@RaginCajunsMBB Game 7 Preview: at New Orleans

LAFAYETTE – The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team concludes a grueling, six-game roadtrip on Wednesday when it faces former Sun Belt Conference rival New Orleans in a 7 p.m., contest at Lakefront Arena.

The game can be heard in the Lafayette area on KHXT 107.9 FM, ESPN 1420 AM and the ESPN 1420 app with Jay Walker (PxP) and Ross Cook (color) providing the commentary.

Louisiana (3-3), which will play its second straight game against a team from the Crescent City, returns to action for the first time since concluding play last week at the Gulf Coast Showcase with a 68-61 victory over Tulane. The Ragin' Cajuns, who also faced Colorado State and Toledo in the three-day tournament, opened their roadtrip on Nov. 9 at nationally-ranked Tennessee before facing No. 2-ranked Kansas on Nov. 16.

After facing New Orleans (3-2) – its former longtime SBC rival – to close out the month, Louisiana will play four of its six games scheduled during the month of December at home, beginning with a visit by in-state opponent Southern on Saturday at 7 p.m.

The game against New Orleans is part of the "Louisiana Passport," which will recognize Ragin' Cajuns fans who attend all eight of Louisiana's scheduled games against in-state opponents during the 2018-19 season.

Passports will be distributed for Cajuns fans traveling on Wednesday to the UNO game. Each game, fans will get their passport stamped at a location to be determined. In-state games for the Ragin' Cajuns include home games against Southern (Dec. 1), Loyola (Dec. 5), Louisiana Tech (Dec. 15) and ULM (Feb. 16), with additional road games slated against McNeese State (Dec. 18), Southeastern Louisiana (Dec. 29) and ULM (Jan. 19).

At Louisiana's game against ULM at the Cajundome on Feb. 16, those who have a completed passport with eight stamps will be recognized on the court at some point during the game.

For more information on tickets, contact the Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office at (337) 265-2357. For information concerning parking, contact the RCAF at (337) 851-2903.

GAME INFORMATION
LOUISIANA (3-3) at NEW ORLEANS (3-2)
Date / Time: November 28, 2018 / 7 p.m.
Site: New Orleans, La.
Arena: Lakefront Arena (8,785)

Radio: KHXT 107.9 FM / ESPN 1420 AM
Talent: Jay Walker (PxP); Ross Cook (color)
TV: UNOPrivateers.com ($)
Talent: Jude Young (PxP)

Live Stats: RaginCajuns.com
Social Updates: @RaginCajunsMBB | #GeauxCajuns

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: Louisiana leads, 40-32
In Lafayette: Louisiana leads, 21-13
In New Orleans: UNO leads, 17-15
Neutral Sites: Louisiana leads, 4-2
Streak: Louisiana +5

THE COACHES
LOUISIANA
Head Coach: Bob Marlin (Mississippi State, 1981)
Record at Louisiana: 158-114 (ninth season), Career Record: 506-280 (26th season)

NEW ORLEANS
Head Coach: Mark Slessinger (Aurora, 1996)
Record at UNO: 96-117 (eighth season), Career Record: 121-140 (10th season)

STORY LINES
• Louisiana closes out a six-game road trip as it makes the short trek to the Crescent City to face former Sun Belt Conference rival New Orleans at Lakefront Arena.
• The game is the 73rd meeting between the two schools with Louisiana holding a 40-32 advantage.
• Louisiana has won 18 of the last 22 meetings between the schools.
• The game against New Orleans is the second of four straight games against in-state competition and second of three games against teams from the Crescent City. Louisiana defeated Tulane, 68-61, in the third-place game at the Gulf Coast Showcase and will host Loyola on Dec. 5.
• Tonight's game is the first of seven straight for the Ragin' Cajuns within the state of Louisiana through the end of December.

QUICK HITS
• Senior JaKeenan Gant is one of four players from the Sun Belt Conference and 49 players nationally named to the Lou Henson Award Watch List. The award is presented to the top mid-major player in Division I.
• Gant is one of seven players nationally to average at least 17 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.0 steals per game. Gant is joined on the list by Zion Williamson (Duke), Bol Bol (Oregon), Anthony Lamb (Vermont), Lamine Diane (Cal State Northridge), Daniel Jackson (Arkansas) and Quan Jackson (Georgia Southern).
• Louisiana comes off a record-setting year where it won 27 games and captured its first regular-season Sun Belt Conference title since 2000.
• The Ragin' Cajuns return 54.2 percent of its scoring from 2017-18, along with 48.1 percent of its rebounds and 55.4 percent of their made field goals.
• Louisiana led the Sun Belt Conference in scoring offense (83.2) for the sixth consecutive season while leading the league in scoring margin (+12.4), free throw percentage (.761), field goal percentage (464), rebound margin (+6.6), assists (17.4), steals (7.5) and assist-turnover ratio (1.3).
• Louisiana's 83.2 scoring average in 2017-18 was its best since the 1990-91 season (91.1) and was the highest by a Sun Belt Conference school since South Alabama (84.6) in 1994-95.
• The Ragin' Cajuns 297 3-pointers made in 2017-18 shattered the previous school record (251) set in 1989-90.

SCOUTING NEW ORLEANS
• New Orleans, picked to finish third in the Southland Conference Preseason Poll, has held serve at home with wins over non-DI opponents Spring Hill, Pensacola Christian and Governors State with losses coming on the road at Big 10 opponent Northwestern and Conference USA foe UAB.
• Senior Ezekiel Charles leads the Privateers in scoring (14.6) with former Ragin' Cajuns letterwinner Scott Plaisance (10.0) next in the scoring column. Freshman Gerrale Gates pulls down a team-high 6.2 rebounds for UNO with Lamont Berzat dishing out a team-high 3.6 assists per contest.

CAJUNS GET BATTLE-TESTED EARLY
• For only the second time in school history, Louisiana faced at least two teams ranked in the top 10 when it played at No. 6 Tennessee (Nov. 9) and No. 2 Kansas (Nov. 16).
• The only other time Louisiana faced two top-10 teams in the same season was in 2004-05 when the Ragin' Cajuns played then No. 2-ranked Kansas (L, 96-51) and No. 4 Louisville (L, 68-62).
• The Nov. 16 game at Kansas was Louisiana's second contest against a No. 2-ranked team in school history - the previous was Kansas.
• Louisiana's lone win against a top-5 team in nine games came in a 70-61 win over then-No. 5 Georgetown (with freshman Patrick Ewing) in the opening game of the 1981 Great Alaska Shootout.

THE RAGIN' CAJUNS LEGACY LIVES ON
• Two members of the 2018-19 Ragin' Cajuns squad are following in the footsteps of their fathers, who each played for then-USL.
• Freshman forward Kobe Julien (Baton Rouge) is the son of former Ragin' Cajuns forward Wayne Julien (1977-81) with freshman guard Eli Mouton (Lafayette) the son of former Ragin' Cajuns player and current ESPN+ analyst Eric Mouton.

BORN ON THE BAYOU
• Eight of the 15 players on the 2018-19 Ragin' Cajuns basketball team hail from the state of Louisiana.
• Baton Rouge - Kobe Julien (Madison Prep) and Jalen Johnson (University Lab); Lafayette - Eli Mouton (Ascension Episcopal School); Lake Charles - P.J. Hardy (St. Louis Catholic); Alexandria - Cedric Russell (Peabody) Luling - Mason Aucoin (Hahnville); DeRidder - R.J. Gladney (DeRidder); Roseland - Jeremy Hayes.

CAJUNS IN THE PROS
• Louisiana currently has one player - Elfrid Payton (New Orleans Pelicans) - competing in the National Basketball Association while 2016 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year Shawn Long played late in the 2016-17 season with the Philadelphia 76er's (now playing in Australia/New Zealand).
• The Ragin' Cajuns have had three players - Andrew Toney (8th pick, 1980, Philadelphia), Kevin Brooks (18th pick, 1991, Milwaukee) and Payton (10th pick, 2014, Philadephia/Orlando) taken in the first round of the NBA Draft.

100-POINT GAMES
• Louisiana reached the 100-point mark for the 139th time in school history after its 121-80 win over the University of the Virgin Islands on Nov. 6.
• The Ragin' Cajuns recorded five 100-point games last season - a 113-58 win over Louisiana College (Nov. 14), a 115-82 victory over Savannah State (Nov. 17), a 105-80 win at Nicholls State on Dec. 1, a 102-91 victory at Georgia Southern and a 100-79 win over UT Arlington on Feb. 17.
• In all, UL is 136-3 in games in which it has scored 100 points.
• Under head coach Bob Marlin, Louisiana is 18-0 in games when scoring 100 points or greater.

SEASON TICKETS AVAILABLE
Season tickets, beginning at $100, are available online at RaginCajuns.com using Account Manager, or by calling the Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office at (337) 265-2357.

All current UL faculty and staff, along with recent graduates (within the last five years), can purchase season tickets at a 50-percent discount to cheer on the Ragin' Cajuns during the 2018-19 season at the Cajundome.

The special package will allow recent graduates of Louisiana to purchase tickets in sections 101-103. Discounts will be applied upon confirmation of graduate status by the Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office.

FOLLOW THE CAJUNS
Follow the Ragin' Cajuns on Twitter (@RaginCajunsMBB), Facebook (RaginCajunsMBB) or Instagram (@RaginCajunsMBB) to stay up-to-date on all that is happening with Louisiana Men's Basketball.

@RaginCajunsMBB Game 7 Preview: at New Orleans

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Players Mentioned

Mason Aucoin

JaKeenan Gant

R.J. Gladney

P.J. Hardy

Jeremy Hayes

Jalen Johnson

Kobe Julien

Shawn Long

Eli Mouton

Elfrid Payton

Cedric Russell

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