Men's Basketball Hosts Lamar on Tuesday At The Cajundome

Contact: Brian McCann

Complete Release (PDF)

Game 10
Lamar (1-7) at Louisiana (3-6)
Date: Tuesday, Dec. 11, 2012
Time: 7:00 p.m. CST
Site: Cajundome (11,550), Lafayette, Louisiana
Radio: KPEL (1420 AM) & KHXT (107.9 FM) (Jay Walker)
TV: None Live, Streaming available on the internet via RaginCajuns.com.
Series: Series Tied, 41-41
Last Meeting: Lamar 80, UL 63 (12/3/11, Beaumont, Texas)
Tickets: $8, $10 & $15
UL season tickets available at RaginCajuns.com and by calling (337) 265-2357.

THE COACHES:
LOUISIANA
BOB MARLIN (Mississippi State '81)
At Louisiana: 33-37 (3rd year)
4-Year Overall: 258-168 (15th year)
All Collegiate: 381-203 (20th year)
vs. Lamar: 15-9

LAMAR
PAT KNIGHT (Indiana '95)
At LAMAR: 24-19 (2nd year)
Overall: 74-80 (5th year)
vs. Louisiana: 1-0

SETTING THE SCENE: With final exams complete, the Ragin' Cajuns return home to start a stretch of four games in 12 days with three coming at home when Louisiana hosts Lamar on Tuesday, Dec. 11 beginning at 7:00 p.m. in the Cajundome.
The Cajuns continue the pre-holiday stretch at Houston on Saturday (Dec. 15) before playing home games against Robert Morris (Dec. 18) and Duquesne (Dec. 22). Tuesday's game will be the 83rd meeting between the Cajuns and the Cardinals with the series being tied at 41 games each. Louisiana is 3-6 on the year, including a 3-1 record at home, after dropping a 77-72 decision at McNeese State on Saturday. Lamar has started out the season with a 1-7 record, including losses at Kansas State (79-55), Charlotte (74-59), Virginia (63-44), Alabama (75-47), Purdue (72-39) and North Texas (74-59).

PREVIEWING LOUISIANA: With a lineup featuring six freshmen and four sophomores, third year head coach Bob Marlin is excited about the possibilities for the 2012-13 season, knowing that the team that took the court in November will grow and improve all season. As the new faces get acclimated to the collegiate game, the Cajuns will lean heavily on junior Bryant Mbamalu (11.3 ppg, 4.1 rpg) and sophomore sensation Elfrid Payton (12.9, 5.9, 5.6). Guard Alan-Michael Thompson (3.9 ppg), the lone senior on the squad, should also play an increased role this year. Freshman forward Shawn Long (16.9 ppg, 9.0 rpg), a transfer from Mississippi State, and power forward Elridge Moore (6.1, 4.3), a JC transfer from Lamar State, will unite to form the nucleus of the inside game with freshmen Matthew Moss, Cornell Barnett and walk-on Braylan Lazare providing the depth inside. Although Payton, Mbamalu and Thompson will provide the athleticism, quickness and leadership, the trio of Tulane transfer Kevin Brown (4.8 ppg) and freshmen Kasey Shepherd (2.3) and Steven Wronkoski (9.4, 3.1) and Josh Soto will also contribute, giving Louisiana one of the deepest backcourts in the Sun Belt. Marlin wants to utilize the depth and quickness by forcing an up-tempo game at both ends of the court by applying more defensive pressure. Look for the Cajuns to use their quickness and outside shooting ability to create a balanced offense, forcing opponents to cover the entire court.

MARLIN EARNS EXTENSION: Third-year head coach Bob Marlin signed a new five-year contract last week that will keep him on the Cajuns' sidelines through the 2016-17 season. In his first two seasons, Marlin's teams have won 21 Sun Belt games, the second-highest total in the league over that span, and his .656 winning percentage in league games is the highest among active Sun Belt coaches.

UL ATHLETICS TEAMS WITH THE UNITED WAY: The Louisiana Athletics Department and United Way of Acadiana are partnering to share ticket revenue and spread holiday cheer for the men's basketball game with Duquesne on Saturday, Dec. 22 at the Cajundome. All tickets to the game are available (100, 200 and 300 level) for a special discounted price of $5. The proceeds of the tickets sales will be split, benefitting both the United Way of Acadiana and Ragin' Cajuns Athletics. Acadiana area companies are encouraged to purchase tickets and donate them to the United Way, which will then distribute them to various youth and family groups under their umbrella.

A TOUGH STRETCH: It was bad enough that the youth of the Cajuns forced Bob Marlin to open the season with 10 first-year players on the squad and that the early non-conference schedule included a season opener against 2012 postseason squad Oakland and games against 2012 NCAA squads New Mexico State and Michigan State. To make matters worse, the earliest start to conference play in school history included back-to-back games against Middle Tennessee and North Texas, the teams picked to win the Sun Belt East & West Division titles, respectively. The tough schedule continues this week when Louisiana hosts Lamar, the 2012 Southland representive in the NCAA Championship, on Dec. 11 and travels to Houston on Saturday (Dec. 15).

BROWN OUT: The Cajuns received some bad news last week learning that sophomore guard Kevin Brown left early in the North Texas game with a foot injury. X-rays revealed a broken right foot, sidelining him indefinitely. In the first seven games, Brown came off the bench to average 5.4 points and 1.8 rebounds a game, shooting .421 from three-point (8-19).

CHASING A TRIPLE-DOUBLE: Sophomore Elfrid Payton continues to inch closer and closer to recording the first triple-double by a Ragin' Cajuns player in almost a decade. Payton closed the 2011-12 season with a 13-point, eight-rebound and nine-assist game in the opening round of the Sun Belt Championship. He toyed with the stat early in the year against Oakland (14 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists), SUNO (11,7 , 7) and North Texas (14, 6, 9) and went a different route at Michigan State, scoring 20 points with six rebounds and a career-high seven steals. He came the closest yet against McNeese State, scoring 17 points with 10 rebounds and seven assists. For the record, the last triple-double by a Ragin' Cajuns player came on Jan. 5, 2006 when Michael Southall scored 19 points with 12 rebounds and 11 blocks at North Texas.

. . . BUT PAYTON MUST WALK BEFORE HE RUNS: Although Elfrid Payton has flirted with a triple-double, it took him until the McNeese State game to record his first career double-double. Payton scored 17 points with 10 rebounds in the contest.

I-10 WARS IN PROGRESS: The Ragin' Cajuns are in the middle of a three-game stretch against opponents situated along I-10. The stretch started with Louisiana making the short drive west on I-10 to Lake Charles to face McNeese State. Next up, Lamar will be traveling in the east bound lanes for Tuesday's game in the Cajundome and the Cajuns head back west to Houston on Saturday (Dec. 15) to conclude the games.

LAST LEG OF NON-CONFERENCE: Saturday's McNeese State game started the Cajuns final venture into non-conference action for 2012-13. Louisiana has four non-conference games remaining: vs. Lamar (Dec. 11), at Houston (Dec. 15), vs. Robert Morris (Dec. 18) and vs. Duquesne (Dec. 22). Sun Belt play resumes in earnest on Thursday, Dec. 27 in Jonesoboro, Ark. against Arkansas State.

TAKING ADVANTAGE OF CHARITY: Bob Marlin said during the preseason that one area in which Louisiana would definitely show improvement is at the foul line, where the Cajuns shot just .631 (483-766) last year. So far, that prediction has come true as Louisiana has shot 70-percent or better from the line in six of the nine games, including three straight, entering the week having gone 124-for-175 (.709). The last time that the Cajuns shot above 70-percent for an entire season came 20 seasons ago (1993-94) when they went 463-for-647 (.716).

. . . AND THE FRESHMEN LEAD THE WAY: The simplest way to improve a team's free throw shooting is to simply get better shooters and Bob Marlin has apparently done that. The five freshman on the Louisiana roster have made 49 of their 63 free throws this year (.778). Shawn Long (23-28, .821) and Steven Wronkoski (21-28, .750) lead the way, ranking ninth and 13th in the Sun Belt, respectively.

GOING OVERTIME: The loss to Texas Southern on Nov. 16 marked the ninth time that the Cajuns have played to overtime under head coach Bob Marlin. Louisiana is now 6-3 in overtime games during that span, including a 4-1 record last season.

CAJUNS BENEFIT FROM LATE FREE THROW SHOOTING: The free throw shooting by the Cajuns has been at its best late in the game as Louisiana has gone 47-for-61 (.770) from the line in the final 5:00 minutes and overtime. Shawn Long (8-8) and Steven Wronkoski (6-6) lead the team while Bryant Mbamalu, a career .757 shooter (28-37), is seven-for-eight this year (.875). That is a considerable improvement from the .617 (121-196) that the Cajuns shot during the 2011-12 season.

. . . AND PROVES TO BE THE KEY TO THE WIN AT UNT: The clutch free throw shooting was never better than in the Dec. 1 win at North Texas. The Cajuns went 11-for-14 (.786) from the stripe in the final 5:00, including seven-for-eight (.875) in the final 15 seconds to secure the win. All eight shots came with the Cajuns leading by three points or less.

MISTER CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?: Elfrid Payton has shown his continued development as the Cajuns' point guard by handing out 50 assists this year to lead the Sun Belt averaging 5.6 assists per game. He matched his career high with nine assists at North Texas last week, a career high originally set against North Texas in the Sun Belt Championship last year.

. . . AND GRAND THEFT FOR PAYTON: With 16 steals over the last four games, Elfrid Payton has taken over the Sun Belt lead with 24 steals this season (2.7 spg). Payton had a career high seven steals at Michigan State on Nov. 25, falling one steal short of the school record, and came back to make four steals vs. Middle Tennessee. Last year, Payton lead the Cajuns with 37 steals.

IT WAS A LONG TIME COMING: The exhibition win over Loyola-New Orleans marked the Cajuns debut for forward Shawn Long. Long transferred to Louisiana last December after spending the fall semester at Mississippi State. The 6-9 native of Morgan City, La. practiced with the Cajuns during the final three months of the year but was not eligible to play. During the summer, he was granted a waiver of transfer rule that would have made him ineligible until early December, allowing him to play immediately. Eager to make up for the lost season, Long scored 11 of UL's first 18 points against Loyola, finishing the night with 17 points and a game-high eight rebounds, going seven-for-11 from the field with a pair of blocks.

. . . AND LONG HASN'T SLOWED: Shawn Long's steady play has allowed the freshman to lead the Cajuns in scoring (16.9), rebounding (9.0) and blocks (2.0), shooting .484 from the field (60-124) and .821 from the line (23-28). After a modest 14 point, six rebounds effort in the season opener against Oakland, he exploded for 20 points and a career-high 13 rebounds at Texas Southern on Nov. 16. In the second home game of his career, he posted his second double-double in less than a week, tallying a career-best 22 points with a dozen rebounds against SUNO. He came back to score 16 points with eight rebounds and three blocks at Michigan State and a career-high 27 points at North Texas. He had 17 points and a career-high 17 rebounds at McNeese State on Dec. 1

LONG IS DOUBLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE: A 17-point, 17-rebound effort against McNeese State gave redshirt freshman forward Shawn Long his fourth double-double in nine games this year to share the Sun Belt lead with South Alabama's Augustine Rubit.

. . . AND LONG SCORES THE BASKETBALL: Although it is still very early in the season, Shawn Long's three 20-point games has put the redshirt freshman on pace to record the most 20-plus point performances since former Sun Belt Player of the Year Tyren Johnson accomplished it 12 times in 2009-10.

FREQUENT FLYER MILES: The Cajuns are definitely piling up the mileage during the early part of the 2012-13 season. After making a road swing to Texas Southern and Boise State three weeks ago that covered 4,332 miles, the Cajuns needed to travel 4,892 miles to play games at New Mexico State and Michigan State over Thanksgiving weekend. In two weeks, Louisiana played five games in five different states (Louisiana included) and three different time zones, traveling 9,224 miles to get to and from the games. After a 856-mile round-trip to Denton On Dec. 1, the Cajuns made the simple 74 mile one-way trip to McNeese State on Saturday.

WRONKOSKI PROVES MARLIN RIGHT: Bob Marlin has said many times this fall that when he took over as head coach two years ago, one of the first recruits he looked at was Steven Wronkoski, deciding that the current UL freshman's spirited play would be perfect in a Cajun uniform. Wronkoski has yet to prove Marlin wrong, averaging 9.4 points and 3.1 rebounds this year. He posted back-to-back career highs of 12 points vs. SUNO on Nov. 21 and, in his first career start, 16 points at New Mexico State on Nov. 23. His Sun Belt debut was equally as strong as he scored all 13 of his points in the second half against Middle Tennessee on Nov. 29. Most recently, he raised his career high again, scoring 17 points at McNeese State on Dec. 8. For the year, Wronkoski is fourth in the Sun Belt in three-point shooting (14-27, .519) and 12th in free throw percentage (21-28, .750).

MASTERING THE SUN BELT: Ragin' Cajuns head coach Bob Marlin has produced back-to-back double digit win totals in Sun Belt play in his first two seasons on Louisiana's bench (11 in 2010-11 and 10 in 2011-12). His SBC winning percentage of .647 (22-12) is first amongst all active coaches.

FIRST TIME SUCCESS: The Cajuns were perfect this year against first time opponents, claiming home wins over Oakland (90-79) and SUNO (76-66), the only two teams on the 2012-13 slate that Louisiana had not played before.

MORE MOORE: Junior forward Elridge Moore has quickly earned a place for himself in the lineup, starting every game and averaging 6.1 points. He leads the team in both field goal percentage (.500) and is second in steals (13) and blocks (7) and third in rebounding (4.3). He made his Cajuns debut a memorable one against Oakland on Nov. 11, sharing the team scoring lead with 15 points while adding five rebounds, five steals and a pair of blocks. Moore, who played one season at Nicholls State before transferring to Lamar State last season, missed just two shots in the game, going six-for-seven from the field and three-for-four from the line.

CAJUNS HAVE NO PROBLEM WITH (RECRUITING) HOUSTON: The Cajuns have made Houston one of their recruiting hot spots with three members from the city. Starter Bryant Mbamalu (Dulles HS) and reserve guards Kevin Brown (Alief Elsik HS) and Kasey Shepherd (Dekaney HS) have combined to average 23.0 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game. The Cajuns made the first of two trips to Houston on Nov. 16 with Mbamalu scoring 18 points with six rebounds and Brown adding nine points and four boards in an overtime loss to Texas Southern. Louisiana will be back this week, playing at Houston on Dec. 15.

MAKING THE GRADE: One thing that head coach Bob Marlin has emphasized in his three seasons at Louisiana is the necessity that his players give 100% both on and off the court. This demand has led to positive results in the classroom. During the spring 2012 semester, the Ragin' Cajuns recorded their third straight semester with a team GPA of better than 2.50, a feat accomplished just one other time since 1982. The last three semesters account for three of the top six terms for the basketball team during that time. In the two semesters last year, seven Cajuns posted a 3.0 GPA or better.

IT WAS RAINING THREES: Head coach Bob Marlin said throughout the preseason that the three-point shot would play a more important role in the Cajuns offensive game plan this year. That was certainly the case against Loyola-New Orleans as UL made 16 of its 31 three-point attempts (.516) en route to a 20-point win. The total, had it occurred in a regular season game, and not an exhibition, would have broken the school record of 15 three-point field goals in a game set against Troy (1/10/09), Western Kentucky (3/2/96) and Ohio State (12/1/96). Even more impressive was the Cajuns did most of the damage in the first half, going 14-for-18 from beyond the stripe (.778) with seven different players knocking down treys in the game.

TURNING UP THE TEMPERATURE: Bob Marlin said all pre-season that the Cajuns would take advantage of the quickness that the squad has this year by applying more pressure. The initial returns have been good as Louisiana forced 155 turnovers in the first nine games (17.2 per game), turning those miscues into a 172 points off turnovers (14.1 ppg). The Cajuns are averaging 8.3 steals a game, including a season-high 12 against both Oakland and Michigan State.

CAJUNS ADD TWO FOR 2013-14: Hours before the Cajuns tipped off with Texas Southern on Nov. 16, head coach Bob Marlin announced the signing of high school standouts Kimani Jackson (Arlington, TX/Seguin) and Hayward Register (Lafayette, La./Comeaux) to National Letters of Intent to attend Louisiana and play basketball starting next fall. Jackson, a 6-7, 220-pound forward, was a pre-season all-league selection this year. Ranked as the No. 88 player in the State of Texas by TexasHoops.com, he is averaging 11 points, nine rebounds, three assists and 1.8 blocks this season at Arlington's Seguin High. Register, a 6-2, 170-pound shooting guard, earned second team all-state honors a year ago after averaging 20.1 points and 5.6 rebounds a game, helping Comeaux High to a 23-11 record. He was named the 2011-12 All-Acadiana MVP by the Lafayette Daily Advertiser. “This is a very good start to our recruiting effort for the year. They both should fit into our system well” Louisiana head coach Bob Marlin said.

RAGIN' CAJUNS CELEBRATE 100TH SEASON: The Cajuns are celebrating the 100th season of basketball during the 2012-13 season. The first season was in 1911-12 when the Cajuns posted a 4-1 record. Louisiana has gone on to win 20 or more games 21 times since, entering the year with a 1,296-984 overall record. Louisiana did not have a team in either 1973-74 or 1974-75 because of NCAA sanctions. In the first 99 seasons, the Cajuns have advanced to postseason play 18 times, including 10 NCAA Tournament appearances, winning 16 conference titles. Eight UL players have earned All-America honors with 94 being named all-conference.

NEXT UP: The Cajuns head to Houston for the second time this season, taking on the Cougars on Saturday, Dec. 15 beginning at 7:00 p.m. CST in Hofheinz Pavilion.

Men's Basketball Hosts Lamar on Tuesday At The Cajundome

Next Event

Footer

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics