Bearkats Host Abilene Christian Monday at 6 p.m.
1/24/2016 6:22:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SAM HOUSTON (10-10, SLC 5-2) vs. ABILENE CHRISTIAN (8-11, SLC 3-3)
Tipoff: 6 p.m. at Bernard G. Johnson Coliseum
Radio: KSAM 101.7 FM
TV: American Sports Network
AMERICAN SPORTS NETWORK
Monday's Sam Houston versus Abilene Christian men's basketball game will be telecast nationwide on American Sports Network on DirecTV 640 and Dish 432. Also streaming is available via the Southland Digital Network at www.southland.org/watch and the Southland app for Apple and Android devices.
BEARKATS VERSUS WILDCATS ALL-TIME SERIES
In a series that started in 1924 and includes 12 years in the Lone Star Conference, Sam Houston and Abilene Christian have met 35 times on the basketball floor. The Bearkats have 21 victories and ACU 14. Since the Wildcats joined the Southland, Sam Houston is 3-0, winning 70-51 and 80-63 in Abilene in 2014 and 2015 and 71-49 in Huntsville last season.
SOUTHLAND CONFERENCE STANDINGS
Sam Houston enters Monday's tilt with a 10-10 overall record while the ACU Wildcats are 8-11 this year. The Bearkats rank fifth in the league standings, having won five of their seven Southland games. Abilene Christian stands sixth in the league standings with a 3-3 mark.
LAST TIME OUT
Both the Bearkats and the Wildcats are coming off road losses Saturday. Stephen F. Austin defeated Sam Houston 76-64 to stay unbeaten 6-0 in the Southland. SFA jumped out to a 13-2 lead and were up by as many as 17 points in the opening period. Sam Houston cut the margin to single digits late in the game but could not catch up. Aurimas Majauskas led the team with 17 points.
ACU fell 74-60 to Incarnate Word. Jovan Crnic led the Wildcats with 14 points while Jaylen Franklin added 12. Abilene Christian started strong, hitting four of its first five shots to bolt out to a 10-2 lead. The Cardinals rallied to go up 34-27 at halftime and led the rest of the way.
ABILENE CHRISTIAN LEADERS
Wildcats scoring leader Jaylen Franklin ranks as the Southland's eighth leading scorer with a 15.5 average. The Cats' Jaren Lewis leads ACU with 5.9 rebounds per contest.
BEARKAT SOUTHLAND LEADERS
Aurimas Majauskas and Dakarai Henderson rank 10th and 15th in scoring in the Southland with respective averages of 14.5 and 13.3 points. Majauskas also stands No. 6 in the league in field goal pct. (.553). Torry Butler is the league's seventh-leading rebounder with 6.5 boards per contest. Jamal Williams stands eighth in the league in assists with 4.4 per game this season.
Majauskas, a 6-8 junior post player, was the back-up to Southland “Defensive Player of the Year” Michael Holyfield last season. Dakarai Henderson, a 6-2 junior guard, was the first player off the bench in 2015.
Jamal Williams, a 6-4 sophomore guard who also was a key reserve, has taken over as the Bearkats' point guard in conference play. The trio has accounted for 37.0 of Sam Houston's 75.0 points per game this season. Majauskas leads the team with a 14.5 average while Henderson and Williams add 13.3 and 9.5 per game, respectively.
RED-SHIRT FRESHMEN STEPPING UP
Two red-shirt freshmen, 6-6 Albert Almanza and 6-0 Josh Delaney, have stepped up for the Kats. Almanza scored 13 points and pulled down five rebounds in his first college start Monday in an 87-76 victory over Nicholls. Almanza has averaged 9.1 points in Southland action. Both can score from beyond the arc. Almanza is 33-of-77 (.429) and Delaney is 25-of-63 (.397) from three-point range for the year.
FOUR TRANSFERS HELPING BEARKATS
Junior college transfers 6-1 Jalin Barnes (Barton County), 6-5 Torry Butler (Three Rivers Community College), 6-8 Andre Sands (Casper College) and 6-0 Jovante' Spivey (South Georgia State) have stepped in for the Sam men this season.
Butler leads the Kats with 6.5 rebounds per game and owns a 6.6 scoring average. Spivey is the team's fourth-leading scorer with a 7.5 average. Barnes and Sands average 4.3 and 4.1 points, respectively. Butler (17 starts), Barnes (12 starts) and Spivey (9 starts) all are averaging more than 21 minutes per contest.
BENCH HAS PLAYED IMPORTANT ROLE
Sam Houston is averaging 24.2 bench points per game this season. Nine players on the roster are averaging more than 14 minutes per game playing time.
COACH HOOTEN SAYS
“Abilene Christian is one of the most improved teams in the league this year. We're going to have to play with intensity and eliminate the mistakes. We came into the SFA game averaging only 9.3 turnovers per game in conference play but had 11 in the first half in Nacogdoches. We can't dig ourselves a hole like that against anyone in this league.”
NEXT UP FOR THE BEARKATS
Following the matchup Monday with ACU, Sam Houston begins a three-game road swing with games at Houston Baptist Saturday, January 30;at Lamar in Beaumont Monday, Feb. 1 and at A&M-Corpus Christi Saturday, Feb. 6.
