Louisiana returns to the CAJUNDOME, a place where the team has had the most success this season. Six of the seven victories have come in the ‘DOME. UL looks to rebound from two road losses last week (L, 76-83 at MT & L, 47-63 at FAU).

● Thursday’s meeting with FIU is the first of four home games in February.

● The Cajuns lead FIU (4-7 SBC) by one-half game for the final host spot in the first round of the Sun Belt Tournament. Thursday’s game could be a “swing” game for both squads’ chances at a host spot.

● The last four games in the CAJUNDOME have been settled by two points or less, or in overtime (UL is 2-2 during the stretch).

● The Cajuns are currently eighth in the race for Sun Belt Tournament seeding. Louisiana trails North Texas (5-5) and Arkansas State (5-5) by one game for fifth place.

● The Cajuns are playing the last of five straight games against Sun Belt East teams. Louisiana is 2-3 this season vs. the SBC East.

● UL is looking for its first Thursday win of the season (0-5).

● Chris Gradnigo surpassed 500 points in his career in the FAU game. The 500th point came on his free throw make at 17:58 of the first half.

● Louisiana grabbed a season-high 21 offensive rebounds at FAU.

MAKING A MOVE IN FEBRUARY

● February is a month UL has excelled in the past three seasons.

● Since 2005-06, the Cajuns are 16-7 in the season’s final month.

HOME-AWAY BALANCE EVENS OUT IN FEBRUARY
● After playing eight of the last 11 games on the road, Louisiana has an even split between home and away in February.

● In February, UL plays eight games total with four each at home and on the road.

CLOSE CALLS
● Both Louisiana (nine times) and FIU (10 times) have had their fair share of games decided by five points or less.

● In games decided by five points or less UL is 4-5 while FIU is 5-5.

GETTING PRODUCTION FROM THE POST
● Looking for offense in the post, the Cajuns went with a Jeremy Barr-Courtney Wallace combination at Middle Tennessee. It worked, with the duo combining for 23 points on 10-of-12 shooting.

● In the last two games, Louisiana has outscored opponents 50-34 in the paint.

● Barr averaged 7.0 points on 7-of-9 shooting while Wallace averaged 8.5 points and was 7-of-8 from the field during last week’s MT-FAU road trip.

THE TRIPLE THREAT
● The combination of Travis Bureau, Randell Daigle and Chris Gradnigo fuel the Louisiana offense.

● They combine to average 37.8 points of the Cajuns’ 66.1 average (57%).

● They combine for 101 three-point field goals made out of UL’s 149 (68%).

● Overall shooting percentages: Gradnigo (45.2%), Bureau (44.4%), Daigle (37.1%).

FLORIDA ATLANTIC LEFTOVERS
● The home team won for the third time in three all-time meetings. UL is now 0-2 at FAU Arena.

● Louisiana fell to 1-9 on the road with the defeat.

● UL finished the game 2-for-38 from behind the arc. The Cajuns made 18 field goals to 17 by FAU. The Owls made 25-of-32 from the free throw line, while the Cajuns managed 9-of-13 from the stripe.

● Travis Bureau tied his season-and career-high with seven rebounds. He also added two assists, two blocks and a steal.

● The “Triple Threat” struggled for the second straight game. Bureau, Daigle and Gradnigo were a combined 6-of-32 (19%) overall, 2-of-25 (8%) from three-point range.

LAST TIME VS. FIU
(Feb. 6, 2008 in Miami – UL won 72-62)

● A tough basket in the paint by Courtney Wallace gave the Cajuns at 15-13 edge at 8:47, their first lead since 2-0 in the opening minutes.

● Two from the stripe by Elijah Millsap, a jumper by Tyren Johnson and a triple in the corner by Travis Bureau created at 7-0 run and a 31-20 lead for the Cajuns with 2:47 showing in the first half.

● UL started the second half with a 12-3 burst to build a 47-29 lead.

● FIU countered with a 12-4 run which cut the Cajuns lead to 10 points, 53-43.

● Alex Galindo converted a three-point play to trim the Cajuns lead down to six points, 66-60, with 1:38 remaining. La’Ryan Gary’s free throw, coupled with a Maurice Barksdale steal and free throw pushed the Cajuns lead to 10 points with 51 seconds remaining

LAST TIME VS. FIU IN CAJUNDOME
(Jan. 6, 2007 – UL won 74-71)

● Guided by a 10-0 run in the final 2:32 of the first half Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajuns were able to create early separation and hold on for a 74-71 victory.

● The run, jumpstarted and finished by three-pointers from Ross Mouton, helped the Cajuns take their largest lead of the evening at 31-17 just before halftime.

● FIU outscored Louisiana 16-7 from the 3:57 mark of the second half until 24 seconds remained, cutting the Ragin’ Cajuns lead to 68-66.

● Louisiana would go a perfect 6-of-6 from the charity stripe in the final 23 seconds to hold on for the victory. Alex Galindo hit a long-range three-pointer and it was 72-71. Rhett Hebert made two free throws with seven seconds left to give UL a 74-71 lead.

SERIES HISTORY
(Louisiana leads 12-4 overall; Louisiana leads 6-1 in CAJUNDOME; Louisiana leads 7-1 in Lafayette)

● Thursday’s meeting is the 17th installment in the Cajuns-Golden Panthers series.

● Tonight’s game will be the eighth (8th) meeting in the CAJUNDOME. The Cajuns are 6-1 in the ‘DOME against FIU and have won the last five meetings in the facility.

● The teams have split the last four meetings since the 2005-06 season. Prior to that, Louisiana had an eight-game winning streak from 1999-2000 through 2004-05.

● UL has held FIU below 70 points in 10 of the 13 Sun Belt regular season meetings.

● First meeting between the schools took place on Nov. 27, 1982 at Blackham Coliseum (Cajuns won 105-54). The two programs met just one more time until FIU joined the SBC in time for the 1998-99 season – a 104-93 double-overtime victory by then-USL on Dec. 30, 1991.

THE RACE FOR SUN BELT TOURNAMENT SEEDING
● Louisiana is currently holding eighth (8th) place in overall Sun Belt standings which determine seeding for the conference's postseason tournament.

● Seeds four through eight host first round games. As of today, Louisiana is still in position to host.

● The Cajuns trail North Texas (5-5 SBC) by one full game for fifth (5th) place and Arkansas State (5-5 SBC) by one full game for sixth (6th) place. UL is one-half game behind South Alabama (5-6 SBC) for the seventh seed.

● The No. 3 seed receives a bye from the first round. That currently belongs to Middle Tennessee (8-3 SBC) which the Cajuns now trail by three games in the loss column and MT has the tiebreaker.

UP NEXT FOR LOUISIANA
The second round of Sun Belt West division play starts Saturday, Feb. 7 in Denton, Texas, as Louisiana visits North Texas for a 7 p.m., contest at The Super Pit. In this season's earlier meeting in the CAJUNDOME on Dec. 18, NT led from start to finish and cruised to a 78-64 win.

The Ragin' Cajuns have lost four straight games against North Texas in The Super Pit.

Following the NT game on Saturday, Louisiana travels to Monroe on Thursday, Feb. 12 for a meeting with in-state rival ULM and Fant-Ewing Coliseum on the ULM campus.

RaginCajuns.com