BEAUMONT, Texas – A rivalry which originally began during the 1961-62 season will be renewed Saturday afternoon in the Montagne Center when the Lamar University Cardinals take the floor against Abilene Christian. The Cardinals will step on the court looking to right the ship – after having dropped three of their last four and coming off a nine-point loss to UIW Wednesday – while the Wildcats enter the weekend in fourth place overall just a game back of first place in the win column.
 
The Cardinals (4-12/2-5 Southland) will head into the weekend in a two-way tie for ninth in the Southland standings, just a half game back of New Orleans, and 1.5 games back of three other teams. LU is currently a game up in the loss column over Central Arkansas.
 
The Wildcats enter the weekend showdown as one of the Southland's hottest teams having won three straight and seven of their past eight. The only hiccups during that stretch were a seven-point loss at Sam Houston State and a scheduled game at A&M-Corpus Christi (Feb. 1) being postponed. Due to the postponement, ACU has had extra time preparing for Saturday's contest against the Cardinals.
 
The Wildcats hang their hat on the defensive end of the floor, leading the Southland Conference in scoring defense. ACU allows opponents a Southland low 58.6 points per game, while the Cardinals average better than 63 points per game.
 
ACU's doesn't rely on one player every night offensively. The Wildcats have only two players averaging in double figures led by Kolton Kohl's 11.6 points per game. Abilene Christian also doesn't hurt itself with a ton of turnovers averaging fewer than 14 miscues per game.
 
Junior Davion Buster has returned to form for the Red and White over the course of the past two games. After not reaching double figures in consecutive games, he has averaged 18 points per game in the team's last two outings. He leads the Cardinals averaging nearly 15 points per game. He is one of four Cardinals averaging in double figures. Included among that list is freshman Kasen Harrison (10.8 ppg) who is in the hunt to lead the league in assists – currently ranked fourth in his rookie season.
 
Saturday's meeting will be the 34^th time the two school's have met on the basketball court. Abilene Christian holds five-game edge, 19-14 (.576) over LU in the series. Big Red is looking to reverse the most recent trend having dropped the past seven meetings to the Wildcats. LU holds an 8-6 (.571) advantage over ACU in Beaumont.
 
Saturday's game is slated to begin at 4:30 p.m. from the Montagne Center. It will be broadcast live on Newstalk 560 KLVI and streamed live on ESPN+.