Final: Louisiana (83) at UALR (79)

[CrazyCajun]

Anyone saw McNeese whipped Mississipi State last night? Might not be so bad of a loss.

And nwst gave arkansas all they could handle on the road.

[CajunAlum10]

And nwst gave arkansas all they could handle on the road.

That's good to hear. Both NWST and McNeese playing well against superior competition. I know it sucks to have lost both of those games... but the season is still in front of us. Take care of conference and win the tourny. I used to be one of the ones disappointed with Marlin after 2 seasons... but he's proven that his process is beginning to work. The level of talent on the team THIS season, is HEAD AND SHOULDERS over what it was just 2 seasons ago. It's very apparent that he has us headed in the right direction.

Taking the hit of losing Elfrid is a tough one, but the fact that we are playing pretty solid right now is a testament to the quality of players he has begun to build up.

[BirdofParadise]

Ok...first of all, let's remember that the toughest thing to do in sports is win on the road in college basketball. Therefore, every road win is precious.

Second, since UALR has been playing in the Jack Stephens Center (this is their 10th season) they have been VERY tough to beat at home. (The Cajuns were 2-7 there and 7-13 overall in Little Rock before last night's game)

Third..Steve Shields' teams will ALWAYS be hard to beat at home because of the way they defend. UALR will win PLENTY of games in the league at home.

If you listened to the game last night, you'll know that we had a spurt in the second half where everything we threw up went in the basket. We were shooting over 60% in the second half before the drought started. During the drought we had some open looks that we had made earlier and just didn't make during that stretch. And, we missed some shots inside because UALR was able to force us out of position (we do play against another team, not against air.) and they deserve some credit for that.

A team that lacks mental toughness doesn't recover from going more than ten minutes with just one field goal. This team did.

THe Cajuns won last night getting virtually nothing from Brian Williams. When that happens,someone has to step up. In this case, the two freshmen showed great maturity. Both were instrumental in the win.

It's easy to look at the box score and say this team was a two man show last night. But if you did more than that, you'll know this was a serious team win last night.

And, oh, by the way....since 03-04, UALR has won five division titles. They are hardly a donkey team or donkey program.

[Boomer]

Ok...first of all, let's remember that the toughest thing to do in sports is win on the road in college basketball. Therefore, every road win is precious.

Second, since UALR has been playing in the Jack Stephens Center (this is their 10th season) they have been VERY tough to beat at home. (The Cajuns were 2-7 there and 7-13 overall in Little Rock before last night's game)

Third..Steve Shields' teams will ALWAYS be hard to beat at home because of the way they defend. UALR will win PLENTY of games in the league at home.

If you listened to the game last night, you'll know that we had a spurt in the second half where everything we threw up went in the basket. We were shooting over 60% in the second half before the drought started. During the drought we had some open looks that we had made earlier and just didn't make during that stretch. And, we missed some shots inside because UALR was able to force us out of position (we do play against another team, not against air.) and they deserve some credit for that.

A team that lacks mental toughness doesn't recover from going more than ten minutes with just one field goal. This team did.

THe Cajuns won last night getting virtually nothing from Brian Williams. When that happens,someone has to step up. In this case, the two freshmen showed great maturity. Both were instrumental in the win.

It's easy to look at the box score and say this team was a two man show last night. But if you did more than that, you'll know this was a serious team win last night.

And, oh, by the way....since 03-04, UALR has won five division titles. They are hardly a donkey team or donkey program.

----Jay who was the great Shooting guard they had tht won the tourney I think for them---Hot Springs about 3 years back---You know how close the stands are at the small side-- Terri and I saw the kid hit 15 of 15 3s in pre game---Fun to watch!!!

[CajunRage]

Ok...first of all, let's remember that the toughest thing to do in sports is win on the road in college basketball. Therefore, every road win is precious.

Second, since UALR has been playing in the Jack Stephens Center (this is their 10th season) they have been VERY tough to beat at home. (The Cajuns were 2-7 there and 7-13 overall in Little Rock before last night's game)

Third..Steve Shields' teams will ALWAYS be hard to beat at home because of the way they defend. UALR will win PLENTY of games in the league at home.

If you listened to the game last night, you'll know that we had a spurt in the second half where everything we threw up went in the basket. We were shooting over 60% in the second half before the drought started. During the drought we had some open looks that we had made earlier and just didn't make during that stretch. And, we missed some shots inside because UALR was able to force us out of position (we do play against another team, not against air.) and they deserve some credit for that.

A team that lacks mental toughness doesn't recover from going more than ten minutes with just one field goal. This team did.

THe Cajuns won last night getting virtually nothing from Brian Williams. When that happens,someone has to step up. In this case, the two freshmen showed great maturity. Both were instrumental in the win.

It's easy to look at the box score and say this team was a two man show last night. But if you did more than that, you'll know this was a serious team win last night.

And, oh, by the way....since 03-04, UALR has won five division titles. They are hardly a donkey team or donkey program.

Do you watch the games? You seem to know what you are talking about...

[RaginDave]

----Jay who was the great Shooting guard they had tht won the tourney I think for them---Hot Springs about 3 years back---You know how close the stands are at the small side-- Terri and I saw the kid hit 15 of 15 3s in pre game---Fun to watch!!!

Not Jay, but I believe the guy you are speaking of was Solomon Bozeman

[Policarp]

Anyone saw McNeese whipped Mississipi State last night? Might not be so bad of a loss.

Nice road win for MSU@LC over MSU-Starkville. Any UL loss to MSU@LC is a bad loss.....just is.

[Cajunsmike]

I'll be at the game.
I have respect for Shields, I do. I'm not going to launch into a post about excuse making, especially after a win, but I have a hard time saying UALR is a good road win. I understand what it means in conference and all that jazz.. I know the game, I've been following for a long time. But seriously.. Just 10-12 years ago, would that Cajuns program say "good road win at UALR". Revisionist history, and ancient history at the point to where we've fallen now, but I just want the expectations and standards raised around here. I miss the days of ranked teams coming to Lafayette or us playing and BEATING (or coming up just short) ranked teams on the road and us coming on here and saying "man, tough road game. Just missed it. OR Hell of a road win! lets go sweep the conference and prepare for the conference tourney".

I understand wanting to bring the standards back from the past. We all want that. However, I have been following this program since the 70's. I recall many people involved with the team believing UALR was a good road win since the days of Marty Fletcher. I am also an engineer and most of us interpret things literally. When you say they are a perennial cellar dwellar that means they finish in last place quite often. Reality is they rarely finish in the 2nd portion of the standings. When people say things which are not accurate, I try to point them to the facts.

[pathfinder]

BirdofParadise, was reading game write up from UALR site and started looking at roster. Did Robert Lee leave the staff?

[Cajunsmike]

Nice road win for MSU@LC over MSU-Starkville. Any UL loss to MSU@LC is a bad loss.....just is.

I was at the McNeese game and will be the first to tell you it was a disappointing performance. The players and coaches agree with that as they have told me so. Had we had Wright, we may have won. That is not an excuse however. Players who were there needed to step up. At NW State we were poor defensively and that is because Long barely played and we had no rim protector. Again, not an excuse as the guards did a poor job of keeping the Demons from penetrating. Last night, we had Wright, Long did not get in as much foul trouble, we made free throws and were tough defensively down the stretch. All of those things need to happen for us to win on the road. Let's see if some consistency starts to show up. If it does, maybe we get off to a good conference start.