Louisiana continues its current homestand and begins its 18th season of competition in the Sun Belt Conference by hosting ULM on Monday, Dec. 15 at 7:05 p.m.

● The Ragin’ Cajuns and Warhawks meet in the Sun Belt opener for the second straight season. UL won 68-67 in Monroe in the 2007-08 league opener.
● Since Louisiana’s first year of NCAA competition in 1970-71, the Cajuns are 17-4 against the Warhawks.
● The Cajuns begin Sun Belt play at home for the first time since the 2004-05 season.
● Louisiana has won three straight games in the CAJUNDOME.
● The Cajuns received additional help for the rotation in the last outing. Emmanuel Adeife and Lamar Roberson were cleared to begin competing after Fall 2008 semester final exam grades were posted. The duo took the floor for the first time in a UL uniform in Saturday’s Louisiana College game.
● The Ragin’ Cajuns are 2-0 vs. ULM in Sun Belt games held in the CAJUNDOME.
● The home team has dominated in the series, winning 38 of the 54 games played on one of the school’s home courts. UL has won 23 straight in Lafayette vs. ULM.
● UL has made 25-plus field goals in each of the last four games in the CAJUNDOME.

SUN BELT PLAY STARTS
● UL begins its 18th season of competition in the Sun Belt Conference. The Cajuns’ all-time Sun Belt record is 149-104.
● The Cajuns meet the Warhawks in the SBC opener for the second straight season.
● Louisiana is 12-5 in Sun Belt openers. Last season, UL clipped ULM 68-67 in Monroe to end a three-game losing streak in SBC openers.
● Louisiana is 4-3 when opening its Sun Belt slate at the CAJUNDOME. This is the first time the Cajuns start league play at home since 2004-05 (Jan. 8 vs. Denver).

MID-DECEMBER HOMESTAND CONTINUES
● The Ragin’ Cajuns opened their longest homestand of the season Saturday with the Louisiana College game. It was the first of four home games over a span of eight days. The Cajuns remain at home through Sunday, Dec. 21.
● The homestand includes a second Sun Belt game in addition to tonight’s opener with ULM. UL hosts North Texas on Thursday, Dec. 18 at 7:15 p.m.
● The homestand ends Sunday, Dec. 21 with a non-conference game vs. Sam Houston.
● The Cajuns are currently on a three-game winning streak in the CAJUNDOME.

LSU GAME TIME CHANGED
● The University of Louisiana and LSU men’s basketball programs agreed to change the game time of their New Year’s Eve matchup in Baton Rouge to 1:30 p.m. The game was originally scheduled to begin at 4 p.m.
● LSU requested the move to allow the radio broadcast of the football team’s appearance in the Peach Bowl to be aired on the full network and not the Baton Rouge affiliate only.
● CST will still televise the contest live from LSU’s Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

LOUISIANA IN SUN BELT CONFERENCE HOME GAMES
● Louisiana is 94-32 (74.6 percent) all-time in Sun Belt Conference games at the CAJUNDOME. In 17 previous seasons, Louisiana has won six or more SBC home games 12 times.

WELCOME TO LOUISIANA
● Emmanuel Adeife and Lamar Roberson, both transfers from UNLV, saw action for the first time in a Cajuns uniform Saturday against Louisiana College.
● The pair had to sit out the season’s first six games because they transferred between semesters last season and weren’t eligible to play until grades were posted for Fall 2008 semester final exams. Exams ended Friday, Dec. 12.

SHORTHANDED
● The Cajuns remain without returning starter Randell Daigle (hand) who is out with injury and has missed the season’s first seven games. Daigle was the team’s point guard last season (76 assists/52 turnovers) and top three-point threat (61 triples).
● Chris Gradnigo (elbow injury) had missed the first four games. He returned for the McNeese State game (Tuesday, Dec. 2).
● Emmanuel Adeife and Lamar Roberson missed the first six games of the season as they weren’t eligible to play until grades were posted for Fall 2008 semester exams (mid-semester transfers last season).
● The Cajuns have still yet to take the court with a full compliment of players. In the season opener vs. La. Tech, only nine (9) scholarship players were available.

LOUISIANA COLLEGE LEFTOVERS
● The Ragin’ Cajuns scored a season-high 85 and held LC to an opponent-low 58 points.
● Louisiana picked up its 17th straight win over the Wildcats.
● The Cajuns outboarded the Wildcats 45-16 (+29). It was the largest rebounding margin for Louisiana since outrebounding Louisiana College 52-20 (+32) on Dec. 11, 2002.
● Louisiana blocked at least five shots for the fifth straight game (posted 6).
● Lamar Roberson scored a layup at 7:48 for his first points in a UL uniform. Emmanuel Adeife made a free throw at 16:04 of the second half for his first point in a UL uniform.
● Chris Gradnigo scored 12 points on 6-of-10 shooting. He continued a streak of scoring double figures in each game since his return from injury.
● Colby Batiste led UL in rebounding for the second straight game. He grabbed 10 boards – a season-high. Is now averaging 9.0 rebounds per game in last two outings.

LAST TIME VS. ULM (Feb. 14, 2008 in Lafayette – UL won 67-65)
● Tyren Johnson hit a wide-open three-pointer with 6.6 seconds remaining as the Cajuns robbed ULM of a victory. Johnson’s triple was his only shot attempt of the game.
● ULM extended its lead to double digits early in the second half, 36-25. The Cajuns eventually pulled to within three points, 46-43, with 9:55 left to play.
● Abray Milson later brought the crowd to its feet with an easy lay-in to give Louisiana its first lead of the second half, 47-46, at the 8:30 mark. Four minutes later, Louisiana grabbed a five-point lead on a Randell Daigle rebound and subsequent lay-up, 55-50.
● Trailing by two with less than 30 seconds on the clock, Tony Hooper converted a three-point play to give ULM a one-point lead, 65-64

SERIES HISTORY (LOUISIANA LEADS 40-16)
● Louisiana is 25-2 at home vs. ULM and has not lost a home contest to the Warhawks since Jan. 29, 1957, when ULM edged the Cajuns 78-74 in overtime at Blackham Coliseum. The Cajuns have won 23 straight home games in the series.
● The two schools meet as Sun Belt opponents for the fifth (5th) time. Louisiana holds a 3-1 edge in Sun Belt meetings, having won the last three meetings. 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).
● Monday’s game with ULM marks just the Warhawks’ fourth-ever visit to the CAJUNDOME.
● Schools split the first 14 meetings (1953-60). Since then, UL has won 33 of the last 42 meetings to take today’s commanding 40-16 series lead.

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
Louisiana meets its second Sun Belt opponent of the current homestand as North Texas visits on Thursday, Dec. 18. It's the second half of a doubleheader with the UL-NT women and will begin either at 7:15 p.m., or 30 minutes following the completion of the women's game.

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