Utah Valley Wolverines (12-3, 2-0 WAC) at Abilene Christian Wildcats (8-6, 0-1 WAC)
Abilene, Texas; Saturday, 4 p.m. EST
BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE: Wolverines -7.5; over/under is 140.5
BOTTOM LINE: Abilene Christian hosts Utah Valley after Rich Smith scored 22 points in Abilene Christian’s 79-64 loss to the Utah Tech Trailblazers.
The Wildcats have gone 5-1 at home. Abilene Christian ranks fifth in the WAC with 13.4 assists per game led by Smith averaging 4.3.
The Wolverines are 2-0 against WAC opponents. Utah Valley is the WAC leader with 26.3 defensive rebounds per game led by Jackson Holcombe averaging 5.1.
Abilene Christian makes 44.6% of its shots from the field this season, which is 6.0 percentage points higher than Utah Valley has allowed to its opponents (38.6%). Utah Valley averages 13.1 more points per game (83.5) than Abilene Christian gives up (70.4).
The matchup Saturday is the first meeting of the season between the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Bradyn Hubbard is averaging 15.1 points and 1.7 steals for the Wildcats. Chilaydrien Newton is averaging 8.5 points over the last 10 games.
Holcombe is averaging 16.6 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.7 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.5 blocks for the Wolverines. Tyler Hendricks is averaging 2.6 made 3-pointers over the last 10 games.
LAST 10 GAMES: Wildcats: 5-5, averaging 67.1 points, 27.2 rebounds, 12.0 assists, 10.8 steals and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 42.1% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.0 points per game.
Wolverines: 9-1, averaging 81.6 points, 36.5 rebounds, 19.9 assists, 10.2 steals and 5.8 blocks per game while shooting 51.4% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 64.0 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.