UT Arlngton Next Up For Cajuns During Tour of Texas

Contact: Brian McCann

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Game 23
Louisiana (13-9, 4-5) at UT Arlington (9-12, 4-5)
Date: Thursday, Feb. 6, 2014
Time: 7:30 p.m. CST
Site: College Park Center (7,000), Arlington, Texas
Radio: KPEL (1420 AM) & KHXT (107.9 FM) (Jay Walker)
TV: None
Series:        Louisiana Leads, 13-5
Last Meeting: Louisiana 90, UT Arlington 70 (1/11/14, Lafayette, La.)

THE COACHES:

LOUISIANA
BOB MARLIN (Mississippi State '81)
At Louisiana: 56-60 (4th year)
4-Year Overall: 281-191 (16th year)
All Collegiate: 404-226 (21st year)
vs. UTA: 16-8

UT ARLINGTON
SCOTT CROSS (UT Arlington '98)
At UTA: 131-108 (9th year)
Overall: 131-108 (9th year)
vs. Louisiana: 0-1

SETTING THE SCENE: Rejuvenated following one of its best defensive performances of the season, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (13-9, 4-5) head to the State of Texas to start the second half of the Sun Belt Conference schedule with a pair of games against SBC newcomers. The Cajuns open the week on Thursday (Feb. 6) with a 7:30 p.m. contest at UT Arlington before heading to San Marcos to face Texas State on Saturday (Feb. 8) at 4:30 p.m. in a game that will be televised back to Louisiana by Cox4. The Cajuns won the first meetings with UT Arlington, topping the Mavericks, 90-70, on Jan. 11 in the Cajundome. The victory improved the Cajuns to 13-5 all-time, including a 5-3 record in games played in Arlington. UT Arlington (9-12, 4-5) enters the contest in a fifth-place tie with the Cajuns in the Sun Belt standings.

PREVIEWING LOUISIANA: As the Sun Belt season starts the second half of its season, Louisiana is 13-9 overall and 4-5 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 (20.0 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 5.9 apg, 2.3 spg) and forward Shawn Long (19.8 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 (4.8, 3.5) playing at power forward and Bryant Mbamalu (8.8, 3.4), who started 26 games as a wing guard last season, is starting on the wing, opposite junior newcomer Xavian Rimmer (7.4, 2.1). The bench has been solid with junior Kevin Brown (6.7, 1.5) providing depth at guard, sophomore Steven Wronkoski (5.1, 2.4) seeing action both on the wing 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. Injuries have hurt the Cajuns as Bryant Mbamalu missed the first 12 games with a foot injury, Elridge Moore was sidelined for five games with a leg injury and sophomore guard Kasey Shepherd (8.2, 2.4) is out indefinitely with a knee injury. 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 Monday (Feb. 3). Shawn Long was fifth in double-doubles (12), eighth in rebounds (10.9), 14th in blocks (3.1) and field goals made (159) and 30th in scoring (19.8). Junior Elfrid Payton was 14th in steals (2.4), 20th in assists (5.9) and 26th in scoring (20.0), owning one of seven triple doubles in the nation this year. As a team, the Cajuns were 21st in scoring offense (80.9), 32nd in steals (8.1) and 45th 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.

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 commentary.

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.

PAYTON PASSES PAYTON: With six free throw attempts against ULM on Saturday, Elfrid Payton raised his season total to 210, passing himself on the single season free throw chart. The 210 attempts is good for sixth place, one free throw attempt ahead of the 209 charity tosses he had last year.

. . . AND LONG TIES LONG: Elfrid Payton wasn't the only Cajun to equal a previous accomplishment over the weekend as Shawn Long blocked four shots to raise his season total to 65, equaling his total from last year, the sixth-highest season total in school history.

100 GAMES FOR MBAMALU: When Bryant Mbamalu takes the court against UT Arlington on Thursday, it will mark the 100th game in his Ragin' Cajuns career. In his first 99 games, Mbamalu has scored 882 points (8.9 ppg) with 250 rebounds, 101 assists, 67 steals and 81 three-pointers. Mbamalu will be the 40th player to see action in 100 games.

A SHOOTING PERFORMANCE FOR PAYTON: Elfrid Payton was quite efficient against ULM over the weekend, 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. It raised Payton's season percentage to .514 (149-290).

QUALITY MINUTES FOR WILLIAMS: With Kasey Shepherd sidelined with a knee injury and Kevin Brown in moderate foul trouble, Bob Marlin turned to walk-on guard Donovan Williams with 3:34 left in the first half and the Cajuns trailing, 21-20. Williams provided Louisiana with a spark, assisting on an Elfrid Payton basket with 2:56 left that gave the Cajuns the lead for good and later made the steal that led to a Payton dunk that gave Louisiana a 24-21 halftime lead. Prior to Saturday, Williams' only action in Sun Belt play came when he played the final minute in an 81-58 win over Texas State on Jan. 13.

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).

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 44 baskets off his 79 offensive rebounds this season for an average of 4.0 points a game. Long ranks third in the Sun Belt averaging 3.8 offensive rebounds a game and fourth in scoring (19.8).

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 927 career points while Mbamalu has 882 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 171-for-237 (.722) to improve to .688 for the year (399-for-580). 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). 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 .806 (29-36) for the year. After making nine of his first 19 attempts to open the season, Kevin Brown has made 17 straight over the last nine games.

. . . AND PAYTON HAS SPENT THE SEASON AT THE LINE: With 210 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 266 attempts while Tennessee State's Patrick Miller (220) is second. Payton has shot 552 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 15 times this season.

PAYTON MOVES UP SCORING CHART: A 28-point effort against ULM on Saturday enabled Elfrid Payton to tie Michael Southall (2001-06) for 29th place on the career scoring list 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 20.0 points, has three career 30-point games and has scored 20 or more points 22 times.

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 10 games. After totalling a combined nine points and four rebounds in his first two games, he has averaged 9.8 points and 3.0 rebounds in his last eight appearances, each as a starter. Mbamalu scored a season-high 14 points vs. both Texas State and ULM, and has shot 12-for-37 (.387) 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 25 times in the first 22 games this season, equalling the total for the entire 2012-13 season. Elfrid Payton (12) 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: Thirteen blocked shots in the last three games has propelled sophomore Shawn Long past Tyren Johnson (120 blocks from 2007-08) and into fourth place on the career blocks list with 130 career blocks. Long has 65 blocks in each of his two seasons, the sixth and seventh-highest single season total in Cajuns history, and 57 this season.

SHIPLEY TO BE INDUCTED INTO LOUISIANA SPORTS HALL OF FAME: Legendary Louisiana men's basketball coach Beryl Shipley, who guided the Cajuns to a 293-126 record with winning records in 15 of his 16 seasons, will be one of eight individuals selected for enshrinement in the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame. Shipley was the first head coach of a predominantly white state college in the deep south to give scholarships to black student-athletes. Under Shipley's leadership, the Cajuns finished in the national top 20 in each of his last six seasons - the first four in the college division polls, the last two in Division I. Starting in 1963, Shipley rattled off five Gulf States Conference Championships in six seasons, including a win at the 1964-65 NAIA District 27 Tournament Championship. The 2014 induction class will be enshrined on Saturday, June 21.

NEXT UP: The Cajuns remain on the road, playing at Texas State on Saturday, Feb. 8 in a game that will be televised live on Cox4 beginning at 4:30 p.m. Louisiana then returns home to play four of its next five games in the Cajundome, starting with a rematch with UALR on Thursday, Feb. 13 at 7:15 p.m.

UT Arlngton Next Up For Cajuns During Tour of Texas

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