2020–21 Abilene Christian Wildcats men's basketball team

The 2020–21 Abilene Christian Wildcats men's basketball team represented Abilene Christian University (ACU) in the 2020–21 NCAA Division I men's basketball season. The Wildcats, led by tenth-year head coach Joe Golding, were members of the Southland Conference. Due to renovations at their usual home arena of Moody Coliseum, they played their home games on temporary stands and court set up on the indoor tennis courts of the Teague Special Events Center.[1]

2020–21 Abilene Christian Wildcats men's basketball
NCAA tournament, second round
ConferenceSouthland Conference
Record24–5 (13–2 Southland)
Head coach
Associate head coachBrette Tanner
Assistant coaches
  • Antonio Bostic
  • Jon Trilli
Home arenaTeague Special Events Center
Seasons
2020–21 Southland Conference men's basketball standings
Conf Overall
Team W   L   PCT W   L   PCT
Nicholls 14 2   .875 18 7   .720
Abilene Christian 13 2   .867 24 5   .828
Sam Houston State 13 3   .813 19 9   .679
Stephen F. Austin* 12 3   .800 16 5   .762
Northwestern State 9 7   .563 11 18   .379
New Orleans 8 7   .533 10 15   .400
Lamar 6 10   .375 10 18   .357
Incarnate Word 5 9   .357 8 14   .364
Southeastern Louisiana 5 10   .333 8 18   .308
McNeese State 4 10   .286 10 14   .417
Houston Baptist 4 11   .267 6 19   .240
Central Arkansas 4 12   .250 5 19   .208
Texas A&M–CC 2 13   .133 5 19   .208
*Ineligible for postseason due to postseason ban
2021 Southland tournament winner

This was the Wildcats' final season in the Southland Conference. ACU and three other schools from Texas will leave that league on July 1, 2021 to join the Western Athletic Conference. They finished the season 24-5, 13-2 in Southland Play to finish in 2nd place. They defeated Lamar and Nicholls to be champions of the Southland tournament. They received the conference’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament where they upset Texas in the first round before losing in the second round to UCLA.

Previous season

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The Wildcats finished the 2019–20 season 20–11, 15–5 in Southland play to finish in a tie for second place. As the No. 2 seed, they received a double-bye to the semifinals of the Southland tournament, however, the tournament was cancelled amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Roster

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2020–21 Abilene Christian Wildcats men's basketball team
Players Coaches
Pos. # Name Height Weight Year Hometown
G 1 Logan McLaughlin 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) 185 lb (84 kg) Fr Carrollton, Texas
F 3 Airion Simmons 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 264 lb (120 kg) So Little Rock, Arkansas
G 4 Damien Daniels 5 ft 7 in (1.7 m) 140 lb (64 kg) Jr Kansas City, Missouri
F 5 Cameron Steele 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 205 lb (93 kg) Fr Excelsior, Minnesota
F 10 Reggie Miller 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 150 lb (68 kg) Sr Houston, Texas
G 11 Tobias Cameron 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m) 210 lb (95 kg) RS Jr Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia
G 12 Mahki Morris 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m) 184 lb (83 kg) Sr Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
G 13 Payton Brooks 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) 193 lb (88 kg) Fr Abilene, Texas
G 15 Immanuel Allen 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 215 lb (98 kg) RS So Lake Oswego, Oregon
G 20 Coryon Mason 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Sr Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
F 21 Jameson Richardson 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 230 lb (104 kg) Fr Duke, Oklahoma
F 32 Joe Pleasant 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Jr Overland Park, Kansas
G 33 Paul Hiepler 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 190 lb (86 kg) Sr Camarillo, California
C 34 Kolton Kohl 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) 240 lb (109 kg) RS Sr San Angelo, Texas
F 42 Clay Gayman 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 220 lb (100 kg) Jr Nevada, Missouri
Head coach
Assistant coach(es)

Legend
  • (C) Team captain
  • (S) Suspended
  • (I) Ineligible
  • (W) Walk-on

Roster
Last update: December 6, 2020

Schedule and results

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Date
time, TV
Rank# Opponent# Result Record Site (attendance)
city, state
Non-conference Regular season
November 25, 2020*
10:00 am, FloHoops
vs. East Tennessee State
Gulf Coast Showcase
W 70–47  1–0
Hertz Arena (50)
Estero, FL
November 27, 2020*
1:00 pm, FloHoops
vs. Austin Peay
Gulf Coast Showcase
W 80–72  2–0
Hertz Arena (50)
Estero, FL
November 28, 2020*
10:00 am, FloHoops
vs. Omaha
Gulf Coast Showcase
W 70–58  3–0
Hertz Arena (50)
Estero, FL
December 1, 2020*
7:30 pm, ESPN+
Howard Payne
West Texas Classic
W 81–51  4–0
Teague Special Events Center (212)
Abilene, TX
December 5, 2020*
7:00 pm, ESPN+
Tarleton State
West Texas Classic
W 69–48  5–0
Teague Special Events Center (296)
Abilene, TX
December 9, 2020*
6:00 pm, ESPN+
at No. 17 Texas Tech L 44–51  5–1
United Supermarkets Arena (4,175)
Lubbock, TX
December 12, 2020*
7:00 pm, ESPN+
McMurry W 83–46  6–1
Teague Special Events Center (210)
Abilene, TX
December 16, 2020*
7:00 pm, ESPN+
Hardin–Simmons W 95–73  7–1
Teague Special Events Center (228)
Abilene, TX
December 22, 2020*
4:00 pm, SECN
at Arkansas L 72–85  7–2
Bud Walton Arena (4,110)
Fayetteville, AR
December 29, 2020*
7:00 pm
Dallas Christian W 82–44  8–2
Teague Special Events Center (194)
Abilene, TX
Southland Regular season
January 2, 2021
3:00 pm, ESPN+
Lamar W 83–65  9–2
(1–0)
Teague Special Events Center (245)
Abilene, TX
January 6, 2021
7:00 pm
at Houston Baptist W 66–63  10–2
(2–0)
Sharp Gymnasium (140)
Houston, TX
January 9, 2021
3:30 pm
at Texas A&M–Corpus Christi Postponed due to COVID-19 issues American Bank Center 
Corpus Christi, TX
January 16, 2021
3:00 pm, ESPN+
Southeastern Louisiana W 76–42  11–2
(3–0)
Teague Special Events Center (332)
Abilene, TX
January 20, 2021
8:30 pm, ESPN+
at Sam Houston State L 57–64  11–3
(3–1)
Bernard Johnson Coliseum (707)
Huntsville, TX
January 23, 2021
3:00 pm, ESPN+
Central Arkansas W 93–58  12–3
(4–1)
Teague Special Events Center (411)
Abilene, TX
January 27, 2021
7:30 pm, ESPN+
Stephen F. Austin W 82–62  13–3
(5–1)
Teague Special Events Center (382)
Abilene, TX
January 30, 2021
6:30 pm
at Incarnate Word W 75–67  14–3
(6–1)
McDermott Center (176)
San Antonio, TX
February 1, 2021
7:00 pm
at Texas A&M–Corpus Christi
rescheduled from January 9
Postponed due to COVID-19 issues American Bank Center 
Corpus Christi, TX
February 6, 2021
4:30 pm
at Lamar W 77–62  15–3
(7–1)
Montagne Center (1,239)
Beaumont, TX
February 8, 2021
7:00 pm
at Texas A&M–Corpus Christi
rescheduled from February 1
W 82–69  16–3
(8–1)
American Bank Center (464)
Corpus Christi, TX
February 10, 2021
7:00 pm, ESPN+
Houston Baptist W 88–59  17–3
(9–1)
Teague Special Events Center (294)
Abilene, TX
February 13, 2021
7:30 pm, ESPN+
Texas A&M–Corpus Christi W 83–55  18–3
(10–1)
Teague Special Events Center (416)
Abilene, TX
February 20, 2021
4:00 pm
at Southeastern Louisiana Canceled due to weather University Center 
Hammond, LA
February 24, 2021
7:30 pm, ESPN+
Sam Houston State W 86–72  19–3
(11–1)
Teague Special Events Center (507)
Abilene, TX
February 27, 2021
7:00 pm, ESPN+
at Central Arkansas L 82–84  19–4
(11–2)
Farris Center (489)
Conway, AR
March 3, 2021
8:00 pm, ESPN+
at Stephen F. Austin W 63–61  20–4
(12–2)
William R. Johnson Coliseum (1,636)
Nacogdoches, TX
March 6, 2021
3:00 pm, ESPN+
Incarnate Word W 85–60  21–4
(13–2)
Teague Special Events Center 
Abilene, TX
Southland tournament
March 12, 2021
8:00 pm, ESPN+
(2) vs. (6) Lamar
Semifinals
W 93–71  22–4
Merrell Center 
Katy, TX
March 13, 2021
8:30 pm, ESPN2
(2) vs. (1) Nicholls
Championship
W 79–45  23–4
Merrell Center (1,205)
Katy, TX
NCAA tournament
March 20, 2021
8:50 pm, truTV, TNT[a 1]
(14 E) vs. (3 E) No. 9 Texas
First Round
W 53–52  24–4
Lucas Oil Stadium 
Indianapolis, IN
March 22, 2021
4:15 pm, TBS
(14 E) vs. (11 E) UCLA
Second Round
L 47–67  24–5
Bankers Life Fieldhouse 
Indianapolis, IN
*Non-conference game. #Rankings from AP Poll. (#) Tournament seedings in parentheses.
All times are in Central.

Source[2]

Notes

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  1. ^ The game against Texas, which was originally scheduled to air exclusively on truTV, was simulcasted on TNT after the Oregon-VCU game, which was scheduled to air on the latter network around the same time, was cancelled due to VCU having to withdraw from the tournament due to COVID-19 protocols.

References

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  1. ^ "ACU plans to move basketball games to Teague Events Center this season". October 28, 2020.
  2. ^ "2020-21 Men's Basketball Schedule". Abilene Christian University Athletics. Retrieved December 6, 2020.