The Book: 2007-08 Ragin' Cajuns Basketball

[NCAA or BUST]

The General sure can coach defense, no question!

[NewsCopy]

The voice echoed off the walls and carried across the court inside the Cajundome during a recent practice for the UL men's basketball team. Ragin' Cajun coach Robert Lee, unhappy with his players for not sprinting down the floor during a drill, unloaded on his young team and expressed his frustration. "We are not committed to being a good transition basketball team!" Lee said. "We need to be sprinting down the floor, and you guys are jogging back. "You guys just aren't committed to being a good transition basketball team." The rest of the story Joshua Parrott jparrott@theadvertiser.com

[AboveAverage]

Awesome breakdown KT I would add this coaching staff compliments itself well. An assistant coach that can coach free throws! Where did that come from?

[zephyr]

Yeah, I have thought about this future "problem". It does worry me a bit and I'd love for Coach Lee to redshirt a couple of guys next year but who? I'm not worried about Adeife or Barr. They will be with our program for two years max on Barr and 1 1/2 for Adeife so I don't think they'll be here long enough to worry about transferring. I worry about Johnson and Wallace. I think Wallace has the best inside game of any of them but lacks the pure size that Adeife and Barr have.

[Cajunsmike]

Yeah, I have thought about this future "problem". It does worry me a bit and I'd love for Coach Lee to redshirt a couple of guys next year but who? I'm not worried about Adeife or Barr. They will be with our program for two years max on Barr and 1 1/2 for Adeife so I don't think they'll be here long enough to worry about transferring. I worry about Johnson and Wallace. I think Wallace has the best inside game of any of them but lacks the pure size that Adeife and Barr have.

We may very well redshirt some current inside players next season. Barr and Adeife can't redshirt as they will have already sat our a year. That decision does not have to be made until the first game though. Injuries may occur which will impact those plans. Also, Adeife will have 1 3/4 years to play for us, not 1 1/2. He is eligible as soon as the fall semester ends which is typically around Game No. 7. Therefore, he should play in 23 of the 30 games.

[NewsCopy]

TROY, Ala. – After a difficult loss at South Alabama earlier in the week, Louisiana snapped its four-game Sun Belt Conference losing streak in convincing fashion as the Ragin’ Cajuns easily defeated the Troy Trojans 87-66 Sunday afternoon at the Trojan Arena. A season-high-tying four Ragin’ Cajuns (9-11, 5-4 Sun Belt) scored in double figures. Sophomore Elijah Millap (Grambling, La.) led the way with a game-high 21 points on 8-of-13 shooting. Travis Bureau (Gonzales, La.) added a career-high 16 points, while La’Ryan Gary (Lafayette, La.) chipped in 15. Chris Gradnigo (Lake Charles, La.) scored 10 first-half points, but was held scoreless in the second stanza. More importantly, for the first time this season, the Cajuns finished the game shooting better than 50 percent as a team. Louisiana shot 51.5 percent from the floor, while holding Troy to just 35.7 percent. The 21-point defeat for Troy (9-11, 2-7 Sun Belt) was the Trojans’ largest home loss this season and the first 20-point home loss since Jan. 2, 1999 (Samford defeated then-Troy State 105-75). Justin Jonus paced the Trojans offensively with a team-high 15. Brandon Hazzard and Jarvis Acker each added 12 points. After Troy closed the gap to one before the half, Louisiana quickly silenced the Trojan Arena crowd as the Cajuns opened the second period on a 15-5 run. The burst gave the Cajuns a commanding 56-45 lead with 15:18 remaining in regulation. It marked the eighth time in nine Sun Belt contests that Louisiana has led by 10 or more points this season. Six straight points by Millsap gave the Cajuns a 13-point lead, 60-47. Baskets by Acker and Mario Telfair trimmed the deficit to eight points, 60-52, before the Cajuns’ lead returned to double digits. A tough inside lay-in from Courtney Wallace (New Orleans, La.) extended the Louisiana advantage to 14 points, 69-55, with less than eight minutes to play. The Cajuns salted the victory away late in the second half as the visitors held an insurmountable 77-61 lead at the 3:59 mark. The dagger that dashed Troy’s hopes of a possible upset was the emphatic dunk by Tyren Johnson (Edgard, La.) following a Gary miss. The Cajuns closed the game on a 10-4 run to seal the win. Louisiana played Troy tough early on in the first half as the Cajuns clung to a 12-11 lead at the 14:44 mark. The Cajuns had a sluggish start to the contest as Louisiana missed two open looks from the floor before Jonus drilled a triple in transition for a 3-0 Troy lead. That 40-second span prompted head coach Robert Lee to call a 30-second timeout. Once the Cajuns gained their first lead of the game on a Brandon Dison (New Orleans, La.) jumper, Louisiana appeared to be in control, leading Troy by as many as four, 15-11. However, a 7-2 run by the Trojans coupled by poor passes by the Cajuns resulted in an 18-17 Troy lead with 11:09 remaining in the first half. Troy’s lead would grow to as many as four points, 23-19, on a Hazzard triple, but Louisiana answered with an 11-0 run for a 30-23 edge. The Cajuns later held an eight-point cushion, 36-28, after a Gradnigo runner in the lane, but Troy would provide an answer each time down the court. Troy cut the Cajuns’ lead to four points on three separate occasions until Jerome Odem drained a three as time expired for a 41-40 Cajuns lead at the break. Gradnigo paced the Cajuns with 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting, while Gary added eight points. Millsap chipped in eight points and a team-high five boards. As a team, Louisiana shot 47.2 percent from the field on 17-of-36 shooting. The Cajuns weren’t very accurate from three-point range in the first half as Louisiana connected on only 4-of-15 shooting. Jonus led all scorers with 11 points, while Hazzard and Acker added 10 and nine, respectively. Despite shooting just 34.3 percent (12-of-35) from the floor in the first half, the Trojans delivered seven triples on 14 attempts to help the home team keep pace with the Cajuns. Louisiana’s men’s basketball team will return to the hardwood Thursday, Jan. 31, when the Ragin’ Cajuns host the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders at the CAJUNDOME. Tip-off is set for 7:05 p.m. RaginCajuns.com

[NewsCopy]

Left with a sour taste and another frustrating road defeat after Thursday's 66-60 loss at South Alabama, UL coach Robert Lee wanted his Ragin' Cajuns to bounce back as quickly as possible. They did just that on Sunday, snapping a four-game losing streak in Sun Belt Conference play with an 87-66 win at Troy. In the blowout, UL set or tied seven season highs, including points scored and field goals made, in its largest road win since beating North Texas, 89-58, on Jan. 30, 2003. The Cajuns shot 51.5 percent from the floor - their first 50-percent effort this season - as Troy suffered its first 20-point home loss since falling to Samford, 105-75, on Jan. 2, 1999. It was the best scoring effort by UL (9-11 overall, 5-4 SBC) since a 91-89 overtime loss to Cal State Fullerton on Nov. 24, 2006. The rest of the story Joshua Parrott jparrott@theadvertiser.com

[Rebel02]

The DA is just a couple days late with this type of article on the game. This would have been better to read on Monday morning, instead of Wednesday morning.

[rhineaux]

I didn't realize that John Pelfrey had left USA. Actually, I kinda remember hearing something about him taking another job, but its pretty fuzzy. Anyone know where he's coaching these days?

[derf]

Yeah, he's the new head coach at some school in Fayetteville Arkansas.

[rhineaux]

_ Yeah, he's the new head coach at some school in Fayetteville Arkansas. _

Really?!?! That makes sense. I searched his name on yahoo! and espn.com and came up with nothing. I thought I remembered him getting an upgrade, but not finding his name made me wonder. Maybe I spelled his name wrong.

Thanks for the heads up.

[NewsCopy]

Glance up and down the roster of the Middle Tennessee State men's basketball team, and you'll notice one obvious glaring omission. The Blue Raiders have no seniors. But don't mistake MTSU (8-11 overall, 5-4 Sun Belt Conference) for being inexperienced. Coach Kermit Davis starts two juniors (guards Kevin Kanaskie and Nigel Johnson) and three redshirt sophomores (guard Demetrius Green and forwards Dino Hair and Desmond Yates). "Even though their team is mostly juniors, but most of those guys have played a year or so already in the league," said UL coach Robert Lee, whose Cajuns (9-11, 5-4) play host to MTSU at 7:05 tonight at the Cajundome. "All of those guys have played before, so their youth and our youth is a lot different. The rest of the story Joshua Parrott jparrott@theadvertiser.com