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UL - With the Sun Belt standings tightening up and only six games remaining, each game is important to Louisiana’s chances at hosting a first round game in the SBC Tournament. The Cajuns begin the critical juncture of their season Thursday at ULM.
● Louisiana has won the last four meetings against ULM. The Cajuns go for their second straight victory at Fant-Ewing Coliseum and second straight season series sweep of the Warhawks.
● Louisiana is currently tied for seventh place in the race for Sun Belt Tournament seeding. UL is tied with Arkansas State and Denver with a 5-7 SBC mark. The three teams are only one game behind North Texas (6-6) for fifth place.
● Last week UL posted its first Thursday win of the season vs. FIU. The Ragin’ Cajuns look for a second straight Thursday night victory (1-5 this season on Thursday).
● The road hasn’t been kind to Louisiana the last five outings. UL has led for only 70 seconds (out of 200 minutes), and hasn’t held a lead in the past three road games.
● Louisiana seeks to snap a five-game road losing streak. Last road win came on Saturday, Jan. 10 at Troy (W, 83-81).
● One game after shooting above 50 percent nearly the entire game and leading from wire-to-wire vs. FIU, the Cajuns had the tables turned on them at North Texas. The Mean Green shot above 50 percent the entire evening and led wire-to-wire.
<b> MAKING A MOVE IN FEBRUARY </b>
● Since 2005-06, the Cajuns are 17-8 in the season’s final month (1-1 this season).
<b> AHEAD AT THE HALF IS KEY </b>
● Of Louisiana’s eight wins this season, seven have come when holding a halftime lead.
<b> THE 500 CLUB </b>
● Chris Gradnigo reached 500 career points at Florida Atlantic. Now two other Cajuns are in the neighborhood of 500 career points.
● Travis Bureau (438) is 62 shy of 500. Randell Daigle (400) is exactly 100 away.
<b> WALLACE MAKING HIS POINT </b>
● Courtney Wallace has shot well for UL in his last four appearances, going 13-of-14 (92.9%) from the floor and averaging 8.5 points.
<b> IMPROVED FREE THROW SHOOTING </b>
● UL has shot above 68 percent each of the last six games – 93-of-121 (77 percent) is the mark during the stretch. Has helped raise season percentage from 61% to 66%.
<b> THE TRIPLE THREAT </b>
● The combination of Travis Bureau, Randell Daigle and Chris Gradnigo fuel the Louisiana offense.
● They combine to average 38.6 points of the Cajuns’ 67.5 average (57%).
● They combine for 118 three-point field goals made out of UL’s 168 (70%).
● Overall shooting percentages: Gradnigo (45.3%), Bureau (43.7%), Daigle (39.2%).
<b> HOME-AWAY BALANCE EVENS OUT IN FEBRUARY </b>
● After playing eight of 11 games on the road prior to February, Louisiana has an even split between home and away in February.
● In February, UL plays eight games total with four each at home and on the road.
<b> NORTH TEXAS LEFTOVERS </b>
● The Mean Green completed the season sweep with the victory. North Texas has now swept Louisiana twice in the last three years.
● Louisiana’s losing streak at The Super Pit is now at five games.
● Courtney Wallace hit all five of his field goal attempts. He posted his second double digit scoring effort in the past four games (15 at MT).
● Travis Bureau posted two assists in a Saturday game for the second straight week.
● Emmanuel Adeife tied a season-and career-high with two field goals made. He also blocked two shots for the fourth time.
● Ryan McCoy tied his season-high with five free throws made.
● Louisiana shot well at the free throw line for the sixth straight game. The Cajuns were 17-of-21 (81.0%) – sixth straight game above 68 percent at the charity stripe.
● North Texas shot 10-of-17 (58.8%) from three-point range. Combined with the performance at the CAJUNDOME on Dec. 18 (11-of-18), NT was 21-of-35 from beyond the arc on the Cajuns this season (60%).
<b> LAST TIME VS. ULM </b>
(Dec. 15, 2008 in CAJUNDOME – UL won 86-58)
● Travis Bureau broke a 5-all tie with a three-pointer at 18:16 in the first half, kicking off a 15-3 Cajuns’ run to open up a 20-8 lead by 14:06.
● ULM pulled within five points in the first half and seven points in the second half, and each time the Cajuns answered with runs which pushed the lead back into double digits.
● Trailing 30-17, ULM went on a 12-4 run to cut the deficit down to 34-29 at the 5:01 mark. Bureau scored the Cajuns’ next five points and the lead returned to double digits by the three minute mark.
● ULM cut the lead to 56-49 in the second half, the Cajuns then ended the game outscoring the Warhawks 30-9 in the final 10 minutes.
● Four UL players went into double-figures, led by Bureau with 18 points.
● The win was the Cajuns’ 24th straight over ULM in the city of Lafayette.
LAST TIME VS. ULM IN MONROE </b>
(Dec. 16, 2007 – UL won 68-67)
● Freshman Chris Gradnigo’s three-pointer with eight seconds left in the game gave the Ragin’ Cajuns a 68-67 victory.
● Louisiana went 9-of-14 from three-point range in the second half to help erase a nine-point halftime deficit.
● UL would cut the ULM lead to two points, 19-17, on a Randell Daigle triple. ULM closed the first half with an 11-4 run to take a 30-21 halftime lead
● Trailing by two points, Gradnigo drained a deep trey to give Louisiana its first lead of the game, 65-64, with 43 seconds left to play. Rudy Turner gave the lead back to ULM with a three-point play with 23 seconds on the clock.
<b> BY THE NUMBERS </b>
4 - Randell Daigle is four 3-point makes away from reaching 100 in his brief career
4-0 - Louisiana’s record in games when the team scores above 80
12 - La’Ryan Gary needs 12 rebounds to reach 200 career boards
14 - Consecutive free throws made by Tyren Johnson. Last miss was vs. Denver (1/3)
27.1% - ULM’s FG percentage in the Dec. 15 meeting. Louisiana held ULM to 20 percent in the 2nd half
44-24 - Louisiana’s advantage in points in the paint in the Dec. 15 meeting with ULM
53.2% - Cajuns’ FG percentage on Dec. 15 vs. ULM. Louisiana made at least 15 FG in each half
96 - Randell Daigle’s number of career three-point baskets made in 43 career games played
128 - Total number of bench points for UL in the last three games vs. ULM (42.3 avg). In the same three games, ULM’s bench scored 46 (15.3)
<b> SERIES HISTORY </b>
(Louisiana leads 41-16, overall; Louisiana leads 6-3 at Fant-Ewing Coliseum; Louisiana leads 14-13 in Monroe)
● The two schools meet as Sun Belt opponents for the sixth (6th) time. Louisiana holds a 4-1 edge in Sun Belt meetings, having won the last four. UL swept ULM in 2007-08 by scores of 68-67 in Monroe (Dec. 16, 2007) and 67-65 in the CAJUNDOME (Feb. 14, 2008). The Cajuns took this season’s first meeting, winning 86-58 in the CAJUNDOME on Dec. 15, 2008.
● This will be the 10th meeting in Fant-Ewing Coliseum (opened in 1971-72). The Cajuns are 6-3 in Ewing Coliseum (1-1 in Sun Belt play).
● The home team has dominated in the series, winning 39 of the 55 games played on one of the school’s home courts. UL has won 24 straight in Lafayette vs. ULM.
● Schools split the first 14 meetings (1953-60). Since then, UL has won 34 of the last 43 meetings to take today’s commanding 41-16 series lead.
<b> TOURNEY TALK </b>
● Louisiana is currently holding seventh (7th) place in overall Sun Belt standings which determine seeding for the conference's postseason tournament. UL is tied with Arkansas State and Denver, but holds the tiebreaker over both schools.
● Seeds four through eight host first round games. As of today, Louisiana is still in position to host.
● The Cajuns trail North Texas </b>
(6-6SBC) by one full game for fifth (5th) place and South Alabama (6-7 SBC) by one-half game for sixth (6th) place.
● The Cajuns are in a precarious position. While they are only one game out of fifth place, they are also only one game ahead of 12th place ULM.
● The No. 3 seed receives a bye from the first round. That currently belongs to Troy (10-3 SBC) which the Cajuns now trail by four games in the loss column with only six games remaining. One more Troy and UALR win combined with a Cajuns loss will mathematically eliminate UL from a bye.
<b> UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA </b>
The Ragin' Cajuns return to the friendly confines of the CAJUNDOME on Saturday, Feb. 14 for a Valentine's Day meeting with Arkansas State at approximately 7:15 p.m. (depending on the time the women's game finishes). This is the only meeting between UL and ASU this season and could play a key role in determining a host spot in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament.
The game with ASU also starts a stretch where Louisiana ends the regular season hosting three of the final five games.
The Cajuns swept Arkansas State last season (W, 73-63 in CAJUNDOME; W, 65-59 in Jonesboro) and have won nine of the past 11 meetings held in the CAJUNDOME.
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