Cajuns Begin Road Swing Saturday In Atlanta

Game 18 - Louisiana (12-5, 4-4 SBC) vs. Georgia State (8-9, 3-5 SBC)
Saturday, Jan. 24, 2014 • 11 a.m. (CT) • Atlanta, Ga. – GSU Sports Arena (3,400)
Live Stats l Live Video l Radio: ESPN 1420 AM (PxP - Jay Walker)
Twitter Updates: @RaginCajunWBB
Louisiana WBB Home Page l Georgia State WBB Home Page
Louisiana Game Notes l Georgia State Game Notes

LAFAYETTE, La. – After closing out their homestand with a 69-57 win over Arkansas State, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team begins a three-game road swing against Georgia State on Saturday in Atlanta with an 11 a.m. (CT) game on ESPN3.

Last Time Out
- The Cajuns ran away from Arkansas State late in the second half to pull out a big 69-57 win over the second-place Red Wolves on Thursday at the Cajundome
- Louisiana forced 20 A-State turnovers that turned into 29 points while having three players reach double figures in scoring
- Keke Veal paced the Cajuns with 18 points while Kia Wilridge totaled 16 and Robbie Brown had 12
- Wilridge led Louisiana with nine rebounds while tying for a team-high five assists with Jaylyn Gordon
- Louisiana shot 42.6 percent (26-of-61) from the field while A-State finished with a 45.3 percentage (24-of-53)

A Look at the Panthers
- Georgia State comes into Saturday's contest with an 8-9 overall record and 3-5 mark in the Sun Belt
- The Panthers have lost four of their last five with their lone win in that stretch coming on the road against Appalachian State
- Georgia State is 6-6 at home this season with a 2-3 record in SBC play
- The Panthers are fourth in the league in scoring with 69.4 points per game. They are second in three-point percentage (35.5), third in free-throw percentage (72.3) and fifth in field goal percentage (39.9)
- Freshman guard Makeba Ponder leads the Panthers with 11.4 points per game, leading the squad with a 39.8 percentage (41-of-103) from behind the arc
- Senior post Brittany Logan is close behind with 11.2 points per game while averaging a team-best 9.1 rebounds
- Senior guard Kayla Nolan is also averaging double figures with 10.4 points

Series History
- The Cajuns took a 68-52 victory on Jan. 8 at home to even the series with the Panthers at 2-2
- The teams split the series last season with Georgia State coming away with a 72-67 overtime win in Lafayette before the Cajuns defeated the Panthers 67-63 in Atlanta
- Georgia State won the first meeting back on Dec. 15, 2008 with a 68-58 victory at the Blazer Invitational in Birmingham, Ala.

Up Next
- Louisiana will continue its road swing next week with a trip to South Alabama on Thursday, Jan. 29 for an 11 a.m. matchup with the Jaguars

Stifling Defense
- As a team, the Cajuns defense has caused many problems for opponents this season, limiting teams to 57.7 points per game for 50th in the nation
- The Cajuns have forced opponents to 20-plus turnovers on 12 different occasions as teams are averaging 21.4 turnovers per game this season. In 16 of 17 games, a team has committed at least 15 turnovers with Louisiana Tech being the one exception (14)
- Louisiana ranks seventh nationally in turnover margin with teams recording 6.9 more turnovers per game than the Cajuns
- Louisiana is 49th in the country in steals per game, averaging 10.4 on the season
- Junior guard Kia Wilridge's tenacious defense this season has her ranked among the best in the country
- Wilridge has totaled 47 steals on the season for an average of 2.8 per game for first in the Sun Belt Conference and 31st in the country

Louisiana Among Sun Belt Schools
- Defense is what has stood out this season for the Cajuns, and their numbers have placed them near the top in the Sun Belt in several categories
- Among Sun Belt schools, Louisiana ranks first in turnover margin (+6.9), second in steals (10.4) and opponent turnovers per game (21.4), and third in scoring defense (57.7)
- In league play, the Cajuns lead the conference in steals per game (10.3), turnover margin (+8.1), and opponent turnovers per game (21.0), and have held teams to 60.1 points per game to rank third behind UALR (44.6 ppg) and UT Arlington (58.6 ppg)

Guards in the Sun Belt Rankings
- Guards Jaylyn Gordon, Keke Veal and Kia Wilridge are making several appearances in the SBC top-10 individual rankings
- Gordon comes in fourth in three-pointers per game (2.3), sixth in free-throw percentage (79.7%), ninth in scoring (13.3 ppg) and 10th in steals (1.8 spg)
- Veal ranks fifth with 2.3 steals per game but leads the league in SBC play with 3.0 per game. She is seventh in the SBC with 3.4 assists per game and a 1.1 assist-to-turnover ratio
- Wilridge appears four times in the SBC rankings, coming in first in steals (2.8 spg), tied for seventh in minutes (31.1 mpg), eighth in assists (2.9 apg) and 10th in scoring (13.2 ppg)

Cajuns Climbing the Record Books
- As the season progresses, several Cajuns are nearing the top 10 in the career record books
- Robbie Brown is closing in on 10th place in career games played, sitting just four games away with 106
- Kia Wilridge is nearing the top 10 in two career categories - steals and assists Wilridge currently has 197 assists, just six from 10th all-time. She also has totaled 140 career steals, eight shy of the No. 10 spot in the record books
- Keke Veal is also nearing the top-10 list in career steals, recording 145 steals to date, just three away from the record book
- Jaylyn Gordon is the final Cajun that is looking in on the career lists with just one three-pointer away from moving into 10th all-time. Gordon has made 73 three-pointers in her career

-- RaginCajuns.com --

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Robbie Brown

Jaylyn Gordon

Keke Veal

Kia Wilridge