University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics
Cajuns Host UALR With First Place On The Line
12/28/2012 6:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Contact: Brian McCann
Complete Release (PDF)
Game 15
UALR (8-6, 2-1) at Louisiana (5-9, 1-2)
Date: Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012
Time: 7:15 p.m. CST
Site: Cajundome (11,550), Lafayette, Louisiana
Radio: KPEL (1420 AM) & KHXT (107.9 FM) (Jay Walker)
TV: None Live, Streaming available on the internet via RaginCajuns.com.
Series: Louisiana Leads, 21-16
Last Meeting: UALR 72, UL 70 (2/9/12, Lafayette, La.)
THE COACHES:
LOUISIANA
BOB MARLIN (Mississippi State '81)
At Louisiana: 35-40 (3rd year)
4-Year Overall: 260-171 (15th year)
All Collegiate: 383-206 (20th year)
vs. UALR: 2-2
UALR
STEVEN SHIELDS (Baylor '88)
At UALR: 155-134 (10th year)
Overall: 155-134 (10th year)
vs. Louisiana: 9-5
SETTING THE SCENE: The Ragin' Cajuns return home for the final time during the 2012 calendar year when Louisiana continues Sun Belt Conference play by hosting west division front-runner UALR on Saturday, Dec. 29 beginning at 7:15 p.m. in the Cajundome. The game is the first of five doubleheaders this year. The Louisiana women's basketball team hosts UALR beginning at 5:00 p.m. The Cajuns enter the game with a 5-9 overall record and in second place in the Sun Belt west division with a 1-2 mark. A victory would move Louisiana into a first place tie with UALR. The Trojans bring an 8-6 overall and 2-1 league mark into the contest, but they have not played since dropping a 77-62 decision at South Alabama on Dec. 22. This will be the 38th meeting between Louisiana and UALR with the Ragin' Cajuns owning a 21-16 lead in the all-time series. The Cajuns are 12-5 in games played in Lafayette, but the Trojans claimed the last meeting, a 72-70 decision last year.
PREVIEWING LOUISIANA: With a lineup featuring six freshmen and four sophomores, third year head coach Bob Marlin is excited about the possibilities for the 2012-13 season, knowing that the team that took the court in November will grow and improve all season. As the new faces get acclimated to the collegiate game, the Cajuns have leaned heavily on junior Bryant Mbamalu (11.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and sophomore sensation Elfrid Payton (13.8, 6.2, 4.9). Guard Alan-Michael Thompson (5.3 ppg), the lone senior on the squad, is also playing an increased role this year. Freshman forward Shawn Long (16.7 ppg, 9.5 rpg), a transfer from Mississippi State, and power forward Elridge Moore (5.4, 3.5), a JC transfer from Lamar State, will unite to form the nucleus of the inside game with freshman Cornell Barnett and walk-on Braylan Lazare providing the depth inside. Although Payton, Mbamalu and Thompson provide the athleticism, quickness and leadership, the freshmen duo of Kasey Shepherd (2.7) and Steven Wronkoski (8.1, 3.1) and Josh Soto (3.3) also contribute, giving Louisiana a deep backcourt. Marlin is utilizing the depth and quickness by forcing an up-tempo game at both ends of the court by applying more defensive pressure. Look for the Cajuns to use their quickness and outside shooting ability to create a balanced offense, forcing opponents to cover the entire court.
SUPPORTING CAST DELIVERS: The Louisiana bench had a productive night vs. Lamar on Dec. 11, totalling 30 points with 21 coming in the first half. The performance ended a string of three straight single-digit showings by the bench which had been outscored 75-13 during the slump. The Lamar production was the highest total by the Cajuns bench in the first 13 games and continued a season-long trend. In the five Cajun wins, the Louisiana bench is averaging 19.8 ppg. The bench has produced 119 points in the nine losses (13.2 ppg).
. . . BUT THE ARKANSAS STATE GAME WAS THE OPPOSITE: The Louisiana bench was responsible for a season-high 42 points on Thursday night at Arkansas State but the scoring outburst didn't help as UL fell, 87-70. With the starting lineup producing just 28 points in the game, the bench came through as Alan-Michael Thompson scored 13 points while freshmen Josh Soto (10) and Kasey Shepherd (8) each set career highs. The 42 points was helped by 11 points from Shawn Long, who came off the bench for the first time this season.
LONG TRIES TO EQUAL FRESHMAN SCORING FEAT: With a 16.7 scoring average through 14 games and 2.9 points per game average ahead of second leading scorer Elfrid Payton (13.8 ppg), freshman Shawn Long is on pace to become just the fifth freshman to lead the team in scoring. He would join Tim Thompson (14.2 ppg in 1957-58), Jerry Flake (17.6, 1965-66), Andrew Toney (21.0, 1976-77) and Chris Gradnigo (9.6, 2007-08).
. . . AND A SCORING, REBOUNDS & BLOCKS ACCOMPLISHMENT: Shawn Long's impact is more than just being a scorer. Ranking third in the Sun Belt in scoring and rebounding (9.5) and fourth in blocks (1.9), Long is on a pace to become just the third player in school history to lead the team in all three stat categories in a single season. Tyren Johnson was the most recent, averaging 17.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 2009-10. Reginald Poole is the other to accomplish it, doing it in both 1996-97 (16.0, 10.3, 1.7) and 1998-99 (14.7, 7.1, 0.9).
CHASING A TRIPLE-DOUBLE: Sophomore Elfrid Payton continues to inch closer and closer to recording the first triple-double by a Ragin' Cajuns player in almost a decade. Payton closed the 2011-12 season with a 13-point, eight-rebound and nine-assist game in the opening round of the Sun Belt Championship. He toyed with the stat in the season opener against Oakland (14 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists), SUNO (11,7 , 7) and on Dec. 1 at North Texas (14, 6, 9) and went a different route at Michigan State (Nov. 25), scoring 20 points with six rebounds and a career-high seven steals. He came the closest yet in early December. He scored 17 points with 10 rebounds and seven assists at McNeese State (Dec. 8) and came back with 17 points, 11 rebounds and five steals vs. Lamar (Dec. 11). For the record, the last triple-double by a Ragin' Cajuns player came on Jan. 5, 2006 when Michael Southall scored 19 points with 12 rebounds and 11 blocks at North Texas.
. . . BUT PAYTON MUST WALK BEFORE HE RUNS: Although Elfrid Payton has flirted with a triple-double, it took him until the McNeese State game on Dec. 8 to record his first career double-double. Payton scored 17 points with 10 rebounds in the contest. It only took him three days to get the second, scoring 17 points with 11 rebounds vs. Lamar on Dec. 11.
AYTON & MBAMALU STARTS ALONE: With Shawn Long coming off the bench for the first time this season at Arkansas State on Thursday, that leaves junior Bryant Mbamalu and sophomore Elfrid Payton as the only Cajuns to start every game this season. Long and Elridge Moore have each started 13 of the 14 games.
BARNETT BECOMES NINTH CAJUN TO START: When freshman Cornell Barnett started in place of Shawn Long at Arkansas State, he became the ninth different Ragin' Cajuns player to start at least one game this year.
. . . AND LOUISIANA USES A FIFTH DIFFERENT STARTING LINEUP: The youth of the Cajuns is evident this season in the head coach Bob Marlins has used five different starting lineups in the first 14 games. The group of Elfrid Payton, Bryant Mbamalu, Steven Wronkoski, Elridge Moore and Shawn Long have started eight times. The only other group to start multiple games included Alan-Michael Thompson in place of Wronkoski, a lineup that started the first three games together. Last year, Marlin used 12 different starting lineups, including 10 different in the first 13 games before he settled on a lineup that started 15 of the final 21 games.
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF CHARITY: Bob Marlin said during the preseason that one area in which Louisiana would definitely show improvement is at the foul line, where the Cajuns shot just .631 (483-766) last year. So far, that prediction has come true as Louisiana has shot 70-percent or better from the line in eight of the 14 games and the Cajuns are just under .700 mark for the year. The Cajuns enter the UALR game having gone 177-for-255 (.694). The last time that the Cajuns shot above 70-percent for an entire season came 20 seasons ago (1993-94) when they went 463-for-647 (.716).
. . . AND THE FRESHMEN LEAD THE WAY: The simplest way to improve a team's free throw shooting is to simply get better shooters and Bob Marlin has apparently done that. The five freshman on the Louisiana roster have made 67 of their 88 free throws this year (.761). Steven Wronkoski (26-33, .788) and Shawn Long (33-44, .750) lead the way, ranking fifth and ninth in the Sun Belt, respectively.
CAJUNS BENEFIT FROM LATE FREE THROW SHOOTING: The free throw shooting by the Cajuns has been at its best late in the game as Louisiana has gone 57-for-73 (.781) from the line in the final 5:00 minutes and overtime. Shawn Long (8-8) and Steven Wronkoski (8-8) lead the team while Bryant Mbamalu, a career .769 shooter (30-39), is nine-for-10 this year (.900). That is a considerable improvement from the .617 (121-196) that the Cajuns shot during the 2011-12 season.
MISTER CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?: Elfrid Payton has shown his continued development as the Cajuns' point guard by handing out 69 assists this year to rank second in the Sun Belt averaging 4.9 assists per game. He matched his career high with nine assists at North Texas on Dec. 1, a career high originally set against North Texas in the Sun Belt Championship last year.
. . . AND GRAND THEFT FOR PAYTON: With 34 steals this season, Elfrid Payton has taken over the Sun Belt lead, averaging 2.5 steals per game. Payton had a career high seven steals at Michigan State on Nov. 25, falling one steal short of the school record, and came back to make four steals vs. Middle Tennessee. Last year, Payton lead the Cajuns with 37 steals.
IT WAS A LONG TIME COMING: The exhibition win over Loyola-New Orleans marked the Cajuns debut for forward Shawn Long. Long transferred to Louisiana last December after spending the fall semester at Mississippi State. The 6-9 native of Morgan City, La. practiced with the Cajuns during the final three months of the year but was not eligible to play. During the summer, he was granted a waiver of transfer rule that would have made him ineligible until early December, allowing him to play immediately. Eager to make up for the lost season, Long scored 11 of UL's first 18 points against Loyola, finishing the night with 17 points and a game-high eight rebounds, going seven-for-11 from the field with a pair of blocks.
. . . AND LONG HASN'T SLOWED: Shawn Long's steady play has allowed the freshman to lead the Cajuns in scoring (16.7), rebounding (9.5) and blocks (1.9), shooting .497 from the field (93-187) and .750 from the line (33-44). He ranks third in the league in rebounding, fourth in both scoring and blocks, eighth in field goal percentage and ninth in free throw percentage. He has seven double-doubles and five 20-point games. He had a career-high 27 points in the win at North Texas (Dec. 1) and added 17 points and a career-high 17 rebounds at McNeese State (Dec. 8) the following week.
LONG IS DOUBLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE: A 23-point, 14-rebound effort against Duquesne on Dec. 22 gave redshirt freshman forward Shawn Long his seventh double-double in 13 games to lead the Sun Belt. South Alabama's Augustine Rubit is second with five double-doubles.
. . . AND LONG SCORES THE BASKETBALL: Although it is still very early in the season, Shawn Long's five 20-point games has put the redshirt freshman on pace to record the most 20-plus point performances by a Cajun since former Sun Belt Player of the Year Tyren Johnson accomplished it 12 times in 2009-10.
GOING OVERTIME: The loss to Texas Southern on Nov. 16 marked the ninth time that the Cajuns have played to overtime under head coach Bob Marlin. Louisiana is now 6-3 in overtime games during that span, including a 4-1 record last season.
WRONKOSKI PROVES MARLIN RIGHT: Bob Marlin has said many times this fall that when he took over as head coach two years ago, one of the first recruits he looked at was Steven Wronkoski, deciding that the current UL freshman's spirited play would be perfect in a Cajun uniform. Wronkoski has yet to prove Marlin wrong, averaging 8.1 points and 3.1 rebounds this year. He posted back-to-back career highs of 12 points vs. SUNO on Nov. 21 and, in his first career start, 16 points at New Mexico State on Nov. 23. His Sun Belt debut was equally as strong as he scored all 13 of his points in the second half against Middle Tennessee on Nov. 29. Most recently, he raised his career high again, scoring 17 points at McNeese State on Dec. 8. For the year, Wronkoski is eighth in the Sun Belt in three-point shooting (15-36, .417) and is shooting .788 from the line (26-33).
MORE MOORE: Junior forward Elridge Moore has quickly earned a place for himself in the lineup, starting 13 of the 14 games and averaging 5.5 points. He is second on the team in both steals (16) and blocks (8) and is fourth in rebounding (3.5). He made his Cajuns debut a memorable one against Oakland on Nov. 11, sharing the team scoring lead with 15 points while adding five rebounds, five steals and a pair of blocks. Moore, who played one season at Nicholls State before transferring to Lamar State last season, missed just two shots in the game, going six-for-seven from the field and three-for-four from the line.
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% both on and off the court. This demand has led to positive results in the classroom. During the spring 2012 semester, the Ragin' Cajuns recorded their third straight semester with a team GPA of better than 2.50, a feat accomplished just one other time since 1982. The last three semesters account for three of the top six terms for the basketball team during that time. In the two semesters last year, seven Cajuns posted a 3.0 GPA or better.
IT WAS RAINING THREES: Head coach Bob Marlin said throughout the preseason that the three-point shot would play a more important role in the Cajuns offensive game plan this year. That was certainly the case against Loyola-New Orleans as UL made 16 of its 31 three-point attempts (.516) en route to a 20-point win. The total, had it occurred in a regular season game, and not an exhibition, would have broken the school record of 15 three-point field goals in a game set against Troy (1/10/09), Western Kentucky (3/2/96) and Ohio State (12/1/96). Even more impressive was the Cajuns did most of the damage in the first half, going 14-for-18 from beyond the stripe (.778) with seven different players knocking down treys in the game.
MASTERING THE SUN BELT: Ragin' Cajuns head coach Bob Marlin has produced back-to-back double digit win totals in Sun Belt play in his first two seasons on Louisiana's bench (11 in 2010-11 and 10 in 2011-12). His SBC winning percentage of .627 (22-13) is first amongst all active coaches.
NEXT UP: After ringing in the new year, Louisiana will take to the road for the first of three two-game Sun Belt road trips when the Cajuns travel to south Florida to face Florida Atlantic on Thursday (Jan. 3) and FIU on Saturday (Jan. 5).
Complete Release (PDF)
Game 15
UALR (8-6, 2-1) at Louisiana (5-9, 1-2)
Date: Saturday, Dec. 29, 2012
Time: 7:15 p.m. CST
Site: Cajundome (11,550), Lafayette, Louisiana
Radio: KPEL (1420 AM) & KHXT (107.9 FM) (Jay Walker)
TV: None Live, Streaming available on the internet via RaginCajuns.com.
Series: Louisiana Leads, 21-16
Last Meeting: UALR 72, UL 70 (2/9/12, Lafayette, La.)
THE COACHES:
LOUISIANA
BOB MARLIN (Mississippi State '81)
At Louisiana: 35-40 (3rd year)
4-Year Overall: 260-171 (15th year)
All Collegiate: 383-206 (20th year)
vs. UALR: 2-2
UALR
STEVEN SHIELDS (Baylor '88)
At UALR: 155-134 (10th year)
Overall: 155-134 (10th year)
vs. Louisiana: 9-5
SETTING THE SCENE: The Ragin' Cajuns return home for the final time during the 2012 calendar year when Louisiana continues Sun Belt Conference play by hosting west division front-runner UALR on Saturday, Dec. 29 beginning at 7:15 p.m. in the Cajundome. The game is the first of five doubleheaders this year. The Louisiana women's basketball team hosts UALR beginning at 5:00 p.m. The Cajuns enter the game with a 5-9 overall record and in second place in the Sun Belt west division with a 1-2 mark. A victory would move Louisiana into a first place tie with UALR. The Trojans bring an 8-6 overall and 2-1 league mark into the contest, but they have not played since dropping a 77-62 decision at South Alabama on Dec. 22. This will be the 38th meeting between Louisiana and UALR with the Ragin' Cajuns owning a 21-16 lead in the all-time series. The Cajuns are 12-5 in games played in Lafayette, but the Trojans claimed the last meeting, a 72-70 decision last year.
PREVIEWING LOUISIANA: With a lineup featuring six freshmen and four sophomores, third year head coach Bob Marlin is excited about the possibilities for the 2012-13 season, knowing that the team that took the court in November will grow and improve all season. As the new faces get acclimated to the collegiate game, the Cajuns have leaned heavily on junior Bryant Mbamalu (11.9 ppg, 4.0 rpg) and sophomore sensation Elfrid Payton (13.8, 6.2, 4.9). Guard Alan-Michael Thompson (5.3 ppg), the lone senior on the squad, is also playing an increased role this year. Freshman forward Shawn Long (16.7 ppg, 9.5 rpg), a transfer from Mississippi State, and power forward Elridge Moore (5.4, 3.5), a JC transfer from Lamar State, will unite to form the nucleus of the inside game with freshman Cornell Barnett and walk-on Braylan Lazare providing the depth inside. Although Payton, Mbamalu and Thompson provide the athleticism, quickness and leadership, the freshmen duo of Kasey Shepherd (2.7) and Steven Wronkoski (8.1, 3.1) and Josh Soto (3.3) also contribute, giving Louisiana a deep backcourt. Marlin is utilizing the depth and quickness by forcing an up-tempo game at both ends of the court by applying more defensive pressure. Look for the Cajuns to use their quickness and outside shooting ability to create a balanced offense, forcing opponents to cover the entire court.
SUPPORTING CAST DELIVERS: The Louisiana bench had a productive night vs. Lamar on Dec. 11, totalling 30 points with 21 coming in the first half. The performance ended a string of three straight single-digit showings by the bench which had been outscored 75-13 during the slump. The Lamar production was the highest total by the Cajuns bench in the first 13 games and continued a season-long trend. In the five Cajun wins, the Louisiana bench is averaging 19.8 ppg. The bench has produced 119 points in the nine losses (13.2 ppg).
. . . BUT THE ARKANSAS STATE GAME WAS THE OPPOSITE: The Louisiana bench was responsible for a season-high 42 points on Thursday night at Arkansas State but the scoring outburst didn't help as UL fell, 87-70. With the starting lineup producing just 28 points in the game, the bench came through as Alan-Michael Thompson scored 13 points while freshmen Josh Soto (10) and Kasey Shepherd (8) each set career highs. The 42 points was helped by 11 points from Shawn Long, who came off the bench for the first time this season.
LONG TRIES TO EQUAL FRESHMAN SCORING FEAT: With a 16.7 scoring average through 14 games and 2.9 points per game average ahead of second leading scorer Elfrid Payton (13.8 ppg), freshman Shawn Long is on pace to become just the fifth freshman to lead the team in scoring. He would join Tim Thompson (14.2 ppg in 1957-58), Jerry Flake (17.6, 1965-66), Andrew Toney (21.0, 1976-77) and Chris Gradnigo (9.6, 2007-08).
. . . AND A SCORING, REBOUNDS & BLOCKS ACCOMPLISHMENT: Shawn Long's impact is more than just being a scorer. Ranking third in the Sun Belt in scoring and rebounding (9.5) and fourth in blocks (1.9), Long is on a pace to become just the third player in school history to lead the team in all three stat categories in a single season. Tyren Johnson was the most recent, averaging 17.9 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 2009-10. Reginald Poole is the other to accomplish it, doing it in both 1996-97 (16.0, 10.3, 1.7) and 1998-99 (14.7, 7.1, 0.9).
CHASING A TRIPLE-DOUBLE: Sophomore Elfrid Payton continues to inch closer and closer to recording the first triple-double by a Ragin' Cajuns player in almost a decade. Payton closed the 2011-12 season with a 13-point, eight-rebound and nine-assist game in the opening round of the Sun Belt Championship. He toyed with the stat in the season opener against Oakland (14 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists), SUNO (11,7 , 7) and on Dec. 1 at North Texas (14, 6, 9) and went a different route at Michigan State (Nov. 25), scoring 20 points with six rebounds and a career-high seven steals. He came the closest yet in early December. He scored 17 points with 10 rebounds and seven assists at McNeese State (Dec. 8) and came back with 17 points, 11 rebounds and five steals vs. Lamar (Dec. 11). For the record, the last triple-double by a Ragin' Cajuns player came on Jan. 5, 2006 when Michael Southall scored 19 points with 12 rebounds and 11 blocks at North Texas.
. . . BUT PAYTON MUST WALK BEFORE HE RUNS: Although Elfrid Payton has flirted with a triple-double, it took him until the McNeese State game on Dec. 8 to record his first career double-double. Payton scored 17 points with 10 rebounds in the contest. It only took him three days to get the second, scoring 17 points with 11 rebounds vs. Lamar on Dec. 11.
AYTON & MBAMALU STARTS ALONE: With Shawn Long coming off the bench for the first time this season at Arkansas State on Thursday, that leaves junior Bryant Mbamalu and sophomore Elfrid Payton as the only Cajuns to start every game this season. Long and Elridge Moore have each started 13 of the 14 games.
BARNETT BECOMES NINTH CAJUN TO START: When freshman Cornell Barnett started in place of Shawn Long at Arkansas State, he became the ninth different Ragin' Cajuns player to start at least one game this year.
. . . AND LOUISIANA USES A FIFTH DIFFERENT STARTING LINEUP: The youth of the Cajuns is evident this season in the head coach Bob Marlins has used five different starting lineups in the first 14 games. The group of Elfrid Payton, Bryant Mbamalu, Steven Wronkoski, Elridge Moore and Shawn Long have started eight times. The only other group to start multiple games included Alan-Michael Thompson in place of Wronkoski, a lineup that started the first three games together. Last year, Marlin used 12 different starting lineups, including 10 different in the first 13 games before he settled on a lineup that started 15 of the final 21 games.
TAKING ADVANTAGE OF CHARITY: Bob Marlin said during the preseason that one area in which Louisiana would definitely show improvement is at the foul line, where the Cajuns shot just .631 (483-766) last year. So far, that prediction has come true as Louisiana has shot 70-percent or better from the line in eight of the 14 games and the Cajuns are just under .700 mark for the year. The Cajuns enter the UALR game having gone 177-for-255 (.694). The last time that the Cajuns shot above 70-percent for an entire season came 20 seasons ago (1993-94) when they went 463-for-647 (.716).
. . . AND THE FRESHMEN LEAD THE WAY: The simplest way to improve a team's free throw shooting is to simply get better shooters and Bob Marlin has apparently done that. The five freshman on the Louisiana roster have made 67 of their 88 free throws this year (.761). Steven Wronkoski (26-33, .788) and Shawn Long (33-44, .750) lead the way, ranking fifth and ninth in the Sun Belt, respectively.
CAJUNS BENEFIT FROM LATE FREE THROW SHOOTING: The free throw shooting by the Cajuns has been at its best late in the game as Louisiana has gone 57-for-73 (.781) from the line in the final 5:00 minutes and overtime. Shawn Long (8-8) and Steven Wronkoski (8-8) lead the team while Bryant Mbamalu, a career .769 shooter (30-39), is nine-for-10 this year (.900). That is a considerable improvement from the .617 (121-196) that the Cajuns shot during the 2011-12 season.
MISTER CAN YOU SPARE A DIME?: Elfrid Payton has shown his continued development as the Cajuns' point guard by handing out 69 assists this year to rank second in the Sun Belt averaging 4.9 assists per game. He matched his career high with nine assists at North Texas on Dec. 1, a career high originally set against North Texas in the Sun Belt Championship last year.
. . . AND GRAND THEFT FOR PAYTON: With 34 steals this season, Elfrid Payton has taken over the Sun Belt lead, averaging 2.5 steals per game. Payton had a career high seven steals at Michigan State on Nov. 25, falling one steal short of the school record, and came back to make four steals vs. Middle Tennessee. Last year, Payton lead the Cajuns with 37 steals.
IT WAS A LONG TIME COMING: The exhibition win over Loyola-New Orleans marked the Cajuns debut for forward Shawn Long. Long transferred to Louisiana last December after spending the fall semester at Mississippi State. The 6-9 native of Morgan City, La. practiced with the Cajuns during the final three months of the year but was not eligible to play. During the summer, he was granted a waiver of transfer rule that would have made him ineligible until early December, allowing him to play immediately. Eager to make up for the lost season, Long scored 11 of UL's first 18 points against Loyola, finishing the night with 17 points and a game-high eight rebounds, going seven-for-11 from the field with a pair of blocks.
. . . AND LONG HASN'T SLOWED: Shawn Long's steady play has allowed the freshman to lead the Cajuns in scoring (16.7), rebounding (9.5) and blocks (1.9), shooting .497 from the field (93-187) and .750 from the line (33-44). He ranks third in the league in rebounding, fourth in both scoring and blocks, eighth in field goal percentage and ninth in free throw percentage. He has seven double-doubles and five 20-point games. He had a career-high 27 points in the win at North Texas (Dec. 1) and added 17 points and a career-high 17 rebounds at McNeese State (Dec. 8) the following week.
LONG IS DOUBLE-DOUBLE TROUBLE: A 23-point, 14-rebound effort against Duquesne on Dec. 22 gave redshirt freshman forward Shawn Long his seventh double-double in 13 games to lead the Sun Belt. South Alabama's Augustine Rubit is second with five double-doubles.
. . . AND LONG SCORES THE BASKETBALL: Although it is still very early in the season, Shawn Long's five 20-point games has put the redshirt freshman on pace to record the most 20-plus point performances by a Cajun since former Sun Belt Player of the Year Tyren Johnson accomplished it 12 times in 2009-10.
GOING OVERTIME: The loss to Texas Southern on Nov. 16 marked the ninth time that the Cajuns have played to overtime under head coach Bob Marlin. Louisiana is now 6-3 in overtime games during that span, including a 4-1 record last season.
WRONKOSKI PROVES MARLIN RIGHT: Bob Marlin has said many times this fall that when he took over as head coach two years ago, one of the first recruits he looked at was Steven Wronkoski, deciding that the current UL freshman's spirited play would be perfect in a Cajun uniform. Wronkoski has yet to prove Marlin wrong, averaging 8.1 points and 3.1 rebounds this year. He posted back-to-back career highs of 12 points vs. SUNO on Nov. 21 and, in his first career start, 16 points at New Mexico State on Nov. 23. His Sun Belt debut was equally as strong as he scored all 13 of his points in the second half against Middle Tennessee on Nov. 29. Most recently, he raised his career high again, scoring 17 points at McNeese State on Dec. 8. For the year, Wronkoski is eighth in the Sun Belt in three-point shooting (15-36, .417) and is shooting .788 from the line (26-33).
MORE MOORE: Junior forward Elridge Moore has quickly earned a place for himself in the lineup, starting 13 of the 14 games and averaging 5.5 points. He is second on the team in both steals (16) and blocks (8) and is fourth in rebounding (3.5). He made his Cajuns debut a memorable one against Oakland on Nov. 11, sharing the team scoring lead with 15 points while adding five rebounds, five steals and a pair of blocks. Moore, who played one season at Nicholls State before transferring to Lamar State last season, missed just two shots in the game, going six-for-seven from the field and three-for-four from the line.
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% both on and off the court. This demand has led to positive results in the classroom. During the spring 2012 semester, the Ragin' Cajuns recorded their third straight semester with a team GPA of better than 2.50, a feat accomplished just one other time since 1982. The last three semesters account for three of the top six terms for the basketball team during that time. In the two semesters last year, seven Cajuns posted a 3.0 GPA or better.
IT WAS RAINING THREES: Head coach Bob Marlin said throughout the preseason that the three-point shot would play a more important role in the Cajuns offensive game plan this year. That was certainly the case against Loyola-New Orleans as UL made 16 of its 31 three-point attempts (.516) en route to a 20-point win. The total, had it occurred in a regular season game, and not an exhibition, would have broken the school record of 15 three-point field goals in a game set against Troy (1/10/09), Western Kentucky (3/2/96) and Ohio State (12/1/96). Even more impressive was the Cajuns did most of the damage in the first half, going 14-for-18 from beyond the stripe (.778) with seven different players knocking down treys in the game.
MASTERING THE SUN BELT: Ragin' Cajuns head coach Bob Marlin has produced back-to-back double digit win totals in Sun Belt play in his first two seasons on Louisiana's bench (11 in 2010-11 and 10 in 2011-12). His SBC winning percentage of .627 (22-13) is first amongst all active coaches.
NEXT UP: After ringing in the new year, Louisiana will take to the road for the first of three two-game Sun Belt road trips when the Cajuns travel to south Florida to face Florida Atlantic on Thursday (Jan. 3) and FIU on Saturday (Jan. 5).
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