WBB Game 25 Preview: vs. Texas State

Game 25 • Louisiana vs. Texas State
Thursday, Feb. 19 • 5 p.m. • Lafayette, La. • Cajundome (11,550)
TV: None • Radio: Talk 960 AM • Talent: Jay Walker, PxP
Live Stats/Video: RaginCajuns.com/ • Twitter: @RaginCajunsWBB
Series History: Texas State leads, 5-3 • Last Meeting: UL 83, TXST 81 (1/31/15)

Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns
2014-15 Record: 16-8, 8-7 SBC
Head Coach: Garry Brodhead • Alma Mater: Louisiana, 1980
Record at UL: 40-45, 3rd season • Career Record: Same

Texas State Bobcats
2014-15 Record: 15-9, 10-5 SBC
Head Coach: Zenarae Antoine • Alma Mater: Colorado St., '98
Record at TXST: 58-59, 4th season • Career Record: Same

LAFAYETTE - The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team begins a busy week as it returns to action on Thursday to host Texas State in a Sun Belt Conference game at the Cajundome. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m.

The game for Louisiana (16-8, 8-7 SBC) is the first of two this week as the Ragin' Cajuns will quickly venture to the Metroplex for a 5 p.m. game on Saturday at UT Arlington. The Ragin' Cajuns enter Thursday's game with Texas State (15-9, 10-5 SBC) two games behind both the Bobcats and Troy for third-place in the league standings. Louisiana enters the game one-half game ahead of UTA (13-10, 7-7 SBC) in fifth-place in the Sun Belt race with games against Georgia Southern (home, 2/28), UALR (home, 3/5) and Arkansas State (away, 3/7) remaining on the schedule.

Last Time Out
- Keke Veal scored 17 of her team-high 20 points in the second half, but a second-half comeback for the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns women's basketball team fell short in a 68-63 Sun Belt Conference loss at Troy on Saturday at Trojan Arena.
- Kia Wilridge added 18 points and Jaylyn Gordon 11 for Louisiana (16-8, 8-7 Sun Belt), which nearly erased a 19-point deficit in the second half after going 6-for-32 (18.8 percent) from the floor in the opening half.
- Louisiana trailed 42-23 with 16:35 remaining in the game after a jumper by Ronita Garrett before gradually chipping away at the lead. The Ragin' Cajuns trailed 63-52 with 1:11 left after a bucket by Kourtney Coleman before Wilridge began a furious rally with a three-point play.
- Veal added a 3-pointer for the Ragin' Cajuns that narrowed the lead to 63-58 and 64-60 after a bucket by Robbie Brown before the Trojans made four free throws down the stretch to claim the win.
- Simone Fields added nine points and a team-high eight rebounds for Louisiana while Brown finished with five points. The Ragin' Cajuns finished 21-for-70 (30.0 percent) from the floor, 10-for-27 (37.0 percent) from behind the 3-point line and 11-for-15 from the charity stripe.

A Look at Texas State
- Junior guard Erin Peoples put together the best two-game stretch of her junior season this past week, leading the Bobcats to a pair of victories over UT Arlington and Georgia State. Against Georgia State, Peoples set a new career-high in points with 24 scored on 8-of-16 shooting. Peoples got the team off to a dominant start, outscoring Georgia State 7-0 by herself through the first two minutes of the game, including a three-pointer.
- She also recorded two blocks in the victory, moving her up to third all-time in Texas State history in career blocks with 62.
- Ayriel Anderson set a season-high four made three-pointers last Saturday against Georgia State. She now has 120 made three's in her career.
- With 24 points last Saturday, Peoples is now 79 points away from 1,000 in her career. She has scored 313 this season, which is just 21 points shy of her season-high scored during her sophomore year.
- Texas State was picked to finish third in the SBC after finishing in a tie for third-place last season. The Bobcats look to improve upon last season's semifinal finish at the conference tournament and first-ever WBI appearance, the first postseason appearance for Texas State since the 2008 season.

Series History
- Tonight's game will mark the ninth meeting on the hardwood between the schools with Texas State holding a 5-3 lead.
- The Bobcats are 3-1 against the Ragin' Cajuns since joining the Sun Belt Conference in 2013-14.
- Louisiana claimed an 83-81 double overtime victory over the Bobcats in the last meeting between the schools on Jan. 31 in San Marcos.

Up Next
- Louisiana will a quick turnaround and travel to the Metroplex to face UT Arlington on Saturday in a 5 p.m. contest at College Park Center.
- The Ragin' Cajuns will return home to host Georgia Southern in a 5 p.m. contest on Saturday, Feb. 28 at the Cajundome.

Stifling Defense
- As a team, the Cajuns defense has caused many problems for opponents this season, limiting teams to 59.6 points per game for 77th in the nation
- The Cajuns have forced opponents to 20-plus turnovers on 16 different occasions as teams are forcing 21.1 turnovers per game this season. In 22 of 24 games, a team has committed at least 15 turnovers with Louisiana Tech (14) and UT Arlington (10) being the only exceptions.
- Louisiana ranks tied for fifth nationally in turnover margin with teams recording 6.9 more turnovers per game than the Cajuns
- Louisiana is 42nd in the country in steals per game, averaging 10.4 on the season
- Junior guard Kia Wilridge's tenacious defense this season has her ranked among the best in the country
- Wilridge has totaled 68 steals on the season for an average of 2.8 per game for first in the Sun Belt Conference and 25th in the country

Louisiana Among Sun Belt Schools
- Defense is what has stood out this season for the Cajuns, and their numbers have placed them near the top in the Sun Belt in several categories
- Among Sun Belt schools, Louisiana ranks first in turnover margin (+6.9), second in steals (10.4) and opponent turnovers per game (21.3), and third in scoring defense (59.6)
- In league play, the Cajuns lead the conference in turnover margin (+7.5), and are second in both opponent turnovers per game (21.1) and steals per game (10.3).The have held teams to 61.5 points per game to rank third behind UALR (45.8) and UT Arlington (58.2).

Guards in the Sun Belt Rankings
- Guards Jaylyn Gordon, Keke Veal and Kia Wilridge are making several appearances in the SBC top-10 individual rankings
- Gordon comes in second in three-pointers per game (2.4), fifth in free-throw percentage (81.3%), seventh in minutes played (33.0), eighth in scoring (14.3 ppg) and eighth in steals (1.9 spg).
- Veal ranks sixth with 2.1 steals per game but is third overall in SBC play with 2.5 per game. She is sixth in the SBC with 3.5 assists per game and eighth with a 1.1 assist-to-turnover ratio
- Wilridge appears four times in the SBC rankings, coming in first in steals (2.8 spg), ninth in minutes (32.0 mpg), 11th in assists (2.5 apg) and 13th in scoring (12.7 ppg)

Cajuns Climbing the Record Books
- As the season progresses, several Cajuns are ranked in or nearing the top 10 in the career record books:
- With an appearance tonight, Robbie Brown will tie Shaunda Johnson-Bedel (1986-91) for seventh-place with 114 games played.
- Kia Wilridge is ninth in school history in steals (161) and is ninth in assists (208).
- Keke Veal is ranked 10th in school history in steals (158).
- Jaylyn Gordon is the final Cajun that ranked in the career top 10 list as her 93 made 3-pointers are the ninth-best total in school history.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Robbie Brown

Simone Fields

Jaylyn Gordon

Keke Veal

Kia Wilridge

Footer

University of Louisiana at Lafayette Athletics