Cajuns Continue Road Trip At Texas State on Saturday

Contact: Brian McCann

Complete Game Notes (PDF)

Game 24
Louisiana (14-9, 5-5) at Texas State (7-15, 3-6)
Date: Saturday, Feb. 8, 2014
Time: 4:30 p.m. CST
Site: Strahan Coliseum (7,200), San Marcos, Texas
Radio: KHXT (107.9 FM) (Jay Walker)
TV: WXAN-TV feed on Cox 4 (Brant Freeman & Roger Wallace)
Series: Louisiana Leads, 2-0
Last Meeting: Louisiana 81, Texas State 58 (1/13/14, Lafayette, La.)

THE COACHES:
LOUISIANA
BOB MARLIN (Mississippi State '81)
At Louisiana: 57-60 (4th year)
4-Year Overall: 282-191 (16th year)
All Collegiate: 405-226 (21st year)
vs. Texas State: 14-9

TEXAS STATE
DANNY KASPAR (North Texas '78)
At TXST: 7-15 (1st year)
Overall: 472-208 (34th year)
vs. Louisiana: 1-2

SETTING THE SCENE: Rejuvenated following back-to-back league wins over ULM and UT Arlington, the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (14-9, 5-5) close out a two-game weekend in the State of Texas when they travel to San Marcos to face Texas State on Saturday (Feb. 8) at 4:30 p.m. The game will be televised back to Louisiana by Cox4 with Brant Freeman and Roger Wallace providing the commentary. The Cajuns are coming off a 92-89 win at UT Arlington on Thursday, a game that was not as close as the final score indicated and which moved Louisiana into fifth place in the Sun Belt standings. Texas State (7-15, 3-6) took a big step towards qualifying for next months Sun Belt Conference Tournament by upending ULM, 65-57 on Thursday night. The Cajuns have won both previous meetings with the Bobcats, including an 81-58 decision in the Cajundome on Jan. 13.

PREVIEWING LOUISIANA: As the Sun Belt season starts the second half of its season, Louisiana is 14-9 overall and 5-5 in league play. The Cajuns have benefited from the return of five starters and a total of 10 lettermen from last year's squad that went 13-20, leading fourth-year head coach Bob Marlin to feel confident that the Cajuns have taken a big step forward. The team is centered around the duo of point guard Elfrid Payton (20.1 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 5.9 apg, 2.4 spg) and forward Shawn Long (20.3 ppg, 10.9 rpg, 3.1 bpg), both of whom were named to the preseason All-Sun Belt first team this year. Long plays mostly at center with Elridge Moore (4.9, 3.9) playing at power forward and Bryant Mbamalu (8.4, 3.3), who started 26 games as a wing guard last season, is starting on the wing, opposite junior newcomer Xavian Rimmer (7.4, 2.0). The bench has been solid with junior Kevin Brown (6.3, 1.6) providing depth at guard, sophomore Steven Wronkoski (4.9, 2.3) seeing action both on the wing and at small forward and junior J.J. Davenport (3.7, 3.2), who played the last two seasons at New Mexico Junior College, playing at center. Injuries have hurt the Cajuns as Bryant Mbamalu missed the first 12 games with a foot injury, Elridge Moore was sidelined for five games with a leg injury and sophomore guard Kasey Shepherd (8.2, 2.4) is out indefinitely with a knee injury. The third unit consists of a trio of freshmen, Hayward Register (2.9) at guard, Luka Kamber (0.5, 1.3) at forward and Vieux Kande (1.1, 0.8) at center. Marlin is utilizing the depth and quickness by forcing an up-tempo game at both ends of the court by applying more defensive pressure. The Cajuns use their quickness and outside shooting ability to create a balanced offense, forcing opponents to cover the entire court.

LOUISIANA IN THE NCAA STATS: The Cajuns were featured prominently in the latest NCAA stats, which were released on Friday (Feb. 7). Shawn Long was sixth in double-doubles (12), eighth in rebounds (10.8), ninth in field goals made (170), 17th in blocks (3.0) and 23rd in scoring (20.1). Junior Elfrid Payton was 15th in steals (2.4), 20th in assists (5.9) and 26th in scoring (20.1), owning one of seven triple doubles in the nation this year. As a team, the Cajuns were 18th in scoring offense (81.4), 33rd in steals (8.0) and 43rd in three-point field goal defense (.309).

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-percent both on and off the court. This demand has led to positive results in the classroom. During the spring 2013 semester, the Ragin' Cajuns set a program record with a 2.904 grade point average for the team. They backed that up with a 2.854 during the recently completed fall semester, the second-highest average in the 31 years that athletics has tracked grades, with eight of the 15 players posting a 3.0 or better. In seven semesters under head coach Bob Marlin, the Cajuns have recorded seven of the top 10 semesters in program history.

TEXAS STATE GAME TO BE TELEVISED: Saturday's road game at Texas State, which is slated for a 4:30 p.m. start, will be televised throughout Louisiana by Cox4 through an agreement between the two athletic departments. Texas State and WXAN-TV are televising the game to the Dallas and Austin areas with Cox4 picking up the feed. Brant Freeman and Roger Wallace will provide the commentary.

LONG APPROACHES 1,000 POINT MARK: A career-high 31 points at UT Arlington on Thursday moved Shawn Long within 42 points of becoming the 41st player in school history to score 1,000 points in a career. Long enters the weekend with 958 career points and he would join teammate Elfrid Payton (1,215 points) on the list of 1,000 point scorers. Long would be the fifth sophomore to accomplish the feat, joining Bo Lamar (1,631 points), Andrew Toney (1,269), Kevin Brooks (1,053) and Jerry Flake (1,042).

HAYWARD REGISTERS A CAREER HIGH: With the Cajuns guards in early foul trouble, Bob Marlin turned to freshman Hayward Register, who was scoreless in the seven minutes of action in Sun Belt play this year. Register responded by scoring a career-high 17 points -- more than double his previous best of seven points -- going five-for-seven from three-point in 17 minutes.

FINALLY A THURSDAY WIN: The win over UT Arlington on Thursday marked the first win for the Cajuns in five Thursday night games this season. Hopefully the win is a sign of good things to come as Louisiana has at least three more Thursday night games remaining.

SHOOTING IS THE DIFFERENCE: Thursday night's win at UT Arlington marked the 13th time that the Cajuns have shot better from the field than their opponent in a game this season with Louisiana being a perfect 13-0 in those games. At the other end of the spectrum, the Cajuns are just 1-9 when their opponents shoots a higher percentage from the field. Turnovers have proven to be unimportant this season as Louisiana is 6-4 when committing more turnovers than its opponent and 8-5 when committing less.

SHEPHERD SIDELINED: Sophomore guard Kasey Shepherd is sidelined indefinitely with a knee injury suffered during the WKU game on Jan. 25. Shepherd has provided the Cajuns with a scoring spark off the bench this season, averaging 8.2 points a game. Shepherd, who averaged 3.4 points in 10.9 minutes of action last year, started the year slowly, averaging just 2.7 points over the first six games, before settling in and averaging 10.5 points over his last 14 games before being hurt, scoring 17 or more points five times. He leads the Sun Belt shooting .542 from behind the three-point line (26-for-48) while also shooting .535 from the field (53-for-99) and .939 from the line (31-for-33). He earned the LSWA Player of the Week award on Dec. 9 after scoring 22 points at Louisiana Tech and 18 at Louisville.

. . . AND THE GOOD HEALTH LASTED JUST SIX GAMES: Cajuns head coach Bob Marlin has disputed the fact listed in most preseason stories that Louisiana has benefited from the return of all five starters this year because up until the UT Arlington game on Jan. 11, he had not had the good fortune to have all five starters from last year healthy at the same time. The return of Elridge Moore for the UT Arlington contest gave Marlin a complete roster of 15 healthy players for the first time all season. Bryant Mbamalu, who started 25 games last year, missed the first 12 games of the year with a foot injury and Moore had been sidelined with an ankle sprain since mid-December. The healthy lineup lasted just six games as the Cajuns played the UALR contest without reserve guard Kasey Shepherd, who is out indefinitely with a knee injury, and forward Luka Kamber, who missed the game with a concussion.

PAYTON PASSES PAYTON: With six free throw attempts against ULM on Saturday and 10 more at UT Arlington, Elfrid Payton raised his season total to 220, passing himself on the single season free throw chart. The 220 attempts is good for sixth place, 11 free throw attempts ahead of the 209 charity tosses he had last year.

. . . AND LONG PASSES LONG: Elfrid Payton wasn't the only Cajun to surpass a previous accomplishment as Shawn Long blocked one shot at UT Arlington on Thursday to raise his season total to 66, passing himself for sixth place on the single-season chart. Long 65 blocked shots last year, ranking him seventh on the season total in school history.

100 GAMES FOR MBAMALU: When Bryant Mbamalu started the UT Arlington game on Thursday, he became the 40th player in school history to play in 100 career games. Mbamalu has scored 886 points (8.9 ppg) with 252 rebounds, 103 assists, 67 steals and 81 three-pointers.

A SHOOTING PERFORMANCE FOR PAYTON: Elfrid Payton was quite efficient against ULM on Feb. 1, going 13-for-14 from the field on his way to scoring a game-high 28 points. The shooting effort was the second-best on the team this year, trailing only the school-record equalling 12-for-12 game by Shawn Long against Centenary. After a seven-for-12 effort at UT Arlington on Thursday, Payton ranks ninth in the Sun Belt shooting .518 (156-302).

DAVENPORT SHINES: With Shawn Long out of the lineup for the UALR game on Jan. 30, junior J.J. Davenport stepped up and turned in the best performance of his Cajuns career. Playing a career-high 27 minutes, Davenport registered his first career double-double, setting additional career highs with 14 points and 11 rebounds. He became the third Cajuns player to register a double-double this season, joining Long (11) and Payton (4).

NEXT UP: The Cajuns returns home next week to start a stretch that will have the Cajuns play four of their next five games in the Cajundome, starting with a rematch with UALR on Thursday, Feb. 13 at 7:15 p.m.

Cajuns Continue Road Trip At Texas State on Saturday

Next Event

Footer

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics