Louisiana faces an SEC opponent for the second straight game as the Ragin’ Cajuns meet LSU on New Year’s Eve at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge. Tipoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

● In the Tennessee game, Louisiana welcomed back returning starter Randell Daigle. Daigle had missed the season’s first 10 games with a hand injury. The sharpshooter drained four triples and scored a team-high 16 in his season debut.
● The Ragin’ Cajuns are searching for their first road win of the season.
● This is the first of two televised games on CST for Louisiana this week. This Saturday’s game with Denver at the CAJUNDOME will be shown live on CST.
● The last time a Ragin’ Cajuns team played on New Year’s Eve was 1964 – 44 years ago. Then-USL defeated Western Carolina 105-94.
● Louisiana enters Wednesday’s game on a three-game losing streak. The Ragin’ Cajuns had won four of five games to pull to .500 after a 0-3 start.
● 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 0-7.
● The status of leading scorer Travis Bureau is uncertain. He has missed the past two games with a groin injury suffered in the ULM game on Dec. 15.

WELCOME BACK “RADAR”
● Randell Daigle, referred to as “Radar” by the coaching staff, took the court for the first time this season on Monday at Tennessee. He scored a team-best 16 points in 20 minutes and dialed in four triples (4-of-6).
● Daigle missed the season’s first 10 games while he recovered from a hand injury.

GETTING TO KNOW THE SEC
● Today’s game is the third in December against SEC competition. Louisiana visited Alabama on Sunday, Dec. 7 (L, 44-61) and Tennessee on Monday, Dec. 29 (L, 62-89). The Tigers are the second SEC team UL faces in the last three days.
● Louisiana has lost nine (9) straight games to an SEC opponent. The Cajuns’ last win against an SEC foe came in the 2002-03 season opener when Louisiana upset No. 12 Mississippi State 79-76 in Starkville, Miss., on Nov. 23, 2002.
● Since the 1998-99 season, Louisiana is 2-14 vs. the SEC with both victories coming against Mississippi State.

THE MILES WILL BEGIN TO PILE UP
● The Ragin’ Cajuns enjoyed the comforts of home through Christmas. UL left the State of Louisiana only twice and played eight of 10 games in the CAJUNDOME.
● Post-Christmas sees the Ragin’ Cajuns finishing the 2008-09 regular season playing 12 of the final 19 games on the road.
● Monday’s game at Tennessee began a stretch in which UL plays eight of 11 games away from the CAJUNDOME through the end of January.

SHORTHANDED
● The Cajuns were without returning starter Randell Daigle for the season’s first 10 games while he recovered from a hand injury. He made his season debut at Tennessee.
● Chris Gradnigo (elbow injury) missed the season’s 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).
● In the season opener vs. La. Tech, only nine (9) scholarship players were available.
● With Brandon Dison (ankle) out for the rest of the season, the Cajuns will spend the entire season without a full compliment of players.
● Travis Bureau (groin) missed the SHSU and Tennessee games, the latest Cajuns star to miss a game.

TENNESSEE LEFTOVERS
● Randell Daigle scored 14 of UL’s 31 points in the first half. The sharpshooter drained four treys in 10 minutes of action in the first stanza.`
● Emmanuel Adeife grabbed a season-high 10 rebounds. As a team, UL posted a season-high 17 offensive rebounds.
● Ryan McCoy tied his season-high with three steals. He was held to seven points, snapping a string of three straight games with double figures scoring.
● Louisiana sliced the lead to 33-24 with 7:24 left in the first half. Neither team would score again until the 4:41 mark when UT’s J.P. Prince hit a reverse layup.
● UL had a chance to move within single digits at halftime, but the Cajuns turned the ball over with seven seconds remaining. Adeife fouled Bobby Maze and he made two free throws with two seconds on the clock upping the Vols’ lead to 44-31 at the break.
● The Cajuns ended the game on a 14-6 run in the final five minutes. Willie Lago hit a pair of three-pointers during the run to tie his career-high for triples in a game.

LAST TIME VS. LSU (Dec. 17, 2005 in Baton Rouge – LSU won 81-62)
● The Cajuns were held to five points in the final 10 minutes and LSU broke away from a lead that was only five points (62-57).
● The Cajuns ran off a 9-0 run after falling behind 56-42 early in the second half.
● Dwayne Mitchell drew the Cajuns within six points on a three-point play with 6:08 left to play that cut the Tigers lead to 68-62.
● LSU’s rebounding took over and UL could get only four field goal attempts from that point on. The Tigers scored the game’s final 13 points to break open a close game.
● LSU ended the game with a 57-28 advantage in rebounds including a 25-7 edge in offensive rebounds. The Tigers outboarded UL 35-11 in the second half.

SERIES HISTORY (LSU leads 34-10 overall; 29-7 in Baton Rouge; 3-0 in PMAC)
● Wednesday’s game marks the 45th meeting all-time between the Cajuns and Tigers overall, but is just the fourth meeting since the 1944-45 season between two schools separated by a mere 50 miles of interstate highway.
● The two teams meet in the Pete Maravich Assembly Center for the fourth time. First PMAC meeting took place on Dec. 4, 2001. LSU leads 3-0 in PMAC (W, 83-65 on 12/4/01; W, 83-69 on 11/21/04; W, 81-62 on 12/17/05).
● When the teams met in 2001 it was the first meeting since January 1945. Prior to that, the first 41 meetings in the series took place between 1913 and 1945.
● Louisiana’s last win in the series: Feb. 21, 1944 when then-SLI topped LSU 60-37.

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
The Ragin' Cajuns step back into Sun Belt Conference play on Saturday, Jan. 3 when Denver comes to the CAJUNDOME. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m., as the first part of a doubleheader with the UL-DU women.


The game will be televised live on CST and will also be available on ESPN360.com.

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