Cajuns Host SBC Front Runner Georgia State on Thursday

Contact: Brian McCann

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Game 19
Georgia State (12-6, 5-0) at Louisiana (12-6, 3-2)
Date: Thursday, Jan. 23, 2014
Time: 7:15 p.m. CST
Site: Cajundome (11,550), Lafayette, Louisiana
Radio: KPEL (1420 AM) & KHXT (107.9 FM) (Jay Walker)
TV: None
Series:        Series Tied, 2-2
Last Meeting: Louisiana 76, Georgia State 70 (1/2/06, Lafayette, La.)

THE COACHES:
LOUISIANA
BOB MARLIN (Mississippi State '81)
At Louisiana: 55-57 (4th year)
4-Year Overall: 280-188 (16th year)
All Collegiate: 403-223 (21st year)
vs. Georgia State: 0-0

GEORGIA STATE
RON HUNTER (Miami, OH '86)
At GSU: 49-34 (3rd year)
Overall: 323-253 (20th year)
vs. Louisiana: 0-0

Bob Marlin Show On KPEL
The one-hour show originates from Walk-On's in Lafayette (2336 Kaliste Saloom). The next installment of the show is from 6:30-7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 20.

SETTING THE SCENE: The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (12-6, 3-2) return home for what is perhaps their most demanding home stand of the year, playing a pair of games against the Sun Belt front runners. The Cajuns open the week on Thursday (Jan. 23) when they host first-place Georgia State (12-6, 5-0) beginning at 7:15 p.m. in the Cajundome. The game will be part of a doubleheader with the Louisiana women's team hosting Georgia State starting at 5:00 p.m. On Saturday (Jan. 25), the Cajuns close the week against two-time defending SBC tournament champion WKU, a 3:00 p.m. game that will be broadcast nationally on ESPN2. The Cajuns begin the week in third place in the Sun Belt after splitting a pair of road games last week. Georgia State has taken the Sun Belt by storm, winning their first five league games by an average of 13.8 points a game to lead the conference race. This will be the fifth series meeting with the series standing tied at 2-2 with the home team winning every game.

PREVIEWING LOUISIANA: Louisiana is off to an 12-6 start in 2013-14, benefiting from the return of five starters and a total of 10 lettermen from last year's squad that went 13-20, leading fourth-year head coach Bob Marlin to feel confident that the Cajuns have taken a big step forward. The team is centered around the duo of point guard Elfrid Payton (19.7 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 6.2 apg, 2.5 spg) and forward Shawn Long (20.8 ppg, 10.6 rpg, 2.9 bpg), both of whom were named to the preseason All-Sun Belt first team this year. Long plays mostly at center with Elridge Moore (5.2, 3.8) has returned at small forward after missing five games with an ankle injury. Bryant Mbamalu (7.2, 2.0), who started 26 games as a wing guard last season, has returned after missing the first 12 games with a foot injury. With Mbamalu out, junior Kevin Brown (6.8, 1.7) saw increased playing time with Steven Wronkoski (5.6, 2.6) starting on the other wing. The bench has been a source of a good offensive spark as junior Xavian Rimmer (7.4, 2.1) and sophomore Kasey Shepherd (8.6, 2.4) providing the biggest lift at guard with freshman Hayward Register (2.0) also seeing time. Junior J.J. Davenport (3.4, 2.8), who played the last two seasons at New Mexico Junior College, and freshmen Vieux Kande (1.3, 0.9), and Luka Kamber (0.5, 1.3) are the primary reserves inside with both Davenport and Kande playing center and Kamber a forward. Marlin is utilizing the depth and quickness by forcing an up-tempo game at both ends of the court by applying more defensive pressure. The Cajuns use their quickness and outside shooting ability to create a balanced offense, forcing opponents to cover the entire court.

LOUISIANA IN THE NCAA STATS: The Cajuns were featured prominently in the latest NCAA stats, which were released on Monday (Jan. 20). Shawn Long was sixth in field goals made (144), eighth in rebounding (10.6), 11th in double-doubles (9), 17th in scoring (20.8) and 20th in blocks (2.9). Junior Elfrid Payton was 14th in steals (2.4), 15th in assists (6.2) and 31st in scoring (19.7), owning one of seven triple doubles in the nation this year. As a team, the Cajuns were 13th in scoring offense (83.6) and 27th in three-point field goal defense (.295).

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-percent both on and off the court. This demand has led to positive results in the classroom. During the spring 2013 semester, the Ragin' Cajuns set a program record with a 2.904 grade point average for the team. They backed that up with a 2.854 during the recently completed fall semester, the second-highest average in the 31 years that athletics has tracked grades, with eight of the 15 players posting a 3.0 or better. In seven semesters under head coach Bob Marlin, the Cajuns have recorded seven of the top 10 semesters in program history.

CAJUNS ARE FINALLY HEALTHY: Cajuns head coach Bob Marlin has disputed the fact listed in most preseason stories that Louisiana has benefited from the return of all five starters this year because up until the UT Arlington game on Jan. 11, he had not had the good fortune to have all five starters from last year healthy at the same time. The return of Elridge Moore for the UT Arlington contest gave Marlin a complete roster of 15 healthy players for the first time all season. Bryant Mbamalu, who started 25 games last year, missed the first 12 games of the year with a foot injury and Moore had been sidelined with an ankle sprain since mid-December. The Cajuns are now 3-1 playing with all 15 players available.

WHITE OUT AHEAD: Saturday's game against WKU has been dubbed a White Out game with fans attending being encouraged to wear white to the contest, which will be televised on ESPN2 starting at 3:00 p.m. At the game, the first 1,000 Louisiana students will get a limited edition white out t-shirt and two fans will get to take a halfcourt shot for $5,000. The game is being sponsored by Delta Media, parent company of 103.7 The Game, along with Acadiana Bottling Company.

FLIPPING THE SCRIPT: There was plenty of optimism by the Cajuns heading into the season and through 18 games, that optimism has proven to be warranted. After 18 games last season, the Cajuns were just 6-12, standing in fourth place in the west division (and 10th overall of 11 teams) with a 2-5 league mark. After Saturday's win at Troy, the exact opposite is true for Louisiana as the Cajuns own a 12-6 record and are in third place in the Sun Belt with a 3-2 mark.

CAJUNS PUT HOME WIN STREAK ON THE LINE: When Louisiana hosts first place Georgia State on Thursday, the Cajuns will be putting their modest eight-game home winning streak on the line. The streak, which began with the 101-67 win over Louisiana College in the season opener, is the sixth-longest home streak since Louisiana moved into the Cajundome for the 1985-86 season. It equals the eight-game streak that the Cajuns registered from January, 2011 through early November, 2012, Marlin's second season on the bench at Louisiana. It is the longest home win streak since the Cajuns rattled off 10 straight from Jan. 2003 through Dec. 2004, the last of which was a 67-50 win over Georgia State (12/20/04), this week's first opponent. The Cajundome record is a 21-game streak from Dec. 2001 until Feb. 2003.

SCORING OFF THE GLASS: Shawn Long has made the most of his rebounding opportunities this year, scoring 39 baskets off his 68 offensive rebounds this season for an average of 4.3 points a game. Long ranks third in the Sun Belt averaging 3.8 offensive rebounds a game and second in scoring (20.8).

CHANGING STARTERS DOOESN'T MATTER: On most teams, the starting lineup only changes when bad things happen, but that has not been the case with the Ragin' Cajuns this year. As head coach Bob Marlin has pointed out, it doesn't matter who starts, but who finishes. Louisiana used the same lineup (Payton, Brown, Wronkoski, Moore & Long) through the first nine game, going 6-3. An injury to Moore followed by the return of Bryant Mbamalu has resulted in Marlin using eight different starting units over the last nine games, with the Cajuns going 6-3. Elfrid Payton is the only player to start every game, while eight other players have earned starts during the year.

STREAKING FROM THE LINE: The Cajuns have shown improvement from the foul line since the beginning of Sun Belt Conference play, going 106-for-147 (.721) to improve to .683 for the year (334-for-489). Kasey Shepherd leads the team, making 31-of-33 attempts to shoot .939 from the stripe. He opened the year with 16 straight makes before missing once each in back-to-back games against Central Methodist (Dec. 30) and at ULM (Jan. 4). Shepherd has now made a modest 10 straight free throws. Xavian Rimmer is shooting .868 from the line (33-for-38), owning a current streak of 25 straight makes going back to the Louisiana Tech game (Dec. 4). Center J.J. Davenport opened the year by making just one of his first four attempts, but has bounced back to make 21 straight before missing his second attempt at Troy on Saturday (Jan. 16). Davenport is shooting .846 (22-26) for the year.

. . . AND PAYTON HAS SPENT THE SEASON AT THE LINE: With 180 free throw attempts this year, Elfrid Payton enters the week ranked third nationally in free throw attempts. Niagara's Antoine Mason leads the country with 232 attempts through Sunday while Tennessee State's Patrick Miller (181) is second. Payton has shot 521 career free throws, including 133 as a freshman in 2011-12 and 209 in 2012-13. He has attempted eight or more free throws in a game 13 times this season.

THE DRIVE FOR 1,000: With Elfrid Payton already surpassing the 1,000 point mark for his career this season, the attention turns to sophomore Shawn Long and senior Bryant Mbamalu, who should become the 41st and 42nd Cajuns to accomplish the feat. Long enters the week with 885 career points while Mbamalu has 837 points. Long is also attempting to become just the fifth player to reach 1,000 points as a sophomore, joining Bo Lamar (1,631 points), Andrew Toney (1,269), Kevin Brooks (1,053) and Jerry Flake (1,042).

A TRIPLE-DOUBLE FOR PAYTON: After flirting with it a half-dozen times over the last 40 games, junior Elfrid Payton recorded the first triple-doule of his career when he set career highs for scoring (34), rebounds (11) and assists (11) at ULM on Jan. 4. It was the sixth triple-double in school history and one of seven in the nation this year. Michael Southall recorded the last triple-double by a Cajun when he had one at North Texas in 2005-06. Here are a list of triple-doubles in Cajuns basketball history (all are points-rebounds-assists except where noted with *):

        Elfrid Payton at ULM (Jan. 4, 2014) (34 pts, 11 reb, 11 asst.)
        Michael Southall @ North Texas (Jan. 5, 2006) (19 pts, 12 reb, 11 blocks)
        Aaron Mitchell vs. Jackson State (Dec. 1, 1989) (21-10-10)
        Randal Smith vs. Rider (Jan. 8, 1987) (22-11-11)
        George Almones vs. Long Island (Jan. 28, 1985) (12-16-11)
        George Almones vs. ULM (Feb. 14, 1983) (14-10-12)

. . . AND LONG FLIRTS WITH GETTING ONE OF HIS OWN: One game after Elfrid Payton recorded a triple-double, his running mate, Shawn Long, flirted with one of his own. Against UT Arlington on Saturday (Jan. 11), Long totalled 22 points, nine rebounds and a career-high seven blocks, playing just 28 minutes. Long has 27 career double-doubles, but that was the first time he came that close to registering the third part of the feat.

MARLIN CLAIMS 400TH VICTORY: Louisiana head coach Bob Marlin used a 90-58 win over Central Methodist on Dec. 30 to claim his 400th as a head coach at the collegiate level. Marlin enters the Georgia State game with a 403-223 record (.644) in 21 seasons as a head coach. He was 123-35 in five seasons at Pensacola Junior College (1990-95), winning the 1993 national championship, and 225-131 in 12 years at Sam Houston State (1998-2010). He reached the 50-win mark at Louisiana in the win over Houston on Dec. 14 and owns a 55-57 record.

SHEPHERD SPARKS THE CAJUNS: The emergence of Kasey Shepherd has provided the Cajuns with a scoring spark off the bench this season. Shepherd, who averaged 3.4 points in 10.9 minutes of action last year, started the year slowly, averaging just 2.7 points over the first six games. He has now settled into the offense, averaging 11.5 points over the last 12 games, including 17 or more points five times. He leads the Sun Belt shooting .568 from behind the three-point line (25-for-44) while also shooting .538 from the field (49-for-91) and .939 from the line (31-for-33). He earned the LSWA Player of the Week award on Dec. 9 after scoring 22 points at Louisiana Tech and 18 at Louisville.

SHEPHERD & RIMMER ARE A ONE-TWO PUNCH: The graduation of Alan-Michael Thompson and the injury to Bryant Mbamalu left the Cajuns without their two most effective three-point shooters at the start of the season. Their loss has been offset by the addition of Xavian Rimmer and the maturation of Kasey Shepherd. Shepherd leads the Sun Belt shooting .586 from three-point range (25-for-44) while Rimmer is third at .467 (28-for-60). With Shepherd and Rimmer leading the way, the Cajuns rank third in the Sun Belt, making 135 of their 360 three-point attempts (.375). Last year, Louisiana shot .341 from behind the three-point line (226-for-663).

MBAMALU BACK: After missing the first 12 games of the season with a foot injury suffered in September, senior Bryant Mbamalu returned to the lineup on Dec. 30 and has played in the last five games. After totalling a combined nine points and four rebounds in his first two games, he has averaged 8.5 points and 2.0 rebounds in his last four appearances, each as a starter. Mbamalu scored a season-high 14 points vs. Texas State and has shot 8-for-14 (.571) from behind the three-point line this season. As a junior in 2012-13, Mbamalu started all but seven games as a wing guard, averaging 13.8 points and 3.7 rebounds a game, finishing second on the team with 49 treys. He scored in double figures 21 times, including five 20-point games.

PAYTON MOVES UP SCORING CHART: A 14-point effort at Troy on Saturday (Jan. 18) moved Elfrid Payton into a tie with Ceddric Hill (1981-86) for 32nd place on the Louisiana career scoring chart with 1,105 career points. Payton became the 40th Cajun to score 1,000 career points in the win over Central Methodist on Monday (Jan. 4). Payton, who is averaging 19.7 points, has three career 30-point games and nineteen 20-point efforts.

CAJUNS SIGN THREE: The Louisiana coaching staff was busy this week, signing three players to national letters of intent during the early signing period. Signing with the Cajuns were:

Scott Plaisance (6-9, 210, F, New Orleans, La./Country Day): Was named the Louisiana Class 1A Player of the Year after averaging 15.8 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.1 blocks per game and leading Country Day to a 26-11 record and the state title. Plaisance is rated the No. 6 player in Louisiana on the latest Times-Picayune Super 16.

Bryce Washington (6-6, 230, F, New Orleans, La./St. Augustine): Earned first team all-district 10-4A honors last year after averaging 13.0 points, 11.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists per game, helping lead his team to a 25-10 record. Ranked No. 13 on the Times-Picayune list of top players in Louisiana.

Johnathan Stove (6-4, 215, G-F, Baton Rouge, La./Christian Life Academy): First team all-state choice after averaging 19.8 points as a junior. He was named to both the state Class A team and to the 11-man all-classes team by the Louisiana High School Basketball Coaches Association. A five-year regular, he played on state championship teams in both 8th & 10th grades and helped squad to a 27-6 record and the state semi-finals as a junior.

NEXT UP: The Cajuns remain at home on Saturday (Jan. 25), hosting two-time defending Sun Belt tournament champion WKU beginning at 3:00 p.m. in a game that will be televised nationally on ESPN2. Louisiana then takes to the road to close the January slate with a Jan. 30 contest at UALR.

Cajuns Host SBC Front Runner Georgia State on Thursday

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