaxton, Kyle Whisenhunt
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MEDIA GALLERY | Monday, March 29, 2021 | 4
FANS CELEBRATE HISTORIC SEASON AT WATCH PARTIES
BY RILEY FISHER | PHOTOGRAPHER Wildcat fans fill a room in the Abilene Convention Center to watch their team compete against the Bruins.
BY RILEY FISHER | PHOTOGRAPHER Wildcats leap in the air after junior forward Joe Pleasant's game-winning free throw.
BY RILEY FISHER | PHOTOGRAPHER A student shouts with anticipation in the last minute of the game.
BY DAVID MITCHELL | PHOTOGRAPHER Wildcats leap in the air after junior forward Joe Pleasant's game-winning free throw.
BY DAVID MITCHELL | PHOTOGRAPHER Students hold up their dog for the camera.
BY DAVID MITCHELL | PHOTOGRAPHER Wildcats wait for the result of a three-point shot.
BY DAVID MITCHELL | PHOTOGRAPHER Shocked Wildcat fans stare at the scoreboard as the Wildcats finish their game against Texas.
| Monday, March 29, 2021 | 5
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HIGHLIGHTS 6 | Monday, March 29, 2021 | SPORTS
OF THE SEASON
BY DAVID MITCHELL | PHOTOGRAPHER
Freshman guard Logan McLaughlin competes with sophomore guard Jacob Smith.
Nov. 28, 2020
Wildcats crowned Gulf Coast Showcase Champions BY OWEN SIMPSON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Senior center Kolton Kohl led the Wildcats with 16 points and six rebound for a 70-58 victory over Omaha Nov. 28. The win concluded the Beach Bubble tournament, crowning the Wildcats champions for the event. “We just wanted to make a statement for our team,” Kohl said. “This
was a great opportunity and a great starting point for us.” Head coach Joe Golding praised Kohl’s performance on the court Saturday to help start the year 3-0. “Kolton Kohl is an all-conference player,” Golding said. “We think he’s the best big in the league, and he’s getting better and better.”
ACU (3-0) jumped out to an early 19-8 lead, but Omaha (1-2) would respond to tie the game at half, 28-28. “It was a quick turnaround for us having the day off yesterday,” Golding said. “Our offense was really bad the first half. I thought what changed in the second half was getting some offensive rebounds.” The Wildcats’ 15-1 run
near the start of the second half propelled them to the victory in Fort Myers, Florida. “I’m really proud of our guys,” Golding said. “We put these guys in a tough situation, but they rallied and found a way.” Junior forward Clay Gayman also made an impact on offense with 14 points on 4 for 8 shooting. Up next, the Wildcats
return to Abilene to face Howard Payne Dec. 1 at 7:30 p.m. The game can be streamed live on ESPN+, and it will be the first time the Wildcats face off in their new basketball court. Current renovations of Moody Coliseum are expected to keep the Wildcats in Teague for the remainder of the 2020-21 season and a portion of next sea-
son. Volleyball will also occupy Teague for the time until renovations are finalized. “I’m excited for our guys,” Golding said. “Anytime you win a championship, you want to celebrate. It’s a great statement for our program and our university. At the same time, we have to get back to Abilene and get back to work.”
Dec. 1, 2020
McLaughlin set new season-high in home victory BY OWEN SIMPSON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Freshman guard Logan McLaughlin set a new career-high early in the 2020 season with five 3-pointers and 17 points to lead the Wildcats over Howard Payne Dec. 1, 81-51. “Logan is going to be a really good player for us in this program,” head coach
Joe Golding said. “He’s young, he’s a freshman. He’s coming off a torn ACL that he’s still working through, but each and every day he gets better.” McLaughlin also had 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Despite the 30-point victory to improve to 4-0 on the season, Golding was less than pleased with the performance.
“It wasn’t great. There were a lot of different disappointing things that happened tonight,” Golding said. “The one big thing that stares out at you is 19 turnovers and 12 in the first half.” ACU (4-0) struggled to protect the ball but was successful in forcing turnovers on the defensive side. The Wildcats
finished with 14 steals and Howard Payne (0-3) turned the ball over 29 times down the stretch. Senior guard Reggie Miller led the Wildcats with five steals, something ACU relies on. “Defense is who we are,” Miller said. “We want to put pressure on the ball and force turnovers. Our defense fuels our offense.”
Dec. 1 win also was the Wildcats’ first home game in Teague Center, as Moody Coliseum undergoes renovations for the season and likley for a portion of next season. “I know our guys were excited to come back and play,” Golding said. “I’m really impressed, and it’s going to be a fun atmosphere. We’ve still got to get used to it, but we’re
really appreciative of the work behind the scenes to put that together.” Up next, the Wildcats stay home for a matchup against Tarleton (1-1). “They were one of the most dominant Division II teams in the country,” Golding said. “Now we’re getting the chance to play them. It’s going to be a war Saturday night.”
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SPORTS | Monday, March 29, 2021 | 7
BY RYLAND MALLETT | PHOTOGRAPHER
Junior forward Joe Pleasant yells in celebration after a successful play.
Dec. 9, 2020
ACU fell short of historic upset versus No. 17 TTU BY OWEN SIMPSON EDITOR IN CHIEF
The Wildcats led 36-35 with just under seven minutes to play, challenging No. 17 Texas Tech at home on Dec. 9. The Red Raiders would inevitably grab their fifth win of the season, but it was a much more challenging matchup than
most anticipated. “They believe in being aggressive,” head coach Chris Beard said. “They didn’t say, ‘Hey, we’re fouling too much, let’s try another defense.’ They kept throwing it right at us. They gave us all we could handle tonight.” ACU (5-1) held Texas Tech (5-1) to just 28% shooting, it’s lowest shooting performance in nearly six years.
“We knew going in it was two really good defensive teams,” head coach Joe Golding said. “We did a great job defensively in the first half, and we stayed in the game because of our defense.” The Red Raiders made only four field goals in the second half, as majority of their points came from the free throw line in the final
20 minutes. “We’re not going to quit,” Golding said. “This defense is not going to quit; it’s who we are. We’ve got a mature team that is resilient and pushed one of the best teams in the country to a one or two-possession game.” Senior guard Coryon Mason led the way on offense with 14 points on
5-for-8 shooting, and the Wildcats shot 36%. Despite scoring four more field goals than the Red Raiders, Texas Tech outscored ACU 19 points at the free throw line. Up next, Texas Tech faces another Southland Conference opponent, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Dec. 12 at 1 p.m. The Wildcats will look to
avenge their first loss of the year Saturday versus McMurry at 1 p.m. The game will be streaming live on ESPN+. “This team is fun to coach. I’ve had more fun with this team than any other team,” Golding said. “They’re protecting the culture, and I look forward to continuing the journey with them.”
Feb. 24, 2021
Pleasant’s career-high lifted ACU over Bearkats BY OWEN SIMPSON EDITOR IN CHIEF
Junior forward Joe Pleasant led the Wildcats to their eighth-consecutive win Feb. 24 in the Teague Center with an 86-72 victory over Sam Houston State. Pleasant scored a career-high 24 points and drained a game-sealing 3-pointer with just 49 sec-
onds remaining. “We just tried to work the ball inside, and if there was nothing there, we’d just pass back outside,” Pleasant said. “But we were really focussing on feeding inside, and we did that tonight.” ACU (19-3, 11-1 SLC) moves into sole possession of first place in the Southland Conference standings with the win over Sam
March 3, 2021
Houston State (17-7, 10-2 SLC). “This was a late-February Southland Conference heavyweight fight,” said head coach Joe Golding. “We happened to make plays down the stretch, and we met a lot of adversity and our guys stuck in there to fight.” Junior forward Clay Gayman left the game early in the first injury due to
a head injury. “We obviously want to be very precautionary with that,” Golding said. “I think our medical staff did a great job, but obviously our thoughts and prayers are with Clay right now.” Later in the second half, senior guard Coryon Mason was ruled out for the remainder of the game due to cramping, but he isn’t expected to miss any time.
In the final minutes of the game, the Wildcats relied on Pleasant and sophomore forward Airion Simmons. Both big men scored the last two 3-pointers of the game to seal the victory. “Joe [Pleasant] has been good for us all year,” Golding said. “He draws a lot of attention. As we’ve gone down the stretch, he’s been really disciplined.”
Simmons also finished with 12 points and five rebounds, including a perfect 2-for-2 from beyond the arc. Up next, the Wildcats enter a two-game road trip to face Central Arkansas Saturday at 5 p.m. “It’s a tough road trip for us,” Golding said. “We’ve got to recover, and then we’ve got to get to work. They’ve always played us really well.”
ACU overcame 15-point deficit versus Lumberjacks BY OWEN SIMPSON EDITOR IN CHIEF
The Wildcats trailed by as many as 15 points in the first half, but senior center Kolton Kohl’s last-second tip-in shot completed the comeback win over Stephen F. Austin, 63-61 Wednesday night for the program’s first-ever season sweep against the Lumberjacks. “I thought our guys showed a ton of toughness tonight,” said head coach Joe Golding. “When you get in March, it doesn’t look pretty at times. We found us again tonight, and we got back to guarding the basketball well.” While the Wildcats earned a bounce-back win after falling to Central Arkansas Feb. 27, Golding said turnovers were an issue. “We didn’t take care of the ball,” Golding said. “We talked about taking care of the basketball, and they won the turnover battle.” Kohl finished with 11 points and five rebounds. His biggest score coming just before the buzzer. “We let Reggie [Miller] go one-on-one,” Kohl said. “It was really good
defense by them and fell short, and I put myself in the right position to make a play.” While the Wildcats had an opportunity to call timeout on the final possession of the game, Golding decided to let his team create an opportunity for themselves. “It’s so hard to run set plays because of their pressure, so we thought we’d let Reggie pull the last shot,” Golding said. “The shot doesn’t go in, and Kolton puts it up and in. We were going to let our guys play in that situation.” Senior guard Coryon Mason posted 15 points on 4-for-7 shooting but left the game late in the second half after falling awkwardly on his ankle. Golding expects him to be available March 6 for the final game of the season and junior forward Clay Gayman to return for postseason play after recovering from a concussion. “He’ll be fine,” Golding said. “It’s just a sprained ankle, and he’ll be ready to go. Clay is day-by-day, so I would think by Katy he’ll be good to go, but you never know.”
With the win, ACU (204, 12-2 SLC) notches its third-consecutive 20-win season for the first time in program history and keeps its hopes alive for a Southland Conference Regular Season Championship. The Wildcats currently sit third in the standings behind Sam Houston State and Nicholls. In order to finish first, ACU will need a win March 6 vs. Incarnate Word and losses from Sam Houston State and Nicholls to finish their seasons. ACU can also clinch a 2-seed and a triple-bye in the conference tournament with a win March 6 versus Incarnate Word and a loss from either Sam Houston State or Nicholls March 6. The Bearkats play Stephen F. Austin March 6. The Lumberjacks will not be participating in this year’s conference tournament due to NCAA sanctions imposed this season. “We’ll control what we can control; What we can control right now is Incarnate Word,” Golding said. “We’ll take whatever seed we can get, and we’ll go to Katy and give it our best shot.”
BY DAVID MITCHELL | PHOTOGRAPHER
Redshirt senior forward Kolton Kohl dunks over several Yellow Jackets.
8 | Monday, March 29, 2021 | SPORTS
BY RILEY FISHER | PHOTOGRAPHER
Joe Pleasant, Tobias Cameron and Coryon Mason celebrate their win leading to the Southland Conference
March 12, 2021
Wildcats advanced to conference championship BY OWEN SIMPSON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The Wildcats advanced to the Southland Conference Tournament Championship March 12 after a 93-71 win against the Lamar Cardinals. ACU (22-4, 13-2 SLC) led throughout the entirety of the game and saw the return of senior guard Coryon Mason and junior forward Clay Gayman who missed
previous games due to injury. “I think a big key for us going into Katy was getting the week off and getting healthy,” said head coach Joe Golding. “We got back in a rotation where we can wear people out. This team is really good when we have all of our pieces, and it showed tonight.” The Wildcats shot over 61% and saw four players score in double figures.
“We knew the start of the game would be important. We knew that if we got off to a good start, that would help us,” said Golding. “I thought our guys did a tremendous job of doing that and wearing them down.” Lamar (10-18, 6-10 SLC) entered Friday’s game on a six-game winning streak and a 70-69 upset victory over Sam Houston
State the previous night. However, the Cardinals’ 16 turnovers proved costly down the stretch, as the Wildcats converted 29 points off of turnovers. “They are a very good defensive team. Their big guy [Kolton] Kohl has just gotten better and better every year,” said Lamar head coach Tic Price. “He’s long, and he gave us
problems in the paint.” Senior center Kolton Kohl led the Wildcats with 20 points, 14 of which came earlier in the first half. Sophomore forward Airion Simmons also stacked the scoresheet, tying his career-high with 16 points. The Wildcats return to the Southland Conference
Championship Saturday night at 8:30 p.m. to face Nicholls for the first time this season. The game will air on ESPN2. “Obviously a lot of respect for Nicholls; they’re the season champs,” said Golding. “We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us. We’re just honored to have the privilege to be there tomorrow night.”
March 13, 2021
ACU claimed Southland Tournament Championship BY OWEN SIMPSON EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The Wildcats clinched their second-consecutive Southland Conference Tournament title with a 79-45 blowout win against Nicholls to clinch an automatic bid in the NCAA Tournament. “I’m really proud of our guys,” said head coach Joe Golding. “I think we came down here for 80 minutes and guarded well. This group has been special from the start, and this group has made it as fun as any year.” The Wildcats never trailed in both tournament games capping off conference play in dominant fashion. ACU (23-4, 13-2 SLC) shot 45% from the field and drained 11 triples to overwhelm the Colonels.Golding said despite the impressive win on the national stage, he’s not concerned about what seed they receive in the NCAA Tournament. “These guys were a good team from the start to the finish,” Golding said. “We can’t control anything, and there’s been a lot of adversity for us this year. We’ll take whatever seed we get, but the good thing is we’re getting on that plane tomorrow and getting the opportunity to play.” The Wildcats also dominated the rebound game, 53-34, which Nicholls head coach Austin Claunch thought was an important factor in the game. “Rebounding was a huge issue,” said Claunch. “It’s not that they’re necessarily more physical, but they were disciplined. Their physicality and offensive rebounding was a huge issue. That was one of the best teams we’ve played all year.”
Junior guard Damien Daniels led the charge early on offense finishing with 13 points on an efficient 6-for-7 shooting. “Damien did some good things tonight,” junior forward Joe Pleasant said. “He can make plays; he can hit shots. He was just out there doing what he was capable of.” Pleasant also finished with 13 points and totaled eight rebounds in the victory. In total, 10 Wildcats scored and four were in double figures. Senior guard Reggie Miller finished with a double-double for 11 points and 10 rebounds. He said the team faced many trails throughout the year to find themselves where they are now. “Throughout the season we faced a lot of adversity, but we stuck together as a team,” Miller said. “Throughout it all, I thought we stuck together as a team. I personally thought it was our best win of the season tonight.” The Wildcats will play in Indianapolis March 19 or March 20 in the NCAA Tournament matchup. Their opponent will be revealed on Selection Sunday at 5 p.m. The victory in Katy marks the final conference game in the Southland for ACU before it transitions to the WAC this summer. Golding said that his team and the organization are thankful for the Southland. “I just want to thank the Southland Conference,” Golding said. “They gave us the opportunity to go Division I basketball, and ACU was a just a little Division II school. We will play hard for the Southland Conference, and we are forever in debt to the conference.”
ACU MEN’S BASKETBALL TEAM To all the players, coaches and staff, WHAT A PHENOMENAL YEAR! With much support and love, Dr. Samuel Maroney, Dr. Clifford DePrang, Dr. Dale Funk, and the ASMO Team #GoWildcats
Samuel S. Maroney, D.O.
Clifford L. DePrang, M.D.
Dale A. Funk, M.D.
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