Advertiser-Dan McDonald

LAFAYETTE - Jessie Evans has said all along that this year's Louisiana basketball team is capable of special things.

Since the first half of the 2002-03 season has been spent mostly on the road, some of the successes have occurred with little notice. But, quietly and without a lot of fanfare, those special things are starting to appear.

Saturday's 72-56 verdict at Houston, a middle-of-the-pack preseason pick in Conference USA, came after the Ragin' Cajuns led by 28 points (70-42) with less than four minutes left.

One week earlier, the Cajuns crunched Charlotte 68-47, also a C-USA team and also on its home floor, after leading by an embarrassing 56-23 in the final 10 minutes.

"Wins out of the conference are big for us," said Evans, whose team takes a 9-4 record into Sun Belt Conference road games Thursday and Saturday at South Alabama and New Orleans. "Anytime we play out of the league, it's a pride thing for us and it's also significant for the league. That's why we set up the schedule like that."

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