University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Begin Sun Belt Tournament Title Defense Sunday in Quarterfinals
3/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Cajuns Begin
Sun Belt Tournament Title Defense Sunday in Quarterfinals
Louisiana-Lafayette
will meet the winner of the Middle Tennessee-New Mexico
State first round game at 9 p.m.
Friday, March 4, 2005
Cajuns Begin SBC Tournament Title Defense Sunday...
The time of the year every college basketball team has been waiting for is here – conference tournaments and March Madness. The regular season is complete and a bid to the "Big Dance" is up for grabs amongst 11 teams.
Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team (17-10) begins its quest for a second straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament on Sunday, March 6 at 9 p.m. (CST) against the winner of the first round matchup between Middle Tennessee and New Mexico State at The Super Pit in Denton, Texas, in the quarterfinal round of the 2005 Aeropostale Sun Belt Conference Tournament.
The Ragin' Cajuns, defending tournament champions, will be making their 14th appearance in the Sun Belt Tournament and second appearance as the Sun Belt West No. 2 seed.
Louisiana-Lafayette sports an all-time Sun Belt-best .690 winning percentage in SBC Tournament games with a tournament record of 20-9.
Louisiana-Lafayette enters the tournament on a two-game losing streak and will need to halt the skid if their plans are to be in a postseason tournament (either NCAA or NIT).
The Ragin' Cajuns were downed twice on the recent Arkansas road swing succumbing to foul trouble and turnovers in Jonesboro against Arkansas State (L, 80-86) and a buzzer-beater in Little Rock against UALR (L, 63-64). One thing in the Cajuns favor this weekend – the team has not lost three straight games at any point this season and since the end of the 2002-03 season.
While the Ragin' Cajuns do not know of their quarterfinal round opponent as of this date, they do know who the two possible foes could be – Middle Tennessee (18-11) or New Mexico State (5-23). The Cajuns defeated MT 54-44 and swept NMSU 89-79 (OT) and 91-49 during the regular season.
Middle Tennessee has been playing well having won five of their last seven games with a more agile Mike Dean in the lineup. Middle Tennessee has scored 80-plus points in five straight games for the first time since the 1990-91 season and has posted five double-digit wins during the stretch. The Blue Raiders recently became the first Sun Belt East team to win a game in Miami with a 91-81 win over FIU in their regular season finale on Monday.
NMSU comes at you from the other end of the spectrum. The Aggies are reeling having lost 10 of their last 11 outings and went 1-14 in Sun Belt play this season.
Louisiana-Lafayette faced Middle Tennessee in the 2004 Sun Belt Tournament semifinals and posted a 70-66 victory en route to the title. The Cajuns and Aggies have never met in tournament.
Fans can catch all of the action in Sunday's game on Cox Sports (cable channel 27) in the Lafayette viewing area. The game is being produced by ESPNU and being shown through the Sun Belt-ESPN Regional TV network affiliates.
Cajuns Most Recently...Lost at UALR 64-63
LITTLE ROCK – Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns fell in heart-breaking fashion last Saturday afternoon by a final score of 64-63 at Arkansas-Little Rock.
Darius Eason's lay-up with 0.2 seconds remaining proved to be the game-winner.
Foul trouble again haunted the Cajuns, who were tagged with 50 fouls over their last two games.
Louisiana-Lafayette (17-10, 11-4) had 23 fouls to just 14 by Arkansas-Little Rock (18-9, 10-4). UL went to the line just five times in the game and zero times in the second half, while the Trojans stepped to the stripe 21 times.
Despite the personal fouls, Louisiana played tough and inspired defense in the second half.
A quick basket by the hosts put UALR up seven to begin the second half.
After the teams traded baskets, Louisiana went on an 18-0 run to take a 50-39 lead at the 15:08 mark.
As he did in the first half, UALR's Brandon Freeman ignited the crowd and sparked a scoring burst by the Trojans. Freeman scored six points on the Trojans 8-2 run which cut the Cajuns lead to 52-47 at the midway point of the second half.
The Cajuns lead grew to 10 points, 59-49, with 5:26 to play after a three-pointer by Wade.
UALR would go on a 9-0 run to trim the Cajuns lead to 59-58 Greene collected two fouls in a 32-second span and fouled out at the 4:17 mark.
Leading 59-58, Wade converted to give the Cajuns a three-point cushion before a fast-break dunk by Ross Mouton upped UL's lead to 63-58 with 2:25 to play.
The Trojans used a basket and a pair of free throws from Zack Wright to get back to a one-point deficit with 59.1 seconds remaining.
Good defense forced a long three-point attempt by Cameron with the shot clock set to expire. UALR called timeout to draw-up the winning play.
LOUISIANA-LAFAYETTE (17-10, 11-4) Wade, Tiras 8-16 2-2 22; Hamilton, Brian 6-8 0-0 12; Cameron, Chris 3-5 1-2 9; Greene, Orien 3-9 0-0 8; Mitchell, Dwayne 2-6 0-0 5; James, Adam 2-2 1-1 5; Mouton, Ross 1-4 0-0 2; Ford, Spencer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 25-51 4-5 63.
ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK (18-9, 10-4) Freeman, Brandon 7-14 6-6 25; Eason, Darius 6-14 0-2 12; Hardman, Richard 3-14 4-6 10; Wright, Zack 2-2 4-5 8; Jacobs, Josh 2-2 0-0 4; Graber, Zack 1-2 0-0 3; Muldrow, Elijah 1-2 0-0 2; Pridgeon, Michael 0-0 0-0 0; Willis, Columbus 0-2 0-2 0. Totals 22-52 14-21 64.
Halftime Score: UALR 35, UL 30. 3-point goals - UL 9-20 (Wade 4-8; Greene 2-4; Cameron 2-4; Mitchell 1-1; Ford 0-1; Mouton 0-2), UALR 6-17 (Freeman 5-12; Graber 1-2; Hardman 0-2; Muldrow 0-1). Fouled out - UL-Greene, UALR-None. Rebounds - UL 29 (Wade 6), UALR 31 (Hardman 9). Assists - UL 13 (Greene 4; Mitchell 4), UALR 15 (Graber 5). Total fouls - UL 23, UALR 14. A – 5,560.
Sun Belt Tournament Success...
Louisiana-Lafayette boasts the Sun Belt Conference's best winning percentage in Sun Belt Tournament games with a .690 winning percentage in its 13 previous appearances combined.
The Cajuns have won four Sun Belt Tournament titles winning the event in 1992, 1994, 2000 and 2004, but have never claimed the championship in an odd-numbered year.
The Cajuns are 20-9 in tournament games since joining the league in 1991-92 – one of just three schools in league history to post 20-plus win in the tournament joining Western Kentucky (27 wins) and South Alabama (23 wins).
The Cajuns are making their Sun Belt Tournament debut under head coach Robert Lee. Though this is Lee's first go-around as the head boss, he's been to eight Sun Belt Tournaments before as an assistant coach – valuable experience for a first-time head coach.
The last time the Cajuns debuted a coach in the SBC Tournament was 1998 when former head coach Jessie Evans guided the Cajuns to the championship game and a three-point loss to No. 1 seed South Alabama.
Last season the Cajuns claimed their fourth tournament championship giving the school the second-most tournament titles in league history. The Cajuns routed South Alabama 84-58 in the quarterfinals, defeated Middle Tennessee 70-66 to reach the finals and eclipsed in-state rival UNO 67-58 to win the crown.
The Cajuns are 10-3 in SBC Tournament openers and have failed to make it past the first round only three times (1993,1999 & 2003). UL Lafayette has played for the SBC Tournament championship four times in the last seven tournaments (1998, 2000, 2002, 2004) winning twice.
The Cajuns have advanced to the semifinals of the tournament in five of seven previous appearances (1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2004).
Cajuns In SBC Tourney Openers...
Louisiana-Lafayette is 10-3 all-time in Sun Belt Conference Tournament openers.
Last season, the Cajuns routed South Alabama 84-58 in the opener of the 2004 Sun Belt Tournament en route to claiming the championship for the fourth time in program history.
The Cajuns have never faced Middle Tennessee or New Mexico State in an SBC Tournament opener.
The last time the Cajuns lost a tournament opener was the 2003 event when West No. 5 seed upended Louisiana-Lafayette 72-68 in Bowling Green, Ky.
Quick Hitters...
<The Cajuns finished 8-2 this season against Sun Belt West Division foes and are now 32-8 against the division since the 2001-02 season.
<TIRAS THE TERIFFIC: Junior Tiras Wade has scored at least 20 points seven of his last 10 outings. In Sun Belt Conference play, Wade hit the 20-point mark in 10 of the Cajuns' 15 games. "T-WADE" averaged 20.1 points per game in Sun Belt play which ranked him second in the league only to UNO's Bo McCalebb. Wade has scored in double figures in all 27 games and reached 20-plus points 14 times…Tops on the team with 182 field goals made and second with 162 rebounds.
<Brian Hamilton has scored in double digits in each of the last 19 games. Hamilton leads the Ragin' Cajuns in rebounds (194), blocks (31) and steals (63) all while averaging 13.8 points per game.
<DOUBLE-DOUBLE INFO: Brian Hamilton has recorded five (5) double-doubles this season (12 pts, 12 rebs at Kansas; 11 pts, 12 rebs vs. Georgia State; 10 pts, 13 rebs at South Alabama; 16 pts, 10 rebs at New Mexico State; 16 pts, 13 rebs vs. Middle Tennessee). This season's double-double totals give him nine (9) double-doubles in a Ragin' Cajuns uniform.
<The Cajuns average margin of victory in Sun Belt play was +9.1 – the largest in the league. Louisiana-Lafayette averaged 74.5 points per game to the opposition's 65.4 in Sun Belt games only.
<Louisiana-Lafayette ended the 2004-05 regular season with an 11-1 home record – the most home wins since posting 12 during the 2001-02 season. The Cajuns finished with a seven-game home win streak which will carry over into the 2005-06 season. The double digit victory total in the CAJUNDOME marks the fourth straight season and 16th time in 20 seasons of play in the facility
<In Sun Belt play, the quartet of Tiras Wade, Brian Hamilton, Dwayne Mitchell and Orien Greene averaged 57.4 points per game (77 percent of the offense) and accounted for 297 of the 391 field goals made. Counting Chris Cameron's 43 field goals made, the starting lineup accounted for 340 of the Cajuns' 391 field goals made in Sun Belt play.
<The MINUTE MEN: In Sun Belt play, four players – Tiras Wade, Brian Hamilton, Dwayne Mitchell and Orien Greene – all averaged over 30 minutes of playing time per game. Wade averaged 37.9 minutes, Hamilton 32.9, Mitchell 34.1 and Greene 32.5. Counting Chris Cameron's 27.2 minutes per game in league games, then every player in the starting lineup played at least 27 minutes per game in SBC contests.
A Cajuns Win Would...
Snap a two-game losing streak and avoid the first three-game losing streak of the season…Advance the Cajuns to the semifinals of the 2005 Sun Belt Tournament against the UALR-South Alabma/FIU winner at 9 p.m. on Monday, March 7…Tie Robert Lee for the most wins in a debut season at 18…Improve the Cajuns to 11-3 all-time in SBC Tournament openers and 21-9 overall in tourney play…Grant the Cajuns their sixth SBC Tournament semifinal berth in the last eight years.
A Cajuns Loss Would...
Eliminate the team from the 2005 Sun Belt Tournament and mark the first three-game losing streak of the season…Drop the team to 20-10 all-time in SBC Tournament play…Give the Cajuns a final record of 17-11 unless the NIT grants the squad a berth…Mark the second time in the last three years that the Cajuns were ousted in the quarterfinals round.
Next on the Schedule...
If they win, the Ragin' Cajuns will move onto the semifinal round of the 2005 Sun Belt Tournament at 9 p.m. on Monday against the UALR-South Alabama or FIU winner.
If they lose, the season will be over unless the NIT grants the program a berth in its postseason event.
-Ragin' Cajuns-
