The Book: 2002-2003 Basketball (Ragin'Cajuns)

<blockquote><p align=justify>Advertiser-Bruce Brown

JONESBORO, Ark. — Dickey Nutt isn’t surprised that Louisiana coach Jessie Evans is eager for his Ragin’ Cajuns to play Nutt’s Arkansas State Indians tonight.

The Cajuns ride a wave of momentum into the 7:05 p.m. contest at the 10,563-seat ASU Convocation Center after clinching the Sun Belt Conference West Division title with last Saturday’s 69-58 win at New Mexico State.

“I enjoy playing in Jonesboro,” Evans said. “They have great support there, and the fans really get on you.”

“I’m not surprised that Jessie’s looking forward to coming here,” Nutt said. “He’s got a great team.”

UL is 18-6 overall and a league-best 10-1 in Sun Belt play. The Cajuns also own a commanding 36-14 lead in the all-time series with the Indians.

Arkansas State is struggling at 11-13, 4-7, but battled evenly before losing 69-63 at Western Kentucky last weekend.

<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/sports/html/367869DC-A21C-49A5-BAAD-5F547EF7A7F2.shtml">The rest of the story</a><!--
“I felt we played a pretty good game there,” Nutt said. “We were tied with two minutes to play. But the Thursday before that we played probably our worst game at Middle Tennessee (a 79-55 loss).

“I’m proud of the way the team has come back. We lost Terrance Saulsberry at point guard to a torn ACL on the first day of practice, and had a couple of heart-breaking losses to New Orleans (70-68) and Western Kentucky.

“You start with great character, top to bottom. We’ve got good students and good people on the team. They have heart, they’re sincere and they’ll fight with all their might.”

That might not be enough against the Cajuns, who are outscoring foes 77.5-68.2 points per game and lead the Sun Belt in scoring marging at 9.3 points per game. They also pace the league in assists (15.38), a tribute to teamwork.

“We thought we could wrap up the division last week if we kept coming as a team,” Evans said. “We’re not surprised, nor are we satisfied. The program deserves to be where we are now. We’d be disappointed if not.”

“They have four guys scoring in double figures (Brad Boyd, 16.8 ppg; Anthony Johnson, 14.7; Michael Southall, 13.8; Laurie Bridges, 11.1), and that shows you the kind of balance they have,” Nutt said.

“They have probably the best sophomore in the country in Southall. Johnson is one of the premier players in the league. Boyd’s shooting ... he shows no conscience. They have an experienced point guard (Kenneth Lawrence with 105 assists, 47 steals) and they also have Bridges.

“We’ll have to be ready to play well on defensive transition and keep them off the boards. We need to be better there.”

Southall is 15th in the country in field goal percentage (59.8) and can control a game even when not scoring, such as last Saturday at NMSU.

The Indians are led by Tevoris Thompson (15.6 ppg), who is tied for 16th nationally with 89 percent free throw shooting, backed by Paris London (10.9 ppg) and Kim Adams (8.8 rebounds).

“We had over 7,000 fans for the Arkansas-Little Rock game, and it should be the same Thursday,” Nutt said. “I feel we have the best fans in the league. They come out in bunches. We need to get more wins for them.”

The Cajuns invade UALR on Saturday, while New Mexico State is at Little Rock tonight and at ASU on Saturday.

“It’s a tough weekend, no question,” Nutt said. “But that’s the part of the schedule you’ve got to love. We play two of the best teams in the league in 48 hours.”

The best at the moment is Louisiana, armed with momentum.
-->

average home attendence for 2002-2003 season=5,313
up from 2001-2002 season=3,836 not bad at all :D
still 2 home games left to make it better!

We can all expect that number to rise with the game against WKU. Lets get that number over 6000.

I had a class and a meeting tonight so I didn't get to listen to any of the game. CAJUNS lose 84-72 to ASU. Someone PLEASE tell me what the hell happened!!! :confused: :confused: :confused: :confused:

<center><i>Arkansas State ends eight-game winning streak.
</i></center><blockquote><p align=justify>
JONESBORO, Ark. — Louisiana may be champions of the Sun Belt Conference’s Western Division, but the Ragin’ Cajuns didn’t play like it Thursday night.

The Cajuns looked like a team that was content with their lot in life and dropped an 84-72 contest to the hustling Arkansas State Indians before 5,209 fans at the ASU Convocation Center.

“This loss tells us that we’re 18-7 and 10-2, and if you’d told me before the season we’d have that kind of record, I’d have probably taken it,” coach Jessie Evans said.

“We’re not bad. But, the conference is like that. If you’re not on your ‘A’ game you’re not going to win. I think the guys understand that now.”

The Cajuns had won nine SBC games in a row before meeting an ASU team that was coming off a solid 69-63 loss at East Division leader Western Kentucky last weekend.

“This win is huge, because they’re the No. 1 team,” said ASU coach Dickey Nutt, whose Indians improved to 12-13 and 5-7. “I guarantee you they (the Cajuns) wanted to win the game.”

“A lot of guys on our team weren’t focused,” said Cajun senior Laurie Bridges, who torched the Indians for a career-high 26 points. “I don’t know the reason for that, but we weren’t playing together like we usually play.
</blockquote><b>Advertiser-Bruce Brown</b>
<center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/sports/html/52C11060-B251-4CE4-8C87-0AB4C66D623A.shtml">The rest of the story</a><!--
“We tried to come back, but we couldn’t pull it off.”

Bridges was the only one of five regulars to start the game for the Cajuns, who went with Bridges, Immanual Washington, Cedric Williams, Robert Jupiter and Khadim Kandji for the opening tip.

“Sometimes we get a little big for our britches,” Evans said. “We’ll leave it at that. You can do it the way we want it done, or you can sit and watch for a while.

“We had the right guys out there.”

Arkansas State was led by the career-high 25 points of senior Tony Brown, as well as 15 points each from Antonio Rambo (10-of-10 free throws) and Tevoris Thompson and the 13 rebounds of Kim Adams.

“I was excited for this game, because it’s coming down to the end of my career here,” Brown said. “I was focused on playing defense against Brad Boyd (who finished with 10), but I hit a few shots and then everything started coming easy.”

The Indians were ahead 38-31 at halftime, perhaps surprising themselves and setting the visitors back on their heels.

“At half, we talked about playing the same,” Thompson said. “We wanted to keep attacking. We were going to stick with the same game plan, because it was working.”

The Cajuns put together a second-half rally and led 54-51 on a 3-point give-and-go bomb from Boyd on a pass from Williams. But Thompson nailed a trey from atop the key off a screen and ASU was off on a second 10-0 surge to regain command.

“We went up 54-51, then gave up the 3 on the next possession,” Evans said. “I don’t mind if you make a 3 with a hand in your face, but we gave up too many open 3’s tonight (ASU was 12-of-25 behind the arc).

“I never felt comfortable. We really struggled out there, and Arkansas State had a lot to do with it.”

“We took a time out, and the biggest thing we talked about was mental toughness,” Nutt said. “We had to decide if we were going to let them take the game.

“We didn’t want to take a quick shot. We wanted to get something within our offense.”

“You can’t give up 10 turnovers on the road, like we did in the first half,” Evans said. “Or give up offensive rebounds like we did. The way you can tell if you’re on your toes is how many team rebounds you get _ rebounds that bounce that you come up with. I only remember one in the first half.”

“Coach told us at halftime that we’d worked hard to get here, and to not let them take it away,” Bridges said. “The other team was already hyped about their lead, and it was real hard for us to get the edge back.”

“The right team won tonight,” Evans said. “They were tougher than we were.”

“You’ve got to play everybody like they’re the No. 1 team,” Bridges said.

The Cajuns didn’t do that Thursday night, and they paid dearly for it.
-->

I agree that this is upsetting, but let me try to spin it in a positive note. No, you don't ever like to lose, but we were on a 8 game winning streak. And remember, these are still young kids. Even though they won't admit it, the pressure of having to keep the streak alive had to be building. I would rather lose one now, than keep this streak going into the tournament, then lose. As of right now, we have tomorrow and the NCAA tournament. In the SBC tournament, if you lose, there is no tomorrow, and there is no NCAA. We'll only have the NIT.

I just visited the HilltopperHaven board. Oh yeah. Some of them are just yucking it up that we lost. That's ok. I guess that we'll just have to start another winning streak. Then, they can just yuck it up all they want as they sit in front of their TV's while they watch us in the Big Dance.



Geaux Cajuns!!!!

Thanks, Crowley, I needed that!! :(

You know how it feels when you finish that last final. You just don't give a damn about next semester. That is what happened. These young men began to think they had already won something by being the first team in America to lock up their division. So what happens, they do not listen to the coach. So much do they not listen he grounds three starters. They could not possibly have had a good practice week. I had a feeling they would believe they had to do nothing.

Don't let the score fool you, we lost and we loss because we had too many turnovers and missed too many free throws. Of course we let them build the final score by fouling and they are good free throw shooters.:( :confused:

Quote:

---

Originally posted by cajun express
You know how it feels when you finish that last final. You just don't give a damn about next semester. That is what happened. These young men began to think they had already won something by being the first team in America to lock up their division.

---

Big Time apropos analogy.

<i><center>Cajuns vow to be ready for UALR after Thursday’s loss.</i></center><blockquote><p align=justify>LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — If a 72-64 score doesn’t grab your attention, how about 38-7?

The Arkansas-Little Rock Trojans made 15 shots in a row here Thursday night, ripping off runs of 17-0 and 11-0 to mount a staggering 38-7 first-half lead over visiting New Mexico State.

A still impressive 44-27 halftime score followed, and then the Trojans of coach Porter Moser had to hang on to win 72-64 and improve to 16-10 overall and 7-5 in Sun Belt play.

Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns didn’t need much to get their attention after Thursday’s 84-72 upset loss at Arkansas State broke their nine-game Sun Belt win streak, but if they did then UALR’s antics would do the trick.

“We’ll be in for the fight of our lives Saturday night in Little Rock,” said coach Jessie Evans, whose squad meets the Trojans at 7:05 p.m. at the 18,000-seat ALLTEL Arena.
</blockquote>
Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com <center><p><a href="http://www.theadvertiser.com/sports/html/E21D4759-863C-4A48-9E00-13D29B199A49.shtml">The rest of the story</a><!--

The Cajuns fell to 18-7 and 10-2 with Thursday’s setback, still champions of the West Division but in need of improved focus if they are going to survive this road trip with a split.

Home games against North Texas on Monday and Western Kentucky Wednesday are all that remain after this, so it’s time to get back on track before the SBC Tournament in March at WKU.

“I thought we came in anticipating a very difficult environment (at ASU), because their fans really get into it,” Evans said.

“I was disappointed that we didn’t play as well as we are capable of, but you have to credit coach (Dickey) Nutt and the way he prepared his team for the game.”

ASU led 38-31 at halftime, saw the Cajuns earn a 54-51 lead on a 3-point bomb from Brad Boyd and then re-asserted control.

Senior Laurie Bridges was one bright spot for the visitors, hitting 5-of-12 3-pointers and scoring a career-high 26 points. Center Michael Southall had 11 points and Boyd 10.

The Cajuns were never in sync, committing 17 turnovers and dishing out just eight assists. They also allowed the Indians freedom on the perimeter to hit 12-of-25 treys to offset ASU’s inside deficiencies.

It may have been a predictable letdown after the Cajuns clinched the West last Saturday at New Mexico State. They owned a 36-14 all-time lead over ASU.

But they know a repeat tonight would be damaging to late-season momentum.

“We know we’ve got to come focused for Little Rock,” Bridges said.

Senior forward Danny McCall, replaced an injured Columbus Willis, Thursday and led the Trojans with 16 points and seven rebounds.

Willis, who suffered a partial hamstring tear in Monday’s practice, warmed up but did not play.

In street clothes were injured forwards Nick Jones and Jake Yancy. Senior guard Mark Green equalled McCall with 16 points, while junior guard Nick Zachery had 13 and junior forward Jamal Holden added 10.

New Mexico State shot a cold 25-of-64 for the game, while UALR was over 50 percent at 25-of-49 and was even sharper (17-of-19) at the free throw line.

Despite that, the Aggies rallied to within 65-60 with 2:22 to play before UALR made 7-of-8 free throws to ice the victory.

The Trojans are a game behind Middle Tennessee for second place behind Western Kentucky in the Sun Belt East, so they’re bound to remain focused.

After those two surprising scores from Thursday night, the Cajuns should, too.
-->