ABILENE, TX – When we played games… The ACU men’s basketball team excited the entire city with their first trip to the NCAA Division I tournament. The Wildcats were pumped to find out they were headed to Florida for their first round game against Kentucky.
This is the Southland Conference Tournament trophy and it belongs for the first time ever to the ACU Wildcats. After defeating New Orleans on Saturday, the Wildcats are now dancing on the big stage and they will take on a Blueblood. It’s the Kentucky Wildcats in Jacksonville, Florida, the state in which Jaren Lewis was recruited from and now he gets to play at least one more game back in his home state with his team and this team could not be more excited for the challenge.
Jaren Lewis said, “It will give a lot of my friends back home a chance to come see me play, a lot of my friends haven’t seen me play in college, they haven’t seen me play since high school so that will be big to get a chance for some of my friends to come out to Jacksonville, that will be really nice and I will enjoy that. We can be the first to make history, we can be the first to make our mark and it just feels great that we’re getting a chance to do that and it’s just a testament to everything we had to work for.”
Jaylen Franklin said, “Coach T promised Jaren a game back in Florida. He hasn’t had one but this is right on point and we just want to do this for him and his family and just go out there and compete.”
Payten Ricks said, “Right now it’s hard to soak it all in because it all happened so fast but I think. once we get the time to settle down and after the season it will really hit me.”
Joe Golding said, “We’re going to sell the story, Abilene, Texas. We’re going to sell the story of our school and we’re going to tell the story of our guys and that’s the unique thing and the best thing about it.”
While the energy is currently here in Abilene, that energy will be moving the East Coast in Jacksonville, Florida. The Wildcats are set to take on the other Wildcats, the Kentucky Wildcats, on Thursday.
Kentucky handled the Wildcats in the first round, but ACU will never forget their time on the big stage.
