MBB Game 24 Preview: at UT Arlington

ARLINGTON, Texas – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team will open its final four-game road trip of the season beginning Thursday when it travels to face Sun Belt Conference rival UT Arlington at College Park Center.

Tipoff is set for 7:15 p.m. The game can be heard in the Lafayette area on both Hot 107.9-FM and ESPN 1420 AM, and on the internet at RaginCajuns.com.

Louisiana (14-9, 10-4 SBC), which is currently in second-place in the Sun Belt Conference standings, looks to bounce back after having its nine-game winning streak snapped in an 68-64 loss to league leader Little Rock last Saturday. The Ragin' Cajuns will conclude the weekend in the state of Texas with a date on Saturday at Texas State before wrapping up their regular-season road schedule with games at Troy (Feb. 25) and South Alabama (Feb. 27).

Senior Shawn Long has averaged a double-double (18.9 ppg, 12.9 rpg.) to lead the Cajuns during the season with Kasey Shepherd (11.2), Jay Wright (9.1) and Johnathan Stove (8.6) following in the scoring column.

UTA, which started the season with a 14-3 record before dropping four straight games, has won its last three contests. The Mavs began their resurgence with a 90-69 win at Georgia State on Feb. 6 before defeating Texas State (65-53) and Appalachian State (91-60).

Erick Neal is UTA's top scorer, averaging 13.6 points per game, with Jalen Jones (12.4), Kaelon Wilson (9.0) and Drew Charles (8.9) following.

Louisiana leads the all-time series, 17-6, and claimed a 90-75 victory in the previous meeting between the schools on Jan. 30 at the Cajundome.

GAME 24: Louisiana (14-9, 10-4 Sun Belt) at UT Arlington (17-7, 8-5 Sun Belt)
February 18, 2016 | 7:15 p.m. | Arlington, Texas | College Park Center (7,000)
TV/Web: None
Radio: KHXT 107.9 FM / ESPN 1420 AM | Talent: Jay Walker (PBP)
Video: RaginCajuns.com
Live Stats: RaginCajuns.com
Twitter Updates: @Cajunbasketball; @ULRaginCajuns
Series: UL leads, 17-6 | In Lafayette: UL leads, 9-3 | In Arlington: UL leads, 7-3

THE COACHES
LOUISIANA
Head Coach: Bob Marlin (Mississippi State, 1981)
Career Record: 450-250 (23rd season), Record at UL: 102-86 (6th season)

UT ARLINGTON
Head Coach: Scott Cross (UT Arlington, 1998)
Career Record: 170-135 (11th season), Record at UTA: Same

STORY LINES
• The game features the Sun Belt's top two teams in scoring (Louisiana, 81.3; UTA 81.0) and rebound margin (UTA, +8.7; Louisiana, +8.1).

• Tonight's game starts the second, four-game road trip for the Ragin' Cajuns in SBC play. Louisiana split its previous four-game stretch with wins at Georgia Southern (Jan. 14) and Georgia State (Jan. 16).

• Louisiana's 81.3 scoring average in 2015-16 is the highest since averaging 91.1 points in the 1999-91 season.

THE SERIES
• Louisiana leads the all-time series against UT Arlington, 17-6, and has won five of six meetings since the Mavs joined the Sun Belt Conference. The Ragin' Cajuns have won both meetings at College Park Center, and are 7-3 overall in games played in Arlington.

THE OPPONENT
• UTA opened the season with a 14-3 record that included wins over Ohio State, Memphis, and UTEP, and have won its last three games after a four-game losing streak. Erick Neal has taken over as the leading scorer for the Mavs, averaging13.6 points and a league-high 5.8 assists.

UP NEXT
• Louisiana will head south down I-35 to San Marcos, Texas and will face Texas State on Saturday, Feb. 20, at Strahan Coliseum. Tipoff is at 4:30 p.m.

QUICK HITS
• Shawn Long's 297 total rebounds in 2015-16 is the 10th-hightest mark in school history and his 12.9 average trails Elvin Ivory (16.1, 1966-67) and Roy Ebron (14.2, 1971-72) on the single-season list.

• Long ranks third overall among NCAA Division I players in rebound average (12.9) behind Egidijus Mockevicius of Evansville (13.9) and Weber State's Joel Bolomboy (13.5).

• Long is five blocks shy of passing Michael Southall (258 blocks, 2001-06) as the school's all-time leader.

• Long (21 points), Jay Wright (15), Hayward Register (15) and Kasey Shepherd (11) combined to score 62 of the Cajuns' points in last year's 81-70 win over UTA at College Park Center.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Shawn Long

Hayward Register

Kasey Shepherd

Johnathan Stove

Jay Wright

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