Louisiana vs Cal Irvine

[IberiaCajun]

Cal Irvine's record is 26 and 9 including an 11 and 4 road record. They beat North Dakota on the road in OT in their first CIT game and had a bye in the 2nd round. Someone told me their RPI is in the 80's which means they will be the 2nd best team (after Little Rock) to come to the Cajun Dome this year. They average 72 ppg, shoot 46 % from the field, 37% from three, garner 37 rebounds per game, and distribute 15 assists per game. Not sure yet if they are inside oriented or rely more on guard play. This all indicates they will be a challenge come Wed. night. Interesting in that they are than strong and are on the road again. They averaged about 3000 fans per game which is about 1000 less than we did during the regular season. Maybe they did not want to pay the host fee.

Thanks Mike.
I am looking forward to watching this game. They certainly will present a challenge to the Cajuns.
I hope we can find our way around the trees and clear the forest!

[DocCajun]

This game has definitely got my interest. Couldn't make round 1 game but I'll be there Wed night. Sounds like it'll be a fun one

[Just1More]

That's what she said, sorry couldn't resist.

Never apologize for what she said. She said it.

[Just1More]

This dude is HUGE!!!!

"He's a very large person." -@bobbymarlin on Mamadou Ndiaye (7'6", 300 lbs) pic.twitter.com/SteyMdho18

— ESPN 1420 (@espn1420) March 21, 2016

Very likely the tallest player to ever play in the Cajundome. The Cajuns depend a lot on action in the post, rebounding and put-backs. Good ball movement, quickness and crisp shooting can obliterate height/size advantages.

No matter what... it will be interesting to see how Long and Washington deal with this height. I think both Shawn and Bryce are about as good of athletes as we've had for their respective size at UL. They'll both have to use their foot/hand speed to get position and control the boards.

[Cajunsmike]

Very likely the tallest player to ever play in the Cajundome. The Cajuns depend a lot on action in the post, rebounding and put-backs. Good ball movement, quickness and crisp shooting can obliterate height/size advantages.

No matter what... it will be interesting to see how Long and Washington deal with this height. I think both Shawn and Bryce are about as good of athletes as we've had for their respective size at UL. They'll both have to use their foot/hand speed to get position and control the boards.

I checked out the big guy stats from the last two games. In the CIT first round game, he was not a factor playing only eight minutes. However in their last conference tournament game he scored 16, had 10 rebounds, and had three blocks. He averages about 24 minutes per game. Sounds like there may be some inconsistency in his game. One interesting stat is he makes 66% of his field goal attempts which is just above his FT percentage.

[sportsfanatic21]

I am sure we plan on pushing the ball every possession.

I watched the big guy play in the NCAA tourney last year. When he's able to get set defensively, he will cause major problems. But he's super SLOW up and and down the court.

[CajunFan3406]

I am sure we plan on pushing the ball every possession.

I watched the big guy play in the NCAA tourney last year. When he's able to get set defensively, he will cause major problems. But he's super SLOW up and and down the court.

Considering the half court "offense" that we have, pushing the pace will probably be our best shot at making this guy less of a factor in the game.

Do they tend to sit in a zone and let this guy patrol the middle?

[CajunAmos]

Very likely the tallest player to ever play in the Cajundome. The Cajuns depend a lot on action in the post, rebounding and put-backs. Good ball movement, quickness and crisp shooting can obliterate height/size advantages.

No matter what... it will be interesting to see how Long and Washington deal with this height. I think both Shawn and Bryce are about as good of athletes as we've had for their respective size at UL. They'll both have to use their foot/hand speed to get position and control the boards.

I think we played a Chinese or Russian team for an exhibition team in the past but I don't remember if that was Blackham or the Cajundome or if they had any players that tall. I think the Houston center that Dwayne Mitchell dunked over was pretty tall but I don't think he was 7'6".

[zephyr]

Taking a look at stats here.

Their starters in the front court are some trees, but I'm not overly impressed with their team rebounding numbers given their size. Looks like they have 6'-10" forward Mike Best and 7'-6" (wow!) center Mamadou Ndiaye. Ndiaye can block some shots, but averages nearly 5 less rebounds per game than Long. Best also averages less rebounds per game than Washington. Their backups on the front court look to be 7'-2" center Ioannis Dimakopoulos and 6-10" forward Jonathan Galloway. None are really outside scoring threats except backup C Dimakopoulos although he only averages less than one 3 per game, compared to Long who takes two 3's per game.

As a team, their season average is 37 rebs/game and holding opponents to 34.6. That's a +2.4 reb differential. We average 41.4 rebs/game and hold opponents 33.1, for a +8.3 reb differential. Advantage us.

They have us beat pretty well in the blocks department. As a team they have 181 on the season compared to our 117. Advantage them.

Overall shooting numbers are better than ours as well as 3-pt shooting. FG% for them is .462 compared to our .448, and 3FG% for them is .369 to our .314. The FG% number would have put them atop the S-B-C, and the 3FG% would put them at 2nd in the S-B-C behind Little Rock. Advantage them.

We got to the foul line nearly 26.4 times per game compared to their 20.5. Advantage us.

Their assist/turnover for the year is 1.25 compared to our 1.01. Advantage them.

Again going off of stats here, haven't really seen them play. You guys can make whatever postulations and guesses on how the games will go given those numbers. I'm just hoping we play well and win the game.

I've actually watched them in some of the late Saturday games this year on ESPN. They have size but that size is not exactly real agile but, nonetheless, they are able to throw bodies at you all game. I thought they were a solid team but not special. If our guard play is good, we can win. I would hope that we try to create more space and make it possibly more of a full court game. I'd look into some full court and half court trap defensive sets early

[CajunFan3406]

Just did some perusing on their board. Looks like the big guy suffered a leg injury in their game vs North Dakota last week. That was the reason he only played 8 minutes. Their fans are saying he is still not certain to play tomorrow. With that sort of frame, any type of leg injury can be hard to get over.

[Ragin4U]

Considering the half court "offense" that we have, pushing the pace will probably be our best shot at making this guy less of a factor in the game.

Do they tend to sit in a zone and let this guy patrol the middle?

Our "offense" is scoring 80 a game. Good for 25th in the nation.

Cant imagine they dont take advantage of their inside size, a la Syracuse and the 2-3.

[CajunFan3406]

Our "offense" is scoring 80 a game. Good for 25th in the nation.

Cant imagine they dont take advantage of their inside size, a la Syracuse and the 2-3.

I said half-court "offense". Surely you know the difference? And surely you know that not all of our points are attained via the half-court set, right? We rely heavily on tempo and pushing the ball up court before the defense can get set in their half-court formation. If we are unable to do this and they are allowed to sit in a zone with a 7'-6" guy protecting the inside, while our half-court "offense" piddles around and players stay stationary without the ball, then we will struggle. Given UL's overall outside shooting ability for this season, we must rely on an inside game and getting to the line to produce points in the half-court set. Playing that way a majority of the time is not advantageous to us against a team like UCI. And hoping outside shots will just fall in an attempt to open up the inside is not a reliable offensive strategy in the half-court if you don't have great shooters.

[BirdofParadise]

The big man is listed as probable, according to vegasinsider.com

Cajuns are a two point favorite which is a surprise to me.

[Ragin4U]

I cant find stats on fast break points but I would venture an estimate that we score over 80% of our points in the half-court. We get very few runouts and the few points we get on the secondary break would still be considered in the half-court even if not in our primary O. So while I get frustrated with the lack of hard cuts to the basket at times, etc I'm positive that our half-court O inst as bad as some would lead to believe.
I agree that we have to push the pace and play up-tempo but thats not the same as "fast break". And I agree, if we get stagnant and dont move the ball, it will not look good for us against UC-I or anybody for that matter.

[BeauCajun]

Hopefully you not thinkin' Shawn's gonna get many points against a 7' 6" defender? His game is tailored around out working smaller defenders. IMO he struggles against defenders his size or taller.