Louisiana closes out its four-game homestand on Sunday, Dec. 21 hosting Sam Houston State at 5:15 p.m., in the CAJUNDOME. It’s the last home outing of the year for the Ragin’ Cajuns.

● The Ragin’ Cajuns and Bearkats meet for the first time in 15 years. Last meeting took place on Dec. 15, 1993 with Louisiana winning 100-66.
● Sam Houston State is the final non-conference opponent to venture to the CAJUNDOME in the 2008-09 season. Following Sunday’s game, the Cajuns close out the home portion of their schedule with seven Sun Belt games.
● An eight-day layoff awaits UL after tonight’s contest. Louisiana then returns to the court for back-to-back games against SEC competition – Dec. 29 at Tennessee and Dec. 31 at LSU.
● Louisiana had a four-game home win streak halted in Thursday’s 78-64 loss to North Texas.
● UL posted a season-high 15 blocked shots against North Texas. It marked the seventh straight game that the Cajuns blocked at least five shots.
● The magic point total for the Cajuns has been 70. Score above 70 and the team is 4-0. When failing to reach 70, Louisiana is 0-5.

HOMESTAND NOTABLES
● The Ragin’ Cajuns conclude their season-long, four-game homestand with tonight’s game against Sam Houston State.
● Louisiana is 2-1 on the homestand with victories over Louisiana College (85-58) and ULM (86-58). North Texas snapped the Cajuns’ four-game win streak in the ‘DOME and handed UL its first loss on the homestand, 78-64 on Thursday night.
● The Cajuns are shooting 91-of-167 (.517), outrebounding opponents by an average of 40-33 and averaging 78.3 points. The Cajuns defense has limited opponents to 36.4 percent shooting (67-of-184) and blocked 29 shots (9.7 blocks per game).
● Four players are averaging double figures scoring on the homestand: Travis Bureau (15.7), Lamar Roberson (11.7), Chris Gradnigo (11.0) and Ryan McCoy (10.7).
● North Texas led from start to finish. In the other two games (LC &ULM), the Ragin’ Cajuns took the lead during the first three minutes of the first half and never trailed again.
● Scoring runs have decided all three games. Against Louisiana College, an 11-0 UL run broke open an 8-6 lead into double figures. In the ULM game, Louisiana broke a 5-all tie with a 15-3 run. And, North Texas jolted on an 11-2 run to break open a 9-6 contest.

HOME, SWEET DOME
● The 2008-09 campaign marks the 24th season of Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball at the 11,550-seat CAJUNDOME. Louisiana is 223-90 (.712) all-time at the facility.
● In the past 10-plus seasons, Louisiana has posted a 83-29 record in the CAJUNDOME (.741 winning percentage).

NORTH TEXAS LEFTOVERS
● The Cajuns lost for only the second time to North Texas in the CAJUNDOME. UL now leads the series 9-2 in the ‘DOME. NT has now won five of the last six meetings, overall.
● Four Cajuns reached double digits scoring for the second straight game. Travis Bureau, Chris Gradnigo, Ryan McCoy and Lamar Roberson pulled the trick again.
● Travis Bureau was the leading scorer for UL – the seventh time in nine game’s he’s been the Cajuns’ top point producer.
● Tyren Johnson had a career-high five blocked shots. Colby Batiste blocked two shots to record his fifth game with at least two blocks.
● Louisiana blocked a season-high 15 shots. In the first half, UL swatted 11 NT attempts.
● Lamar Roberson tallied another game with at least three assists. He also hauled in a season-high eight rebounds.

LAST TIME VS. SAM HOUSTON STATE
(Dec. 15, 1993 in Lafayette – UL won 100-66)
● The Cajuns got 24 points off the bench from senior Tony Moore and four others scored in double figures.
● Moore hit five 3-pointers and hit 9-of-12 overall from the field. Barry Bowman added 16, Michael Allen 15 along with 10 assists, Kevin Scruggs 12 and Byron Starks 11.
● The Cajuns defense forced a CAJUNDOME-record 32 turnovers, including 21 in the first half as then-USL built a 50-26 halftime lead.
● The Cajuns led 26-11 at the 10-minute mark and the lead never dipped below 20 points in the second half despite the fact that SHSU held a 54-36 advantage on the boards including 26 offensive rebounds.
● UL buried SHSU from three-point range, shooting 13-of-29 compared to 2-of-20.

PLENTY OF OPTIONS TO CHOOSE FROM
● At least nine (9) players have reached double-digit minutes in the last three games.

BLOCK PARTY
● The Ragin’ Cajuns have blocked at least five shots in the past seven games.
● UL tied a season-high with seven blocks at Alabama and bested that mark with eight (8) vs. ULM. The blocks just kept coming, as Louisiana followed up the ULM performance with a season-high 15 blocks against North Texas.
● Tyren Johnson and Colby Batiste lead the charge, with 19 and 15, respectively.

SERIES HISTORY (Louisiana leads 7-6)
● The two schools meet for the first time since the 1993-94 season. That season, UL defeated SHSU 100-66 on Dec. 15, 1993.
● Series began in the 1951-52 season for a string of eight games which ran through the 1957-58 season, then went dormant until the 1988-89 season. The teams played five games over six seasons before halting the series again following the 1993-94 campaign.
● Louisiana has won the last five meetings after SHSU won six of eight in the 1950’s.
● Tonight’s game marks the 14th meeting all-time and the fifth meeting in the CAJUNDOME.
● Current UL assistant coach Byron Starks was a senior for the Cajuns in the last meeting.

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA

The Ragin' Cajuns take time off for Christmas as there are no games scheduled over the next eight days.

When the Cajuns do return to the floor it will be in Knoxville, Tenn., for a meeting with 16th-ranked Tennessee on Monday, Dec. 29. Game time is set for 6:30 p.m. (CST).

It's the first back-to-back games over three nights with SEC foes. Following the UT game, Louisiana will fly to Baton Rouge on Tuesday, Dec. 30 to pepare for its New Year's Eve showdown with LSU at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center.

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