Louisiana meets UALR in the CAJUNDOME on Thursday, Jan. 15 at 7:05 p.m., with the lead in the Sun Belt West Division up for grabs. UALR (4-1 Sun Belt) enters the game with a one-game lead over the Ragin’ Cajuns (3-2 Sun Belt).

● The Ragin’ Cajuns will either walk away from the game tied for first in the SBC West or UALR will walk away with a two-game lead after one-third of the league schedule.
● Louisiana and UALR meet for the 30th time, overall. Sun Belt rivals since 1991-92, the Cajuns and Trojans do battle for the 18th straight season. The Cajuns are looking to halt the Trojans’ three-game win streak in the series.
● The Ragin’ Cajuns are coming off their first road win of the season, 83-81 at Troy.
● UL tied a school record with 15 three-point makes at Troy. The record was set in the 1996 SBC Tournament vs. WKU and last Saturday’s performance at Troy marked the first time it was tied since a Dec. 1, 1996 game at Ohio State.
● The Cajuns’ perimeter game has heated up since the return of Randell Daigle. Louisiana has made 49 triples over five games (9.8 per game). Prior to his return, the Cajuns had made 58 triples in the season’s first 10 games (5.8 per game).
● Chris Gradnigo has seen consistent success in three games this New Year. He set a season-high with 14 points against Denver and tied that mark at New Orleans. For the second time in as many weeks he set a season-high, scoring 18 points at Troy.

GRADNIGO IN A GROOVE
● In the last three games Chris Gradnigo is shooting 18-of-34 (53 percent) and has made at least six field goals in each game.
● On last week’s road trip, he averaged 16 points per game in only 20.5 minutes played per game. Gradnigo shot 12-of-21 from the floor (57 percent) and 6-of-7 (86 percent) from three-point range

CLOSE CALLS...FANTASTIC FINISHES
● The Cajuns have been involved in close calls as of late – the last four games have all been decided by three points or less.
● Each game has gone down to the wire as well. The Denver game was a double OT thriller. At UNO, the Cajuns cut the lead to one and had a chance to tie the game with 10 seconds left. At Troy, UL made four free throws in the final 36 seconds to seal the win.
● The Cajuns are 2-2 during the stretch of close calls (wins over DU & Troy/losses at LSU and UNO).

SHOOTING PERCENTAGES UP IN SUN BELT PLAY
● In Sun Belt games, Louisiana is shooting 44.2 percent (126-of-285) and 41.5 percent from three-point range (39-of-94).

THE SHARSHOOTERS
● The Cajuns have three players shooting above 40 percent from three-point range – Ryan McCoy (55%), Randell Daigle (47%) and Travis Bureau (45%)

BUREAU BACK IN FORM
● He seems to be finding his rhythm once again. Since returning from injury, Travis Bureau has buried three treys in four straight games – a trick he’s now turned 11 times this season.

WELCOME BACK “RADAR”
● Randell Daigle, referred to as “Radar” by the coaching staff, took the court for the first time this season Dec. 29 at Tennessee.
● Daigle missed the season’s first 10 games while he recovered from a hand injury.
● He is shooting 17-of-36 from three-point range (47 percent) in five games since being cleared to play. Shot 9-of-14 from three-point land in UT and LSU games combined.
● At LSU, he scored 22 in the second half and made five treys in the final nine minutes.

LAST TIME VS. UALR (Feb. 23, 2008 in CAJUNDOME – UALR won 61-58)
● Game was tightly contested with seven lead changes and eight ties. Neither team led by more than six points.
● The Cajuns found themselves trailing at the half in part to 32 percent shooting. UALR made 50 percent of their shots, including a 3-for-4 effort from behind the arc.
● Baskets from Courtney Wallace and Chris Gradnigo helped the Cajuns take a 38-37 lead at 13:57, their first since the 12:16 mark of the first half.
● A steal by Elijah Millsap led to a three-point play that tied the game at 47-47 with 6:29 remaining. UALR gained the lead and increased their advantage to four points with 2:35 remaining at 58-54. Millsap cut the deficit to just one point as he drained a triple from the top of the key with just 51 ticks remaining.
● The two teams exchanged free throws over the next 30 seconds, and John Fowler’s free throw with 15 seconds to play gave the Trojans a 61-58 edge.

TROY LEFTOVERS
● Louisiana picked up its third straight regular season victory over the Trojans and second straight at Trojan Arena. The Cajuns grabbed their first road win of the season.
● Tyren Johnson dished out seven assists – his career-high and the most by any Cajuns player this season. UL finished with 15 assists, the second-highest total this season.
● Randell Daigle tied his career-high with five triples. From 17:05 through 13:59 of the second half he scored all nine UL points, hitting three treys during the stretch.
● Travis Bureau set a career-high with 10 free throws made. Twice he made three free throws after being fouled from three-point range.
● Louisiana out-rebounded Troy 38-33, the fourth straight game UL won the battle of the boards. In SBC action, UL’s won the rebound battle four of five times.

THE GENERAL WILL FIND A WAY
● The Cajuns got off to a slow start at 4-8 before New Year’s Day, but Robert Lee’s determination to see his program succeed has seen him create several turnarounds during his tenure.
● In his second season, UL was 5-14 at the end of January. His team ended the regular season 7-1 in February and advanced to the semifinals of the Sun Belt Tournament.
● Just last season, UL began 1-6 and rebounded to win 14 of the final 22 games to end the regular season 15-14 and claim the Sun Belt West Division championship.

SERIES HISTORY
(Louisiana leads 18-11 overall; Louisiana leads 9-3 in CAJUNDOME; Louisiana leads 10-3 in Lafayette)
● UALR has won the last two meetings in the CAJUNDOME. Prior to that, Louisiana had won the last seven on its home floor over the Trojans. UL is 9-3 in the ‘DOME vs. UALR.
● Overall, the Trojans carry a three-game winning streak over UL into tonight’s game. When UALR won 74-63 in Little Rock last season, it marked their first back-to-back wins in the series.
● Since 2000, Louisiana has won seven of the 12 meetings.
● Six of the last nine meetings have been decided by four points or less. All four ‘DOME meetings during the stretch have been by four points or less.
● The first-ever meeting took place on Jan. 4, 1978. The series became a regular one when both UL and UALR joined the Sun Belt Conference in time for the 1991-92 season.

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA

It's a weekend off for Louisiana as Saturday, Jan. 17 is the Ragin' Cajuns day off from Sun Belt competition.

UL's next scheduled game will be held Monday, Jan. 19 in Birmingham, Ala., against UAB's Blazers at Bartow Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. The game will be Louisiana's final non-conference outing of the season. It's a rematch of last season's meeting in the CAJUNDOME which saw UAB sneak out a 78-72 victory in overtime.

The Ragin' Cajuns next Sun Belt contest will be held Thursday, Jan. 22 at WKU in Bowling Green, Ky.

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