MBB Final: Louisiana 84, Xavier of LA 72

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The game will tip-off Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Cajundome

Following a victory over Southern Miss on Friday night, Louisiana Men's Basketball returns home to face Xavier (La.) 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Cajundome. The game will be available for live stream on ESPN+.

Louisiana has excelled defensively in their opening contests this season. The Ragin' Cajuns are tied for the nation's best scoring defense in the nation after limiting their opponents to 45 and 47 points, respectively.

Newcomer Jordan Brown has made his presence felt during his short time in a Louisiana uniform. The reigning Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year is averaging 12.5 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists.

St. John's transfer Greg Williams, Jr. has been a steady presence on the court so far this season as well, the Lafayette native is averaging 11.5 points, 4.0 rebounds and 4.5 assists.

Former walk-on Kentrell Garnett has directed the Ragin' Cajuns offense at the point guard position in the absence of Brayan Au who is sidelined with a lower-body injury. Garnett made his first career start and scored a career-best 10 points against West Florida

Xavier (La.) is 5-1 on the season and is coming off a 68-64 win over RV Dillard. The Gold Rush are led by fifth-year senior Rayshawn Mark who is averaging 19.0 points, 7.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists. As a team, Xavier leads the NAIA with 6.5 blocks-per-game and ranks fifth with 12.7 steals per game.

The game will count as an exhibition for The Golden Nuggets and a regular-season contest for the Ragin' Cajuns.

LOCKDOWN D
Through the first week of the 2021-22 season, Louisiana is tied for first in the nation in scoring defense surrendering just 46.0 points per game.

CRASH THE BOARDS
Theo Akwuba and Brown rank sixth and seventh, respectively, in the Sun Belt Conference in rebounds per game. So far this season, Akwuba has grabbed three offense boards and 13 defense boards while Brown has corralled seven offensive rebounds and nine defensive rebounds.

SERIES NOTES
The midweek matchup will be the second meeting all-time between the two programs with Louisiana winning 84-38 back on Nov. 26, 1988.

PLAYER TO WATCH: THEO AKWUBA
Through two games, Akwuba is forth in scoring on the Louisiana roster with 9.0 points per game. The Montgomery native is shooting an efficient .727 percent from the floor and is contributing 1.0 blocks per game.

The reigning Sun Belt Defensive Player of the year is gelling nicely with Brown. The two connected on an alley-oop midway through the first half against West Florida.

LOUISIANA LEGACY
Louisiana's 2021-22 roster features two second-generation talents in Kobe Julien and Brown. Julien's father Wayne was with the program from 1976-81 and was a member of the 1977 Southland Conference championship team.

Dion Brown lettered for the Ragin' Cajuns from 1980-84 and finished his career as one of the top scorers and rebounders in school history. Brown, a 1984 graduate of UL, earned All-Southland Conference honors in 1982 and was a two-time All-Louisiana selection.

He finished his career with 1,412 points and 926 rebounds (then second in school history) and helped then-USL to the championship of the 1982 Great Alaskan Shootout where he was named to the All-Tournament team.

Louisiana Athletics
RaginCajuns.com
PRESS RELEASE

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The UL men’s basketball team will host the Xavier Gold Rush from New Orleans at 7:05 p.m. Wednesday in the Cajundome before embarking on a rugged road trip next week at Indiana and Marshall.

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[BeauCajun]

Taking on the X men in the Dome. 7pm

[cajuns80]

Taking on the X men in the Dome. 7pm

Another practice, hope to see Charles and Domingue play big minutes.

[DaddyCajun]

Damm, I may go tonight! Checking on tickets right now!

[Cajunsmike]

Xavier is 6 and 1 with their only loss to Alcorn. They also have a couple of local guys on their team, Corey Dunning from Lafayette High and someone from LCA (can't recall his name now). Personally I hope the Cajuns play well while still getting a competitive game from the opponent.

[BeauCajun]

https://xulagold.com/sports/mens-bas.../tj-jones/3636

[cajuns80]

Xavier is 6 and 1 with their only loss to Alcorn. They also have a couple of local guys on their team, Corey Dunning from Lafayette High and someone from LCA (can't recall his name now). Personally I hope the Cajuns play well while still getting a competitive game from the opponent.

If this game is competitive, that's is a huge red flag. There should be no struggle against Xavier or Loyola.

[Cajunsmike]

I get where you are coming from with that comment. Note I said I hope Cajuns play well. Loyola did beat UNO in exhibition a couple of weeks back. They may be best non D1 we play. That does not mean we should struggle against them. That contest is not until December 20. Some tough road games coming up prior to then. First is Indiana on Sunday night at 6:30. I believe that game will be carried on the Big 10 network.

[CAJUNJUDO]

Looks like they forgot to set up their game with Loyola as an exhibition….LOL! How can they randomly choose which games count towards their record? Can we start making all of our games against cupcakes be exhibitions as well to not over inflate Marlins win percentage?

[CajunVic]

A win percentage is a win percentage. The team gets a W or an L for every game. It is what it is. What does “over inflate a win percentage” mean?

[cajuns80]

I get where you are coming from with that comment. Note I said I hope Cajuns play well. Loyola did beat UNO in exhibition a couple of weeks back. They may be best non D1 we play. That does not mean we should struggle against them. That contest is not until December 20. Some tough road games coming up prior to then. First is Indiana on Sunday night at 6:30. I believe that game will be carried on the Big 10 network.

THey lost to Loyola. That is correct, Indiana is on BTN and Marshall is on ESPN+