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Robert Lee has been involved in college basketball for a lot of years, but he doesn't mind saying that he's more than concerned about his UL basketball squad's opening exhibition game tonight.
"This is the first time I've actually been scared about an exhibition game," Lee said as his team prepared for a 7:05 p.m. meeting with Spring Hill College at the Cajundome. "I don't care if it's an exhibition game or not, I like to win."
Normally, that's not a problem in exhibition games, especially against an NAIA club like the Badgers. But Spring Hill may not be a typical exhibition opponent.
The Badgers went 22-9 last year and have three double-figure scorers back from that team. Spring Hill also threw in 256 three-pointers last year, and had nine more in the first half against Florida State in a Tuesday exhibition when they led Florida State 39-34. FSU eventually rallied for a 90-72 victory, but the video of that game was enough to give Lee chills.
"The coaches that scheduled this game, I don't know if they did their research," Lee said. "I got scared watching them shoot the ball."
The fright level may also be magnified given the makeup of the Cajun squad.
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Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com
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Huge graduation losses and a key injury means that the leading returning scorer this season is Lafayette guard Ross Mouton at 4.4 points per game.
Tonight's game, part of a twinbill with the women's squad, is the first of two home appearances.
UL opens its regular season Friday night against Ouachita Baptist before playing six straight games against high-caliber competition - at Ole Miss and Oral Roberts and hosting Cal State Fullerton, Tennessee, Nevada and La. Tech.
Lee said he will likely start most of his limited number of experienced players, with Mouton joined in the backcourt by point guard Rhett Hebert (2.1) and now-eligible transfer guard David Dees. Returnee guard Maurice Barksdale is out for the season after wrist surgery.
"Rhett has been shooting the heck out of the ball," Lee said, "and Dees and Ross are going to have to be big weapons for us."
Returnee Adam James (1.4) will be in the middle and either newcomer Courtney Wallace or returnee Valentino Hart (1.9) will man the other front-line slot. Wallace is one of five first-time freshmen on the roster.
"We've got a lot of new guys," Lee said, "and we don't know they're going to react inside the 'Dome. We know we're going to have to execute well offensively, make shots and defend their three-point shooters."
The Cajuns have seen limited action against outside competition, holding a closed scrimmage against Southern one week ago. Such scrimmages are allowed by NCAA rules as long as it is not open to anyone other than team personnel.
"Offensively, we were about a seven," Lee said Thursday when asked to rate his team's performance against SU on a 1-10 scale. "Defensively, it was about a four. We shot the ball really well from the perimeter, and that's something this team's going to have to do every night.
"Defensively, we weren't able to contain dribble penetration, and our guys need to understand how important that is for us. We know we're going to have to defend a lot better."
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