University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
Vanderbilt
Cajuns' Shooting Woes Let Vanderbilt Slip Away Early
1/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Sunday, Jan. 2, 2005
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Maybe it was the nine-day layoff or the mystique of Vanderbilt's Memorial Gym with its odd sightlines and configuration. One thing was for sure – not much went right for Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team here Sunday evening in its first action since Dec. 23.
Louisiana-Lafayette (5-6) made its first field goal attempt of the game, a three-point shot by Tiras Wade, but misfired on its next 11 attempts. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt (9-4) rolled of a 19-0 run which swung the momentum in the early stages of a 71-44 victory for the Commodores..
The early dry spell seemed to be contagious. Louisiana-Lafayette couldn't seem to buy a basket the entire game, shooting a season-low 29 percent for the game making 16-of-56 field goal attempts.
The Cajuns had just six assists to 19 turnovers and didn't reach 40 points until 2:06 remained in the contest. In fact, Louisiana-Lafayette was held to single-digits through the first 14:50 of the opening half.
Brian Hamilton and Tiras Wade combined to score 30 points and make 12 field goals. The problem was that the rest of the team accounted for only six field goals and 14 points – all of which came in the final 11 minutes of the contest with the Commodores leading by 20-plus points.
Until a Ross Mouton baseline jumper with 11:10 remaining, Hamilton and Wade had scored all 26 of the Cajuns points left to fend off the SEC-member Commodores by themselves.
Vanderbilt, which entered the game shooting above 40 percent from three-point range, used its most deadly weapon to pull away. VU made nine 3-point baskets led by five from Alex Gordon off the bench.
Both Hamilton and Wade led Louisiana-Lafayette with 15 points. Gordon scored a game-high 17 points to lead Vandy. Corey Smith and Julian Terrell joined Gordon in double-digits with 13 and 10 points respectively.
The loss snapped a modest two-game win streak for the Ragin' Cajuns overall. It also ended Louisiana-Lafayette's eight-game win streak in first games following the turn of a calendar year. Oddly enough, the last time the Cajuns were handed a defeat in the first game of a New Year was the 1995-96 season when South Alabama posted a 63-43 victory on Jan. 4, 1996 in Mobile, Ala.
Louisiana-Lafayette led 30 seconds into the contest after the three-pointer by Wade gave the visitors a 3-2 lead. The Cajuns held the lead for nearly two minutes as the Commodores turned the ball over on their next two possessions.
The Cajuns couldn't capitalize and extend their lead as the squad would go on to miss its next 11 field goal attempts following Wade's make.
VU grabbed the lead for good at 17:43 when Terrell grabbed a pass from Dawid Przybyszewski and slipped into the lane around defenders for an uncontested one-handed jam that put the hosts up 4-3.
Terrell's bucket was the first of 19 unanswered points by Vandy that gave the Commodores a 21-3 lead after Alex Gordon completed a four-point play with 13:08 remaining before the half.
The Cajuns were only down by five points, 8-3, at 16:24.
It was a series of four straight three-point makes by Gordon over a two-minute span that caused the game to slip away from Louisiana-Lafayette and put the Commodores in cruise control.
Gordon made a triple in the left corner at 15:25 to give the Commodores an 11-3 lead. Following the 15-minute media timeout Gordon nailed three-pointers on three straight possessions beginning at 14:15 to stretch the lead to 21-3.
Wade ended the Cajuns field goal drought at 12:20 when he rebounded a missed three-point attempt from Anthony Rhodman and got a baseline layup.
Louisiana-Lafayette hung around through the end of the first half as the defense limited Vanderbilt to just five points over the next nine minutes. The Cajuns outscored the Commodores 13-5 during that time frame with a Hamilton freebie at 3:30 trimming the Vandy lead to 26-16.
Hamilton's free throw capped off a string of seven unanswered points that helped Louisiana-Lafayette cut into a 26-9 Commodores lead.
Terrell ended the Cajuns run on the ensuing possession when he converted a reverse layup off a feed from Jason Holwerda to make it 28-16.
Louisiana-Lafayette was still within 12 points with 2:32 left in the opening half and had a shot to get back within 10 points after a missed triple by Gordon. However, Dwayne Mitchell had a outlet pass stolen by Holwerda near midcourt. Holwerda found Dan Cage at the top of the key for a three-pointer that stretched the Vandy lead to 31-16.
The Cajuns were down just 16 points at intermission despite the fact that only two players had scored and the team was shooting just 25 percent from the floor.
Wade got the Cajuns started in the second half with a three-point basket at 19:00 and Louisiana-Lafayette stayed within striking distance as the Commodores turned the ball over on their first three possessions and missed three of their first four field goal attempts.
Similar to the opening minutes of the first half, VU had a stretch of consecutive made three-point baskets that reopened a comfortable lead.
Leading 34-21 with 17 minutes left to play, Holwerda began a stretch where the Commodores would make three of their next four three-point attempts to open a 45-24 edge with 14:20 left to play.
UL Lafayette wouldn't go away quietly. The Cajuns used an 8-4 run to close the gap to 49-32 at 9:35 on Mitchell's first basket of the game.
The final margin of victory for Vanderbilt was aided by the Cajuns making just two field goals the rest of the way. VU outscored Louisiana-Lafayette 18-3 following Mitchell's dunk as the Cajuns went the next six minutes without a field goal and just three free throws made.
Louisiana-Lafayette will return to action and conclude non-conference play on Wednesday, Jan. 5 at the Cajundome in a game against Southern Illinois. Tipoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. as the Ragin' Cajuns put their 14-game, non-conference home win streak on the line against the Salukis (11-2) who have won seven straight since a 70-53 loss at Arkansas-Little Rock.
Box Score
Louisiana-Lafayette at Vanderbilt
01/02/05 4 pm at Nashville, Tenn. (Memorial Gym)
VANDERBILT 71, LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE 44
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE (5-6) Wade 6-17 1-2 15; Hamilton 6-8
3-8 15; Ford 2-7 2-2 7; Mitchell 1-5 3-9 5; Mouton 1-8 0-0
2; Gray 0-5 0-0 0; James 0-2 0-0 0; Davis 0-0 0-0 0; Cameron
0-3 0-0 0; Rhodman 0-1 0-0 0; Fobbs 0-0 0-2 0. Totals
16-56 9-23 44.
VANDERBILT (9-4) Gordon 5-8 2-3 17; Smith 5-5 2-2 13;
Terrell 4-6 2-4 10; Cage 3-4 0-0 8; Holwerda 3-4 0-0 7;
Moore 1-4 3-3 5; Carroll 2-2 0-0 4; Foster 1-3 2-2 4;
Przybyszewski 0-5 1-2 1; Hammond 0-3 1-2 1; Metcalfe 0-1 1-2
1; Skuchas 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 24-49 14-20 71.
Louisiana-Lafayette........... 16 28 - 44
Vanderbilt.................... 32 39 - 71
3-point goals - Louisiana-Lafayette 3-22 (Wade 2-2; Ford 1-6; Mitchell 0-2; Mouton 0-4; Gray 0-5; Cameron 0-2; Rhodman 0-1), Vanderbilt 9-23 (Gordon 5-8; Cage 2-2; Smith 1-1; Holwerda 1-2; Foster 0-2; Przybyszewski 0-4; Hammond 0-1; Metcalfe 0-1; Moore 0-2). Fouled out -Louisiana-Lafayette-Cameron, Vanderbilt-None. Rebounds - Louisiana-Lafayette 37 (Hamilton 7), Vanderbilt 39 (Przybyszewski 6). Assists - Louisiana-Lafayette 6 (Mitchell 2; Hamilton 2), Vanderbilt 19 (Gordon 4). Total fouls - Louisiana-Lafayette 20, Vanderbilt 19. A-7,823
-Ragin' Cajuns-
