Final: G4 Louisiana 74 Texas State 73

[BeauCajun]

Coaches film review concluded it was an incorrect call on the Russell late basket. Like most coaches after every film review, they believe there were several poor calls that went against them and few that went their way. Now the fact that Cajuns did not shoot ONE free throw in the second half gives validity to their analysis. I don't recall not shooting a free throw in the second half and still winning. Historic day yesterday.

I noticed with about a minute left in the game that TXST only had 4 fouls in the half. Crazy.

[LaCajunsFan]

Jay I don’t think the link will work since it’s from your computer’s hard drive.

Yeah, I think your correct. That seems to be a link to a file on his computer. I tried anyway and nothing comes up.

[CajunNation]

Both teams have won five straight and are in first place in the SBC West Division. Did not see women's game so can't comment much. As far as men's game is concerned, we literally stole one. Give credit to Butts for not being so excited to miss the shot after the steal. Many players would do so. He must like playing against the Bobcats since his 6 threes beat them in the first conference game of the year. It was a very questionable call on the Russell bucket taken away. Same with a bucket taken away by Awkuba a few minutes earlier. I don't know if anyone heard Coach Morris in post game. Said ref who called charge had told him earlier they had missed some calls when Bobcats had their hands on Cedric when he drove. Said he had us. He almost did get us did he not. Coach Morris also dedicated victory to his mother who is battling cancer. Appropriate such a victory happens on coaches vs cancer weekend. Finally, both Russell and Butts were hot from outside most of game. That was not all luck. If you noticed they had several makes on catch and shoot plays. They received pass in a position allowing clean looks. That allowed them to square their feet/body and have wrist good wrist follow through on the release. Coach Marlin has been saying we shoot the ball better in practice than in games and eventually that would translate. It won't continue at the same percentage as today but a few will fall with continued good execution and proper technique on the shot. It it does Awkuba will start to score inside once more. Still need to clean up the turnovers. Rebounding had been a strength until this weekend. Need to shore that up once more.

Really appreciate your info and analysis Mike.

[ZoomZoom]

This is amazing...can’t get photo to upload of ESPN metric, we had a 4.1% chance of winning with 3 seconds to go.

As a point of comparison Texas Tech had an 8% probability of beating Alice Shoe with 1:14 to go.

[zephyr]

My takeaway from this game and a couple of things that I noticed were rebounding as mentioned earlier but one thing I saw that was really interesting to me was 3pt shooting. I've been very critical of Marlin and his want to shoot a ton of perimeter shots. We've gone games where we shoot 25+ 3's but are shooting 30% or less as a team doing so. Saturday, we shot only 17 3's even though we shot over 60%. We were efficient which we couldn't say very much this season. I hope we stick to a similar recipe and don't get the swollen head and start putting up 30 3"s per game.

Also, I know people mentioned rebounding and why we didn't hit the offensive boards as hard as usual and it showed. We had only 6 to their 14. What sticks out to me as a slight concern though, is that that we gave up 14 offensive boards to Txst even though we are a better rebounding team. Not sure what the reason for that was since you can't blame it on not sending everybody to the boards like you can on the offensive side. Great win nonetheless.

[Turbine]

Usually, the higher percentage you shoot, the lower your offensive rebounds will be.

[zephyr]

Usually, the higher percentage you shoot, the lower your offensive rebounds will be.

True, which is why I said I wasn't concerned about only having 6 ORB, I was more concerned about giving up 14 to TxSt.

[Turbine]

True, which is why I said I wasn't concerned about only having 6 ORB, I was more concerned about giving up 14 to TxSt.

In rereading, I see where you made the distinction.

[RaginDave]

I really don't want to face Texas State again, I know we are 3 of 4 vs them, but they really give us fits, specifically a couple of their players:

Mason Harell, Isiah Small and Caleb Asbury. These three guys averaged 41 points per game (Harrell-15, Small-15 and Asbury-11) per game in 4 games. TSU averaged 70 points per game vs us, so these 3 players made up 57% of their offensive production. The other issue is that in our 3 wins we averaged winning by 3 points (6, 2 and 1), in their victory over us they beat us by 12. Granted we did not have Dou Gueye for the 1st and 2nd game, but nonetheless, those three players give us fits.

[Cajunsmike]

My takeaway from this game and a couple of things that I noticed were rebounding as mentioned earlier but one thing I saw that was really interesting to me was 3pt shooting. I've been very critical of Marlin and his want to shoot a ton of perimeter shots. We've gone games where we shoot 25+ 3's but are shooting 30% or less as a team doing so. Saturday, we shot only 17 3's even though we shot over 60%. We were efficient which we couldn't say very much this season. I hope we stick to a similar recipe and don't get the swollen head and start putting up 30 3"s per game.

Also, I know people mentioned rebounding and why we didn't hit the offensive boards as hard as usual and it showed. We had only 6 to their 14. What sticks out to me as a slight concern though, is that that we gave up 14 offensive boards to Txst even though we are a better rebounding team. Not sure what the reason for that was since you can't blame it on not sending everybody to the boards like you can on the offensive side. Great win nonetheless.

Good observation on the shooting. One other thing that I have noticed this season is we are taking more mid range shots. That may be because of the way defenses are playing us. Wilson, Russell, and Butts all made some of those on Saturday. I think that is a positive as it forces defenses to have to guard the entire court.

[JayWalker]

I'll add Davis to that. He got us for 18 assists in the two games in Lafayette, but was mostly a non factor in San Marcos.

It's going to be interesting down the stretch.

ULM and Arkansas State are the two worst teams in the division, but they've been competitive and somewhat successful at home. Neither team has won on the road.

Here's what's left
UL 7-3 at Arkansas State (2), ULM, at ULM, UTA (2) at LR (2)
TXST 5-3, LR(2) UTA, at UTA, Ark St (makeup game) at Ark St (2)
LR 6-4 @TXST (2), ASU, at ASU, @ ULM (2), UL
UTA 5-5 ULM (2), TXST, at TXST, @UL (2), ASTATE (2)
ARK ST 3-5 UL (2), LR, @ LR, @TXST (makeup) TX ST (2), @ UTA
ULM 2-8 @ UTA (2), @UL, UL, LR(2), @ TXST (2)

Note only one game between ASU and TXST will be made up. That means TXST loses a home game.

Arkansas State hosts both UL and TXST. Those are dangerous games for the leaders.
Little Rock has to go to Texas State this weekend. If either sweeps, the other is done, I think.

Lots of basketball to be played. It's going to be fun the final four weeks.

[CajunEXPRESS]

Checking out the Cajuns conference stats? Really we’re much better than our stats suggest. We’re near the bottom half in most of the categories. We’re 5/1 in one possession games.