GAME CENTER
Date: Saturday, Nov. 28, 2009
Location: Lake Charles, La.
Opponent: McNeese State (1-4)
Site: Burton Coliseum (8,000)
Game Time: 7:00 p.m.
Live Stats: www.RaginCajuns.com
Radio: SportsRadio ESPN 1420 AM (KPEL)

Game Night Story Lines
● The Ragin' Cajuns take to the road for the first time this season. Louisiana travels west on Interstate 10 for a meeting with rival McNeese State.
● The game was originally scheduled for 1 p.m., but has been pushed back to 7 p.m., due to McNeese's football team being selected to host a first round FCS playoff game on Saturday at 2 p.m.
● The Cajuns and Cowboys meet in Lake Charles for the first time since December 2006. It's the first meeting at Burton Coliseum since November 2002.
● Junior Travis Bureau needs only three (3) more triples to reach 100 in his career.
● For the 12^th consecutive season Louisiana and McNeese State meet on the basketball court, continuing the series which resumed in the 1998-99 season after being dormant for the previous six seasons. Louisiana owns an 8-3 edge in the current chapter of the series (3-2 under Robert Lee).
● This is the 84^th installment of the series and 5^th meeting in Burton Coliseum. Louisiana is 3-1 at Burton Coliseum. McNeese won the last meeting in the facility, holding off a furious Cajuns rally to hold on for a 76-74 victory on Nov. 27, 2002.
● UL has four players averaging double figures scoring and a pair at 8.0 ppg.
● The Cajuns are getting to the free throw line, averaging 32 attempts per game. McNeese State is averaging just 13 attempts per game.

MOBILE LEFTOVERS
● Chris Gradnigo (13 makes) and Randell Daigle (five makes) set career highs for free throws made.
● A season-high 20 turnovers were committed by the Cajuns. Combined with shooting just 34 percent and making only seven field goals each half led to the surprising loss.
● Louisiana attempted 20 freebies in each half. Gradnigo led with 14 attempts.
● After a 28-22 lead by Mobile at 4:55 of the first half, neither team led by more than three points the remainder of the contest until the final margin.
● The Cajuns were limited to just 41 field goal attempts; Mobile attempted 58.

LAST TIME VS. McNEESE STATE (Dec. 2, 2008 in Cajundome - UL won 73-64)
● UL went nearly 11 min. without a field goal before making three in the final 38 seconds.
● McNeese went on a 17-3 run in that span to reduce a 64-47 UL lead to 67-64.
● UL won their second straight and ended McNeese's two-game series win streak.
● Cajuns broke a 22-all tie with 6-0 run and a 7-0 run minutes later made it 38-26. Louisiana went into the locker room with a 42-30 lead.

LAST TIME IN LAKE CHARLES (Dec. 23, 2006 - McNeese won 68-63)
● Louisiana went scoreless over the final 3:27 and McNeese State scored the game's final 10 points to escape with a victory at the Lake Charles Civic Center.
● Quinten Gonzales hit a jumper in the right wing with 45 seconds remaining to put McNeese in front 64-63.
● Trailing 66-63 with 23 seconds left, Rhett Hebert's three-point attempt came on a good look at the basket but was too strong and the Cowboys pulled down the rebound.

LAST TIME AT BURTON COLISEUM (Nov. 27, 2002 - McNeese won 76-74)
● Jerrick Oliver putback off an offensive rebound with 3.4 seconds remaining provided host McNeese State with the go-ahead basket and gave the Cowboys a 76-74 victory.
● The Oliver putback spoiled a valiant Cajuns comeback from an 11-point deficit with 3:48 remaining. Trailing 70-59, UL reeled off a 12-1 run for a lead with 48 seconds remaining.
● Before Oliver's basket, Brad Boyd had rebounded a missed three-point attempt and scored a basket to put the Cajuns up 74-73.
● After the Cajuns knotted the score at 40-all with 15:36 remaining, MSU used a 14-4 run over the next three minutes to take their first double-digit lead of the game 54-44.
● On the court that day for the Cajuns was Boyd, Chris Cameron, Kenneth Lawrence, Immanuel Washington and Anthony Johnson to name a few.

A LOT OF FREE STUFF BEING HANDED OUT
● Through three games, the Cajuns and their opponents are averaging 22.7 free throw makes per game.  

REVERSING THE REBOUNDING NUMBERS
● After being outrebounded by a 2-to-1 margin vs. Southern Miss, the Cajuns have posted a +16 margin the past two outings.

TOEING THE LINE
● Chris Gradnigo has found his way to the charity stripe. The junior from Lake Charles is averaging 6.7 makes per game and is shooting 20-of-27 (74.1 percent).
● Gradnigo recorded career free throw make No. 100 in Tuesday's game with Mobile.

WELCOME HOME
● Chris Gradnigo returns home to Lake Charles for the first time in his collegiate career.
● His freshman and sophomore seasons, McNeese visited the Cajundome.

SPARK OFF THE BENCH
● So far that's what Randell Daigle has been for Louisiana. He's averaging 15.0 points per game coming off the bench.
● Daigle leads the team with 15 field goal makes.

SERIES HISTORY (Louisiana leads 52-31, overall; Louisiana leads 3-1 at Burton Coliseum) 
● Louisiana has won 12 of the last 15 meetings. McNeese, though, has been the victor in two of the past three meetings in Lake Charles.
● Tonight's game marks the first meeting at Burton Coliseum since Nov. 27, 2002 (McNeese won 76-74). It's the fifth meeting, overall, between the two schools in the facility.
● Tonight's game marks the 12th consecutive season that these two regional rivals have met. Their game in 1998 renewed an old conference rivalry that was dormant for six seasons.
● Series began Dec. 14, 1951. MSU won 16 of the first 17 meetings through 1959. Then-USL would take command of the series winning 25 of the next 29 meetings from 1959-73.
● This series has seen just three overtime games in 83 previous meetings (1964, 1978, 1979).

BY THE NUMBERS
3: Travis Bureau is only three (3) 3-point makes shy of 100 in his career
+4.0: UL's advantage in turnover margin this season. Cajuns are forcing 18.7 turnovers per game
4.3: Ryan McCoy is averaging 4.3 assists per game in only 23.0 minutes per game
7: Opponents have collected only seven steals
11-of-12: Tyren Johnson is UL's leading free throw shooter. Last season he finished 28-of-34 (82.4%) at the charity stripe after New Year's Day
11.7: Chris Gradnigo is averaging 11.7 points per game, despite shooting 21.2% (7-of-33)
34.0: The Cajuns bench is averaging 34.0 points per game this season
61.9%: That's Tyren Johnson's field goal percentage. He's shooting 13-of-21 from the field
96: In just three games, the Cajuns have already attempted 96 free throws. At this point last season, UL had attempted only 51
108: Number of career free throw makes by Chris Gradnigo. He made a career-best 13 vs. Mobile
500: The Ragin' Cajuns now have three 500-plus point scorers - Travis Bureau, Randell Daigle and Chris Gradnigo. Daigle joined the group during last Monday's game vs. Louisiana College

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
The Ragin' Cajuns have another day trip as they head east on Interstate 10 to Baton Rouge to face LSU at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center on Tuesday, Dec. 1. The game will begin at 6:30 p.m., and will televised live on CST.

Tuesday's game marks the 46^th meeting all-time between the Cajuns and Tigers overall, but is just the fifth meeting since the 1944-45 season between two schools separated by a mere 50 miles of interstate highway. LSU leads the all-time series 35-10.

The two teams meet in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for the fifth time. First PMAC meeting took place on Dec. 4, 2001. LSU holds a 4-0 record in the PMAC vs. the Cajuns (W, 83-65 on 12/4/01; W, 83-69 on 11/21/04; W, 81-62 on 12/17/05; W, 81-79 on 12/31/08).

-- Ragin' Cajuns --