In Similar Situation, Cajuns Seek Different Result in Troy

Contact: Matt Hebert

Game Notes

GAME CENTER
Date: Saturday, Feb. 2, 2013
Location: Troy, Ala.
Opponent: Troy (3-17, 0-11 Sun Belt)
Site: Trojan Arena (5,200)
Game Time: 5:15 p.m. (CST)
Live Stats/Video: www.TroyTrojans.com
Radio: SportsRadio ESPN 1420-AM (Jay Walker)

LOUISIANA-TROY SERIES
The Series: Tied 5-5
In Troy: Troy leads 4-1
In Trojan Arena: First Meeting
Series Streak: Troy – won 1
Last Meeting: Troy 58, Louisiana 52 (Troy, Ala. // Feb. 4, 2012)
Noteworthy: The home team has come away victorious in eight of the 10 meetings in this young series. The two meetings the road team won occurred on Jan. 14, 2006 (UL won 81-69 in Troy) and Feb. 25, 2009 (Troy won 93-52 in Lafayette).

LOUISIANA
12-13 Record____________________     7-14
12-13 Sun Belt Record____________      1-11
Last Game______________________      Jan. 30, 2013
                                                                    vs. North Texas L, 46-64
Head Coach____________________       Garry Brodhead
   UL Record____________________       7-14 (1^st Season)
   Career Record_________________      Same
   Brodhead vs. Troy______________     First Meeting
Web Site_______________________     www.RaginCajuns.com

TROY
12-13 Record____________________     3-17
12-13 Sun Belt Record____________      0-11
Last Game______________________     Jan. 30, 2013
                                                                    at Western Kentucky L, 80-98
Head Coach____________________       Chanda Rigby
   Troy Record___________________      3-17 (1^stSeason)
   Career Record_________________      232-116 (12^th Season)
   Rigby vs. UL___________________    First Meeting
Web Site________________________    www.TroyTrojans.com

Game Night Story Lines
>>> Two teams looking to end lengthy losing streaks take the court at Trojan Arena on Saturday when Louisiana meets Troy in a 5:15 p.m. contest. It's the opening half of a doubleheader with the Cajuns-Trojans men's squads.
>>> Louisiana is in search of its first win of the “New Year” and has lost eight straight since the double-overtime win over UALR on Dec. 29.
>>> Troy is winless in Sun Belt action and has lost 10 straight games since an overtime win at Jacksonville on Dec. 18.
>>> The Cajuns find themselves in a similar scenario as their last trip to Troy (2/4/12). Like a year ago, the Trojans are winless in Sun Belt play.
>>> Saturday's game marks the first meeting at newly opened Trojan Arena. All prior meetings in Troy took place at Sartain Hall.
>>> The matchup pits the Sun Belt's top offense (Troy – 74.8 ppg) against one of the Sun Belt's top scoring defenses (UL – 62.8).
>>> Both head coaches, Louisiana's Garry Brodhead and Troy's Chanda Ribgy, had successful stints as high school coaches in Louisiana. Brodhead went 297-78 at Lafayette's Teurlings Catholic with a state title. Rigby on a pair of state championships and was twice named the Louisiana Coach of the Year at Loranger High School.
>>> The freshman class of Sylvana Okde (11.1), Keke Veal (11.0), Kia Wilridge (8.6), Jasmin Mills (4.4) and Adrienne Prejean (1.6) – the foundation class on which Garry Brodhead plans to rebuild the program – averages 36.7 points per game (65 percent of the team's offensive production).
>>> Sylvana Okde is on pace for 77 three-point field goals made, which would land in the program's all-time, single-season Top 5 list. The last Cajuns player to convert 70-plus three-point field goals was Rhonda McCullough with 88 back in 1989-90.
>>> Louisiana nabbed 13 offensive rebounds Thursday vs. North Texas, marking the 19th time in 21 outings the squad reached double digits in that category.

LAST TIME OUT: North Texas 64, Louisiana 46 at Earl K. Long Gym
    North Texas scored the final nine points of the first half to break a tied contest, carried that momentum over into the start of the second half and the end result was a 64-46 victory over the Ragin' Cajuns at Earl K. Long Gym.
    North Texas shot 54.2 percent (13-of-24) in the second half in continuing to build upon its halftime lead and ended the night at 46.2 percent (24-of-52). Louisiana was unable to find a rhythm shooting the ball, finishing the night at 29 percent (18-of-62).
    The Mean Green used the nine-point spurt before intermission to take a 26-17 lead into the locker room. The visitors added another six unanswered in the first two minutes of the second half to create a comfortable margin, 33-17.
    Boosted by a trio of three-pointers from Brandi Schambough, the Ragin' Cajuns found an offensive spark and outscored NT 19-9 to cut the deficit to 42-36 with 9:32 remaining.
    North Texas responded with a three-point play from Alexis Hyder at 9:05 to extend the lead to 45-36, then turned up the pressure on defense to turn away the hopes of a Cajuns comeback.
    Louisiana had trouble with the North Texas full court press, turning the ball over four times and went a six-minute stretch after a Kia Wilridge basket at 8:31 without a point. During that time frame, the Mean Green used a 12-1 run to open a 20-point edge, 59-39.
    The Cajuns were led by Ashley Benjamin's 10 points – the lone player in double digits.
    Louisiana rallied from a five-point deficit in the first half, 17-12, to pull even in the three-minute mark. Keke Veal hit a trey from the left elbow at 3:55 and collected a steal and a layup after the media timeout to cap off a five-point spurt that drew the Cajuns even at 17-17.
    The Cajuns were held scoreless the remainder of the opening stanza and the Mean Green rolled off nine unanswered points to gain breathing room heading into the break.

SERIES HISTORY (Tied 5-5, overall; Troy leads 4-1 in Troy, Ala.)
>>> Series commenced when Troy joined the Sun Belt Conference in 2005-06.
>>> Louisiana won the first three meetings – all under the direction of J. Kelley Hall. The Cajuns claimed an 81-69 victory in the inaugural meeting on Jan. 14, 2006.
>>> Schools have alternated win streaks. Louisiana won the first three meetings (2005-06 through 2006-07). Troy won the next four contests (2007-08 through 2008-09). The Cajuns began a new series streak with wins in 2009-10 and 2010-11, but it was halted by Troy's 58-52 last season.
>>> The Trojans won four of the five meetings at their previous home facility, Sartain Hall. Saturday's game is the first between the programs and recently opened Trojan Arena.
>>> The home team has come away victorious in eight of the 10 meetings in this young series. The two meetings the road team won occurred on Jan. 14, 2006 (UL won 81-69 in Troy) and Feb. 25, 2009 (Troy won 93-52 in Lafayette).

NOTING TROY
>>> Troy looks to snap a 10-game losing streak overall and a 16-game Sun Belt losing streak. The Trojans' last Sun Belt win came against Louisiana at Sartain Hall (Feb. 4, 2012 - W, 58-52).
>>> Troy comes into Saturday's game as the Sun Belt's top scoring team at 74.8 points per game (16th in NCAA). Troy is also the top rebounding team in the league at 41.7 boards per game.
>>> The Troy offense features three players who average double-figure scoring and five who average over 8.0 points per game.
>>> Sarah McAppion is shooting 51.2 percent (66-of-129) from the field, fifth best in the Sun Belt. She is also an 84.3 percent (43-of-51) free throw shooter this season, second in the league.
>>> In 20 games this season, the Trojans have scored over 90 points three times and they've topped the 80-point mark eight times.
>>> Chanda Rigby is in her first season as the women's basketball head coach at Troy. Rigby spent the previous seven seasons at Pensacola State College (school of Cajuns men's coach Bob Marlin first head coaching stop) where she led the Pirates to a combined 64-6 record over the last two seasons and two trips to the National Junior College Athletic Association Final Four.

LAST TIME VS. TROY (Feb. 4, 2012 – Sartain Hall/Troy, Ala.)
>>> Louisiana pulled into a 52-all tie on a Krystal Motley jumper with 1:22 remaining, but that was the squad's final basket of the game and the host-Trojans escaped with a 58-52 victory.
>>> The Trojans broke the stalemate with a pair of Sarah McAppion free throws with 55 seconds remaining. Troy's Jasmine Pitts collected a steal from Nicole Morris and Tenia Manuel converted a layup at 22 seconds to create a two-possession game.
>>> The loss spoiled the Cajuns comeback from a double-figure deficit in the first half (UL trailed by as many as 13 points). Louisiana took the lead three times in the second half, the last coming with 4:54 remaining after a Morris jumper made it 48-46.

LOOKING FOR A DIFFERENT ENDING
>>> Last season, Troy's 58-52 win at Sartain Hall was the Trojans' first Sun Belt win (Trojans entered with a 0-10 SBC mark).
>>> UL seeks to avoid being Troy's first Sun Belt victim for a second straight season.

A BOUNCE BACK IN STORE?
>>> The last time UL shot below 30 percent (25.5% at MT), the squad bounced back with a 44.8 percent clip (26-of-58) vs. FIU on Jan. 23.
>>> The Cajuns shot 29 percent in Wednesday's 64-46 loss to North Texas.

SCHAMBOUGH GIVES CAJUNS A LIFT
>>> With Sylvana Okde experiencing an “off night” vs. North Texas (0-for-7), Brandi Schambough tied her season-high with three 3-point makes (Dec. 13 vs. UNO). Schambough has made at least one triple in 12 of 21 games played.

VALUABLE EXPERIENCE
>>> The wins and losses may not be satisfactory, but several key freshmen on this year's Cajuns squad are building toward a strong future.
>>> Three of the five freshmen have garnered double figure starts and average over 20 minutes per game – Sylvana Okde (17 starts/32.3 mpg), Kia Wilridge (16 starts/32.2 mpg) and Jasmin Mills (16 starts/23.5 mpg).
>>> Keke Veal averages 24.6 minutes and has eight starts, while Adrienne Prejean has seen action in all 21 contests averaging 14.2 minutes.

TURNING UP THE “D”
>>> Thus far this season, the Cajuns defense has forced the opposing teams into 20.0 turnovers per game while UL averages 17.6, giving the squad a +2.4 turnover margin.
>>> 385 of the 1,187 points scored have been points off turnovers (32 percent).

SHE HAS THE TOUCH
>>> Freshman Sylvana Okde continues to impress with her abilities from three-point range.
>>> Okde converted a season-high seven makes from beyond the arc, including one as time expired, to send the Tulane contest into overtime.
>>> The Houston native, whose parents hail from Lebanon, is shooting 38.6 percent from three-point range (54-of-140).

MISS CLUTCH
>>> Brandi Schambough's last-second triple to pull out the win at Tulane on Dec. 19 brought back memories of a similar finish back on Feb. 20 vs. Nebraska-Omaha.
>>> In the team's 2011-12 non-conference finale, Schambough buried a trey with eight ticks left to pull UL out of a 60-59 deficit and to a win that halted a 17-game losing skid.

SHE MAKES THE DIFFERENCE AGAIN
>>> It was only fitting that Brandi Schambough hit the winning shot in the second overtime with UALR, given the Nebraska-Omaha and Tulane heroics.
>>> Schambough's trey with 27 seconds left gave UL a 56-54 lead in a win that ended a 10-game losing streak to the rising SBC West power UALR.

DOUBLE THE TROUBLE
>>> The freshman duo of Keke Veal and Kia Wilridge is the leading force behind the Ragin' Cajuns forcing the opposition into an average of 20.0 turnovers per game.
>>> Wilridge tops the squad with 46 steals, while Veal is a close second with 44 steals.

SHOW STOPPER
>>> Louisiana's 65-64 overtime win at Tulane brought an end to the Green Wave's 15-game win streak over Louisiana schools. Ten (10) days earlier, Tulane had defeated SEC-foe LSU 66-64 in Baton Rouge.

HOMEGROWN TALENT
>>> Cajuns roster features eight players who hail from the state of Louisiana.
>>> To go a step further, six athletes prepped in the greater Lafayette area (Brandi Schambough – St. Thomas More; Brooklyn Arceneaux – St. Thomas More; Robbie Brown – St. Thomas More; Kia Wilridge – St. Thomas More; Adrienne Prejean – Lafayette HS; Keke Veal – St. Thomas More).

REUNITED AND IT FEELS SO GOOD
>>> For the first time since the 2010-11 academic year, sophomores Brooklyn Arceneaux and Robbie Brown and freshmen Kia Wilridge and Keke Veal are teammates.
>>> The quartet powered local St. Thomas More High to a state championship in 2011.
>>> Last season, Wilridge and Veal carried on the championship caliber effort, winning another state title in 2012.

RETURNING HOME
>>> Three of the Cajuns four coaches are alums of the University of Louisiana, head coach Garry Brodhead (1980), Sallie Guillory (2005), and Deacon Jones (1999).
>>> For Brodhead, it represents a return to the city where many of his coaching successes occurred, including his stint at Teurlings Catholic High School where he posted a 297-78 record from 1998-2007.

REUNITED, PART 2
>>> Not only were teammates reunited this season, but members of the coaching staff were as well – Jennifer Sullivan rejoining Garry Brodhead and Sallie Guillory.
>>> The trio were assistant coaches at McNeese State during the 2008-09 campaign. Brodhead and Guillory remained at McNeese through 2011-12, while Sullivan spent 2009-10 through 2011-12 at Arkansas State.

CHANGING OF THE GUARD
>>> Garry Brodhead became the 12th head coach in UL program history on April 2, 2012. The 1980 UL graduate is a 16-year veteran of women's basketball coaching.
>>> Brodhead replaced Errol Rogers who compiled a 38-113 record over five seasons (2007-08 through 2011-12).

THE LONE RANGER
>>> Reserve guard Brandi Schambough is the lone senior on Garry Brodhead's inaugural squad in Cajun Country.
>>> She's also the most experienced in terms of years in a collegiate uniform having played each of the previous three seasons.

DOUBLE THE PLEASURE FOR RAGIN' CAJUNS FANS
>>> There will be five home doubleheaders in the Cajundome this year featuring the Ragin' Cajuns men's and women's basketball teams.
>>> The first doubleheader comes on Dec. 29 when Louisiana hosts UALR. Arkansas State is the guest on Jan. 12 and UL plays UL-Monroe (Feb. 10), Florida Atlantic (Feb. 16) and Western Kentucky (Feb. 23) on successive weekends in February.

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
>>> Louisiana takes both Thursday and Saturday night off next week before returning to the court for a rare Sunday contest at the Cajundome.
>>> After Wednesday serving as the squad's second “bye” in the SBC schedule, Louisiana returns to the court on Sunday, Feb. 10 against in-state rival UL-Monroe at 5 p.m. The game is part of a doubleheader with the Cajuns-Warhawks men's programs.
>>> The game was originally slated for Saturday, but had to be moved because of scheduling conflicts with the Cajundome and its Mardis Gras schedule.

-- Ragin' Cajuns --

In Similar Situation, Cajuns Seek Different Result in Troy

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