Louisiana Basketball Hosts ULM In Cajundome On Saturday

Contact: Brian McCann

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Game 22
ULM (7-9, 4-4) at Louisiana (12-9, 3-5)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 1, 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: Louisiana leads, 48-20
Last Meeting: ULM 103, Louisiana 98 (2OT) (1/4/14, Monroe, La.)

THE COACHES:
LOUISIANA
BOB MARLIN (Mississippi State '81)
At Louisiana: 55-60 (4th year)
4-Year Overall: 280-191 (16th year)
All Collegiate: 403-226 (21st year)
vs. ULM: 15-3

ULM
KEITH RICHARD (ULM '82)
At ULM: 21-82 (4th year)
Overall: 171-199 (13th year)
vs. Louisiana: 7-11

SETTING THE SCENE: The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (12-9, 3-5) return home in hopes of ending a three-game losing streak when the Cajuns host ULM on Saturday, Feb. 1 beginning at 7:15 p.m. in the Cajundome. The game is the second contest of a doubleheader with the Louisiana women's basketball team hosting ULM at 5:00 p.m. After winning three of their first five league games, Louisiana (12-9, 3-5) has dropped three straight league contests, including a pair in the Cajundome. Junior Elfrid Payton is coming off his 11th 20-point effort of the year, raising his career scoring total to 1,165 points. The Cajuns have dominated the series with ULM (7-9, 4-4), winning 48 of the 68 series meetings, including a 29-3 record in games played in Lafayette, but the Warhawks claimed the first meeting this year, a 103-98 double overtime decision on Jan. 4 in Monroe, La.

PREVIEWING LOUISIANA: As the Sun Belt season approaches the halfway point, Louisiana is 12-9 overall and 3-5 in league play. The Cajuns have benefited 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 (19.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 6.0 apg, 2.3 spg) and forward Shawn Long (20.2 ppg, 10.9 rpg, 3.1 bpg), both of whom were named to the preseason All-Sun Belt first team this year. Long plays mostly at center with Elridge Moore (4.9, 3.8) playing at power forward after missing five games with an ankle injury. Bryant Mbamalu (8.2, 3.3), who started 26 games as a wing guard last season, has returned after missing the first 12 games with a foot injury and is starting on the wing, opposite junior newcomer Xavian Rimmer (7.5, 2.1). The bench has been solid with sophomore Kasey Shepherd (8.2, 2.4) and junior Kevin Brown (6.7, 1.5) providing depth at guard, sophomore Steven Wronkoski (5.1, 2.4) seeing action both on the win and at small forward and junior J.J. Davenport (3.9, 3.1), who played the last two seasons at New Mexico Junior College, playing at center. The third unit consists of a trio of freshmen, Hayward Register (1.9) at guard, Luka Kamber (0.5, 1.3) at forward and Vieux Kande (1.2, 0.9) at center. 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 Thursday (Jan. 30). Shawn Long was fifth in double-doubles (11), eighth in rebounds (10.9), 14th in blocks (3.1) and 24th in scoring (20.2). Junior Elfrid Payton was 15th in steals (2.4) and assists (6.0) and 32nd in scoring (19.6), owning one of seven triple doubles in the nation this year. As a team, the Cajuns were 18th in scoring offense (81.6), 30th in steals (8.2) and 36th in three-point field goal defense (.303).

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.

DAVENPORT SHINES: With Shawn Long out of the lineup for the UALR game on Thursday, junior J.J. Davenport stepped up and turned in the best performance of his Cajuns career. Playing a career-high 27 minutes, Davenport registered his first career double-double, setting additional career highs with 14 points and 11 rebounds. He became the third Cajuns player to register a double-double this season, joining Long (11) and Payton (4).

SHEPHERD SIDELINED: Sophomore guard Kasey Shepherd is sidelined indefinitely with a knee injury suffered during the WKU game on Jan. 25. Shepherd has provided the Cajuns with a scoring spark off the bench this season, averaging 8.2 points a game. 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, before settling in and averaging 10.5 points over his last 14 games before being hurt, scoring 17 or more points five times. He leads the Sun Belt shooting .542 from behind the three-point line (26-for-48) while also shooting .535 from the field (53-for-99) 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.

. . . AND THE GOOD HEALTH LASTED JUST SEVEN GAMES: 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 healthy lineup lasted just six games as the Cajuns played the UALR contest without reserve guard Kasey Shepherd, who is out indefinitely with a knee injury, and forward Luka Kamber, who missed the game with a concussion.

TEXAS STATE GAME TO BE TELEVISED: The Feb. 8 road game at Texas State, which is slated for a 4:30 p.m. start, will be televised throughout Louisiana by Cox4 through an agreement between the two athletic departments. Texas State and WXAN TV are televising the game to the Dallas and Austin areas with Cox4 picking up the feed. Brant Freeman and Roger Wallace will provide the commenatry.

HOME WIN STREAK SNAPPED: Back-to-back home losses to Georgia State and WKU last week ended Louisiana's eight-game home winning streak. The streak, which began with the 101-67 win over Louisiana College in the season opener, was the sixth-longest home streak since Louisiana moved into the Cajundome for the 1985-86 season. It equaled 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 was 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.

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)

SCORING OFF THE GLASS: Shawn Long has made the most of his rebounding opportunities this year, scoring 42 baskets off his 74 offensive rebounds this season for an average of 4.2 points a game. Long ranks third in the Sun Belt averaging 3.6 offensive rebounds a game and second in scoring (20.8).

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 915 career points while Mbamalu has 868 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).

STREAKING FROM THE LINE: The Cajuns have shown improvement from the foul line since the beginning of Sun Belt Conference play, going 161-for-221 (.729) to improve to .690 for the year (389-for-564). 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 .857 from the line (36-for-42), having his streak of 26 straight free throws made snapped against WKU (1/25/14). Center J.J. Davenport opened the year by making just one of his first four attempts, but bounced back to make 21 straight before missing his second attempt at Troy on Jan. 16. Davenport is shooting .824 (28-34) for the year. After making nine of his first 19 attempts to open the season, Kevin Brown has made 16 straight over the last eight games.

. . . AND PAYTON HAS SPENT THE SEASON AT THE LINE: With 204 free throw attempts this year, Elfrid Payton enters the week ranked tied for third nationally in free throw attempts. Niagara's Antoine Mason leads the country with 264 attempts while Tennessee State's Patrick Miller (220) is second and Payton is tied with John Jordan from Texas A&M-CC. Payton has shot 546 career free throws, including 133 as a freshman in 2011-12 and 209 in 2012-13, the sixth-highest single season total in school history. He has attempted eight or more free throws in a game 15 times this season.

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 ULM game with a 403-226 record (.642) 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 55-59 record.

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 .542 from three-point range (26-for-48) while Rimmer is fourth at .420 (29-for-69). With Shepherd and Rimmer leading the way, the Cajuns rank third in the Sun Belt, making 143 of their 394 three-point attempts (.363). Last year, Louisiana shot .341 from behind the three-point line (226-for-663).

PAYTON MOVES UP SCORING CHART: A 16-point effort against WKU on Saturday enabled Elfrid Payton to move past Brad Boyd (1,130 points from 2000-04) into 30th place on the Louisiana career scoring chart. With 20 more points against UALR, Payton now has 1,165 career points, 28 points behind Michael Southall (2001-06), who is 29th with 1,193 points. Payton became the 40th Cajun to score 1,000 career points in the win over Central Methodist on Dec. 30. Payton, who is averaging 19.6 points, has three career 30-point games and twenty-one 20-point efforts.

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 9.3 points and 3.7 rebounds in his last seven appearances, each as a starter. Mbamalu scored a season-high 14 points vs. Texas State and has shot 10-for-23 (.435) 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.

20-POINT GAMES: The versatility of the Louisiana lineup this season is evident by the four Cajuns who have combined to score 20 or more points in a game 24 times in the first 21 games this season. Elfrid Payton (11) and Shawn Long (10) lead the way, including four contests in which they both scored 20 points. Xavian Rimmer (2) and Kasey Shepherd (1) have come off the bench to reach the mark. Last year, Cajuns players had 25, 20-point games, with all but one coming from a starter. Payton and Long had nine each with Bryant Mbamalu adding five and Alan-Michael Thompson getting two.

. . . AND 30-POINT EFFORTS: When Elfrid Payton set a career-high with 34 points at ULM, it marked the fourth time this season that Ragin' Cajuns player scored 30 or more points in a game. Payton owns three of the efforts, scoring 31 points against Houston (Dec. 14) and a 32 points vs. Oakland (Nov. 23) while Shawn Long has the other, a 30-point effort vs. Centenary. Last year, Payton scored 32 points against Western Kentucky for the only 30-point game by a Cajun.

RIMMER COMES THROUGH IN THE CLUTCH: Junior Xavian Rimmer has only been with the Cajuns for 20 games, but he is quickly gaining a reputation for making the last-second shot. At Jackson State on Dec. 19, he made a three-pointer with nine seconds left to tie the game at 67-67. On Jan. 4 at ULM, he was fouled with 2.3 seconds left and made all three free throws to tie the game at 74-74 and force overtime.

PAYTON MOVES UP TO SIXTH IN ASSISTS: A five-assist performance at UALR on Thursday allowed Elfrid Payton to move past both Kenneth Lawrence (401 assists from 2000-03) and George Almones (402, 1983-85) and into sixth place on the Louisiana career assist chart with 405 career assists.

LONG MOVES INTO FOURTH ON BLOCKS CHART: Nine blocked shots in the two games last week has propelled sophomore Shawn Long past Tyren Johnson (120 blocks from 2007-08) and into fourth place on the career blocks list with 126 career blocks. Long had 65 blocks last year as a freshman, the sixth-highest single season total in Cajuns history, and 57 this season, the seventh-highest total.

PLAYING OVERTIME: The Jan. 4 ULM game marked the second time in five games that the Cajuns played to overtime this season. The Cajuns previously toppled Houston in OT on Dec. 14 and are now 7-5 in overtime in the four seasons under head coach Bob Marlin. The ULM game was the first double overtime game since Louisiana dropped double overtime decision at Texas Southern (74-71) and vs. South Alabama (91-89) last year.

LONG LIKES TO DOUBLE UP: Sophomore Shawn Long picked right up where he left off last spring, registering double-doubles in 11 of the 20 games that he has played in to rank fifth nationally. Long has 29 double-doubles in 53 career games. He enters the week leading the SBC in blocked shots (3.1), rebounding (10.9) and defensive rebounding (7.2), ranked second in scoring (20.2), third in offensive rebounds (3.7) and seventh in field goal percentage (.529).

. . . AND PAYTON ADDS HIS SIXTH: Elfrid Payton is also getting into the double-double action, recording four already this season (counting his triple-double) including in back-to-back games against Louisiana Tech (Dec. 4) and Louisville (Dec. 7) to give him six career double-doubles. He had 17 points and 10 rebounds at Louisiana Tech and came back to record 12 points and 10 assists against the Cardinals. Payton has been diverse in putting his double-doubles together, owning three point-rebound double-doubles and three with points and assists. Payton registered his first double-double of the year in the season opener, scoring 21 points with 10 assists.

PAYTON NAMED TO WOODEN AWARD PRESEASON TOP 50: Cajuns junior point guard Elfrid Payton earned a big preseason honor on Nov. 12 when he was named to the 2013-14 John R. Wooden Award preseason top 50 list by the Los Angeles Athletic Club. Named after the legendary UCLA head coach, the Wooden Award is the most prestigious individual honor in college basketball. It is bestowed upon the nation's best player at an institution of higher education who has proven to his or her university that he or she is making progress toward graduation.

. . . AND MORE HONORS FOR PAYTON: Being selected to the Wooden Award list is the latest in a long list of preseason awards for Elfrid Payton. Earlier in the fall, Payton was named to the preseason watch list for the Bob Cousy Award, which is presented to the nation's top point guard by the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. In addition, Payton was named to the Mid-Major All-America first team by NBCSports.com and to the Lou Henson All-America team, which honors the nation's top mid-major players and is presented by CollegeInsider.com.

NEXT UP: The Cajuns head back out on the road, beginning the second half of the league schedule with road games at UT Arlington on Thursday, Feb. 6 and at Texas State on Saturday, Feb. 8.

Louisiana Basketball Hosts ULM In Cajundome On Saturday

Next Event

Footer

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics