Cajuns Take Six-Game Win Streak To First-Place Georgia State

Contact: Matt Sullivan

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Game 28
Louisiana (18-9, 9-5) at Georgia State (19-7, 12-1)
Date:   Saturday, Feb. 22, 2014
Time:   7:30 p.m. CST
Site:   Georgia State Sports Arena (3,800), Atlanta, Ga.
Radio:   KPEL (1420 AM) & KHXT (107.9 FM) (Jay Walker)
TV:   Sun Belt Network (Tom Dore & Bob Donewald)
(The game will be televised locally on Cox Sports Television)
Series:   Georgia State leads, 3-2
Last Meeting:   Georgia State 77, Louisiana 70 (1/23/14, Lafayette, La.)

THE COACHES:
LOUISIANA
BOB MARLIN (Mississippi State '81)
At Louisiana: 61-60 (4th year)
4-Year Overall: 286-191 (16th year)
All Collegiate: 409-226 (21st year)
vs. Georgia State: 0-1

GEORGIA STATE
RON HUNTER (Miami, OH '86)
At GSU: 56-35 (3rd year)
Overall: 329-254 (20th year)
vs. Louisiana: 1-0

SETTING THE SCENE: The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (18-9, 9-5) will put its season-best six-game win streak on the line when they travel to Atlanta, Ga. to face Sun Belt Conference leader Georgia State on Saturday, Feb. 22 beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Georgia State Sports Arena. The game will be a doubleheader with the Louisiana women facing Georgia State starting at 5:00 p.m. with both games being televised by the Sun Belt Network. Tom Dore and Bob Donewald will call the action of the men's game. After dropping four of their final five games in January, the Cajuns are a perfect 6-0 in February, including consecutive homes wins over UALR (93-87 ), Arkansas State (85-67) and Troy (78-63) to move into third place in the Sun Belt standings. Georgia State (19-7, 12-1) is in control in the SBC race, owning a three-game lead over WKU (9-4). The Panthers claimed the first meeting this year, a 77-70 decision on Jan. 23 in Lafayette.

PREVIEWING LOUISIANA: As the Sun Belt season continues the second half of its season, Louisiana is 18-9 overall and 9-5 in league play, good for third place. The Cajuns have benefited from the return of five starters and 10 lettermen from last year's 13-20 team, 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, 5.9 rpg, 5.9 apg, 2.4 spg) and forward Shawn Long (19.4 ppg, 10.5 rpg, 2.8 bpg), both of whom were named to the preseason All-Sun Belt first team this year. Long plays mostly at center with Elridge Moore (4.3, 3.6) playing at power forward and Bryant Mbamalu (10.3, 3.9), who started 26 games as a wing guard last season, is starting on the wing, opposite junior newcomer Xavian Rimmer (7.9, 2.2). The bench has been solid with junior Kevin Brown (6.1, 1.6) providing depth at guard, sophomore Steven Wronkoski (4.8, 2.3) seeing action both on the wing and at small forward and junior J.J. Davenport (4.2, 3.2), who played the last two seasons at New Mexico Junior College, playing at center. Injuries have hurt the Cajuns as Bryant Mbamalu (foot) missed the first 12 games, Elridge Moore (leg) was sidelined for five games and sophomore guard Kasey Shepherd (8.2, 2.4) is out indefinitely. The third unit consists of a trio of freshmen, Hayward Register (3.3) at guard, Luka Kamber (0.5, 1.3) at forward and Vieux Kande (1.1, 0.8) 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 Friday (Feb. 21). Shawn Long was sixth in double-doubles (14), ninth in rebounds (10.5), 10th in total field goals made (192), 23rd in blocks (2.8) and 42nd in scoring (19.4). Junior Elfrid Payton was 11th in steals (2.4), 18th in assists (5.9) and 35th in scoring (19.7), owning one of nine triple-doubles in the nation this year. As a team, the Cajuns were 14th in scoring offense (81.3), 33rd in steals (7.8) and 38th in three-point field goal defense (.307).

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.

PAYTON RECEIVES POW HONORS: For the second straight week, the Cajuns have swept the two weekly player of the week awards as junior guard Elfrid Payton was the recipient of both honors. Payton averaged 22.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 4.0 steals in leading the Cajuns past both UALR and Arkansas State last week. He shot .667 from the field (16-24) en route to registering his 14th and 15th 20-point gmes of the season.

LONG REACHES THE 1,000 POINT MARK: A 16-point effort against Arkansas State on Saturday (Feb. 15) allowed Shawn Long to become the 41st player in school history to score 1,000 points in a career and the fifth to accomplish it as a sophomore. Long, who scored 15 points against Troy on Thursday, has now scored 1,016 career points. He is the second Cajun to reach the milestone this year, joining Elfrid Payton who now has 1,270 points (27th). Long joins Bo Lamar (1,631 points), Andrew Toney (1,269), Kevin Brooks (1,053) and Jerry Flake (1,042) as the 1,000-point sophomores.

. . . AND MBAMALU IS NEXT: A season-high 21-point game vs. Troy has moved senior Bryant Mbamalu to within 51 points of being the 42nd player in school history to score 1,000 career points. With at least five games to go, Mbamalu needs to average 10.2 points a game to accomplish the feat. He scored 161 points as a freshman (2010-11), 233 as a sophomore (2011-12) and 400 last year as a junior. Mbamalu would already be over the 1,000-point mark had he not missed the first 12 games this year with a foot injury.

PAYTON EYES CAREER STEAL MARK: With one steal in the win over Troy on Thursday, junior Elfrid Payton moved three steals away from breaking the school career record of 184 steals set by Chris Manuel (1995-98). Payton had 37 steals as a freshman in 2011-12 and 80 in 2012-13, the third-highest single season total in school history. Payton has 65 steals this season.

2x1000: When Shawn Long surpassed the 1,000-point mark against Arkansas State on Saturday (Feb. 15), joining teammate Elfrid Payton as 1,000-point scoreres, it marked the seventh time in school history that two Cajuns accomplished the feat in the same season. It was also the 16th time that a team had two 1,000 point scorers on it. The last time the Cajuns had two 1,000-point players in the same year came in 2005-06 when Michael Southall and Dwayne Mitchell accomplished it.

. . . AND 3x1000: With Bryant Mbamalu on the cusp of 1,000 points for his career, it would mark only the fourth time that a Louisiana team had three 1,000-point scorers on it and the first time that all three went over the plateau in the same season. The first trio came in 1971-72 when career scoring leader Dwight "Bo" Lamar (3,493 points), Roy Ebron (1,683 points) and Payton Townsend (1,240) accomplished it. It also happened in 1983 with Graylin Warner (1,762), Dion Brown (1,412) and Alonza Allen (1,211) and finally in 1993-94 with Michael Allen (1,673), Byron Starks (1,592) and Tony Moore (1,118).

PLAYING OVERTIME: The Feb. 13 double overtime win over UALR improved the Cajuns to 2-1 this year in overtime games and 8-5 in extra time in four seasons under head coach Bob Marlin. The three overtime games are the most in a season since Louisiana went 4-1 in OT in 2011-12, Marlin's second season with the Cajuns. The Cajuns are now 31-20 all-time in overtime games and 8-11 in double overtime contests.

CAJUNS RECORD 17TH WIN: The win over Troy on Thursday was the 18th of the season for the Ragin' Cajuns, two more than the previous highest win total in four seasons under head coach Bob Marlin (16 in 2011-12) and the most by a Louisiana team since the Cajuns went 20-10 in 2002-03. The victory also assures the Cajuns of finishing the season with a record above .500 for time since 2002-03.

HAYWARD REGISTERS A CAREER HIGH: With Kasey Shepherd sidelined with a knee injury, head coach Bob Marlin has found some relief in freshman Hayward Register. Register, who scored just 26 points on six-for-28 shooting from three-point (.214) while playing in 14 of the first 22 games has responded by averaging 7.2 points and shooting .579 from three-point (11-19) over the last five games. Included in that total is a career-high 17 point effort at UT Arlington on Feb. 6, an outburst that more than doubled his previous scoring high of seven points.

THURSDAY SUCCESS: After opening the season with four consecutive losses on Thursday nights, the Cajuns have bounced back to win on Thursday in each of the last three weeks to improve to 3-4 on the year.

SHOOTING IS THE DIFFERENCE: Thursday night's win over Troy marked the 16th time that the Cajuns have shot better from the field than their opponent in a game this season with Louisiana being a perfect 16-0 in those games. At the other end of the spectrum, the Cajuns are just 2-9 when their opponents shoots a higher percentage from the field. Turnovers have proven to be unimportant this season as Louisiana is 9-4 when committing the same number or more turnovers than its opponent and 9-5 when committing less.

A SHOOTING PERFORMANCE FOR PAYTON: Elfrid Payton was quite efficient against ULM on Feb. 1, going 13-for-14 from the field on his way to scoring a game-high 28 points. The shooting effort was the second-best on the team this year, trailing only the school-record equalling 12-for-12 game by Shawn Long against Centenary. Payton enters the week ranking 10th in the Sun Belt shooting .505 (159-316).

. . . AND PAYTON HAS KEPT IT GOING: In the six games since Elfrid Payton had his 13-for-14 shooting night against ULM (Feb. 1), Payton has kept his shooting touch, going a combined 46-for-65 from the field (.708) to improve to .519 shooting for the season (182-351), good for 10th in the Sun Belt. Payton has shot .500 or better in five of the six games, including back-to-back eight-for-12 (.667) efforts in wins over UALR and Arkansas State. It is no coincidence that the Cajuns are 6-0 during this stretch.

DAVENPORT SHINES: With Shawn Long out of the lineup for the UALR game on Jan. 30, 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 (14) and Payton (5). With Long in foul trouble vs. Arkansas State (Feb. 15), Davenport came back to scored eight of his 13 points in the decisive second half.

THE GOOD HEALTH LASTED JUST SIX 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. The Cajuns have responded well to adversity, going 3-3 with a healthy lineup and 15-6 when missing one or more players.

. . . AND THE RETURNING STARTING FIVE HASN'T STARTED TOGETHER: Last year, the starting lineup of Elfrid Payton (G), Bryant Mbamalu (G), Steven Wronkoski (G), Elridge Moore (F) and Shawn Long (F), combined to start 144 games for the Cajuns, including 12 together as the starting five. Despite all five players returning this season and head coach Bob Marlin using 10 different starting units, they have yet to start a game together this year.

NEXT UP: The Cajuns don't play a mid-week game, returning to the Cajundome on Sunday, March 2 to host South Alabama in a 3:00 p.m. Senior Day contest that will be televised as the Sun Belt game of the week. At the game, the accomplishments of seniors Bryant Mbamalu, Elridge Moore and Braylan Lazare will be feted in a pre-game ceremony.

Cajuns Take Six-Game Win Streak To First-Place Georgia State

Next Event

Footer

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics