Men's Hoops Seeks to Keep Win Streak Alive, Faces WKU Thursday

Game Notes

GAME CENTER
Date: Thursday, Jan. 5, 2012
Location: Bowling Green, Ky.
Opponent: Western Kentucky (5-10, 1-1 Sun Belt)
Site: E.A. Diddle Arena (7,326)
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Radio: SportsRadio ESPN 1420 AM (KPEL), 107.9 FM (KHXT) – Jay Walker, play-by-play
TV: Fox College Sports (DirecTV 617) – Randy Lee (Play-by-Play), Hal Schmitt (Analysis)
Live Stats/Video: www.WKUsports.com

LOUISIANA
11-12 Record____________________     7-8
11-12 Sun Belt Record____________      1-0
Last Game______________________     Dec. 31, 2011
                                                                            vs. Florida Atlantic W, 67-55
Head Coach____________________       Bob Marlin
   UL Record____________________       21-23 (2^nd Season)
   Career Record_________________     369-189 (19^th Season)
   Marlin vs. WKU________________       1-1
Web Site_______________________     www.RaginCajuns.com

WESTERN KENTUCKY
11-12 Record____________________     5-10
11-12 Sun Belt Record____________       1-1
Last Game______________________     Dec. 31, 2011
                                                                            vs. FIU L, 63-81
Head Coach____________________      Ken McDonald
   WKU Record__________________       67-48 (4^th Season)
   Career Record_________________      Same
   McDonald vs. UL_______________       3-1
Web Site_______________________     www.WKUsports.com

Game Night Story Lines
>>> The Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team plays its first road contest in Sun Belt play on Thursday at E.A. Diddle Arena facing Western Kentucky at 7 p.m.
>>> Thursday's game is the first leg of the WKU-Middle Tennessee road swing. On Saturday, the Cajuns will face Middle Tennessee in Murfreesboro at 5:30 p.m.
>>> Louisiana brings a winning streak into E.A. Diddle Arena. UL downed UCF in the non-conference finale on Dec. 21 then bested Florida Atlantic 67-55 on New Year's Eve to mark the first back-to-back wins of the 2011-12 season.
>>> The Cajuns are still in search of their first "true" road win of 2011-12, carrying a 0-6 record on the opponent's home floor into the WKU-MT trip.
>>> The win over FAU extended the Cajuns current Sun Belt regular season win streak to 11 games – a streak that dates back to a Jan. 22 win over La.-Monroe last season which began a string of 10 straight league wins to end the 2010-11 season.
>>> The Cajuns are 12-4 in regular season contests under Bob Marlin after January 1.
>>> Since returning to the court on Dec. 21 after missing six games with lingering effects from an off-season knee injury, J.J. Thomas has come off the bench and provided Louisiana with average of 12.0 points per game in an average of 20 minutes of action.
>>> UL is 5-4 this season with J.J. Thomas on the court and 2-4 in the games he missed.
>>> Kadeem Coleby leads the Cajuns having reached double figures scoring in eight games. Coleby leads the Sun Belt in field goal percentage (59.4%).
>>> The Cajuns have shot the ball well this season, shooting 40 percent or higher in 11 of 15 contests. All seven wins have come when shooting above 40 percent.
>>> The magic number for UL so far this year is 70. When scoring above 70 the Cajuns are 5-1. When scoring below 70 the squad is 2-7.

MORE ABOUT THE SUN BELT WIN STREAK
>>> Louisiana's active streak of 11 consecutive Sun Belt Conference regular season wins ranks fifth (5^th) all-time in league history.
>>> The SBC record for consecutive conference wins is 21 set by former league member New Orleans (March 1, 1992 through Jan. 8, 1994).
>>> It's the longest string of consecutive SBC wins since WKU posted 13 straight from Jan. 2, 2002 through Jan. 4, 2003.

AN EASTERN FLAIR
>>> Beginning with the FAU contest on New Year's Eve, the Cajuns' first five Sun Belt games are against teams from the East Division.
>>> UL's first division contest won't occur until Jan. 19 at UALR.

GETTING DEFENSIVE
>>> UL has held four of its past five opponents below 70 points dating back to the Dillard contest on Dec. 12.
>>> Louisiana held Florida Atlantic to 55 points and limited a squad that was averaging 8.5 three-point field goal makes per game to just two in the SBC opener.

COULDN'T ASK FOR A BETTER START
>>> Louisiana opened the FAU contest on a 14-0 run in the first three-plus minutes. As a result, the Cajuns never trailed in the contest.
>>> During the last two games, the Cajuns largest deficit has been two points.
>>> Going back to reclaiming the lead over UCF at the 17:15 mark of the second half, UL has held the lead over the opposition for the last 57-plus minutes of play.

THE MINUTE MAN
>>> With 95 games of SEC experience at Vanderbilt prior to joining the Cajuns this season, head coach Bob Marlin was leaning upon Darshawn McClellan to provide ample minutes.
>>> Through the first 15 games of play, McClellan leads the Cajuns averaging 25.9 minutes per game.
>>> McClellan had a stellar Sun Belt debut vs. FAU, scoring a game-high 15 points and pulling down seven rebounds.

LAST SEASON VS. WKU (Feb. 19, 2011 at Cajundome – UL won 67-64)
>>> UL never trailed the entire contest, allowing WKU to tie the contest twice.
>>> J.J. Thomas led UL with 25 points while Travis Bureau and Josh Brown each pulled down a team-high 9 rebounds.
>>> The Cajuns led by as much as 18 points in the second half before WKU tied the game at 49-49 with 9:00 left after a 21-4 run.
>>> The Cajuns broke a 51-all tie with a 5-2 run of its own to take a 56-53 lead just under the five-minute mark.
>>> Thomas converted a three-point play with 2:09 remaining to give the Cajuns a 64-59 lead and enough cushion for a late Hilltoppers push.

SBC TOURNAMENT VS. WKU (March 6, 2011 at Hot Springs, Ark. – WKU won 81-76)
>>> The Cajuns led by as much as 11 points in the first half before taking a three point lead into the half.
>>> WKU started the second half with eight straight points to erase a halftime deficit and take their first lead, 44-39 with not even three minutes gone by in the second half.
>>> WKU scored 14 straight points to build an 11-point lead (66-55) with 4:42 remaining.
>>> Josh Brown registered his first double-double in a UL uniform with 19 points and 14 rebounds. J.J. Thomas was held to two points as he was in foul trouble the whole game.

A SPECIAL WEAPON
>>> The UL bench has outscored the opponents bench in all but four games this season.
>>> Through 15 games, the UL bench is averaging 28.2 points per game.
>>> UL's bench has reached 40 points three times (at San Francisco, vs. Nicholls State, vs. Dillard). The bench provided a season-high 52 points in the 102-38 win over Dillard.
>>> On average, the Cajuns bench is outscoring the opposition's bench 28.2 to 24.7.

SERIES HISTORY (Tied 3-3, overall; Louisiana leads 2-0 in Cajundome)
>>> All but four series meetings have taken place since Louisiana joined the Sun Belt Conference in 1991-92. Two schools first met on Jan. 5, 1934 in Lafayette (WKU won 34-31).
>>> Twenty-four (24) of the previous 40 series meetings have been decided by 10 points or less.
>>> Louisiana snapped a six-game losing streak to WKU with a 67-64 victory at the Cajundome last season. It was UL's first regular season win over the Toppers since January 2005.
>>> WKU avenged the loss and snapped the Cajuns 11-game winning streak with an 81-76 victory in the quarterfinals of the 2011 Sun Belt Tournament in Hot Springs.
>>> Counting last season's game in Hot Springs, the two programs have met eight times in the SBC Tournament. In 1994, UL downed WKU 78-72 at Diddle Arena in the title game.
>>> The Cajuns' last victory over WKU in Diddle Arena came on Jan. 29, 2004 (W, 110-102) back when Jessie Evans was head coach.

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
>>> Louisiana travels to Murfreesboro, Tenn., for a meeting with Middle Tennessee on Saturday to close out the WKU-MT road swing. Game time is 5:30 p.m.
>>> UL is seeking to halt a six-game losing streak to the Blue Raiders.
>>> The Cajuns rank third in the Sun Belt in field goal percentage (45.5%) and field goal percentage defense (40.1%). On Saturday at Middle Tennessee, Louisiana will face the Sun Belt leader in both categories (MT 51.2% FG/39.2% FG defense).

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

Men's Hoops Seeks to Keep Win Streak Alive, Faces WKU Thursday

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