MBB: Louisiana 66, Troy 57

[NewsCopy]

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns men's basketball team is officially one win away from a ticket to the NCAA Tournament after they beat the Troy Trojans 66-57.

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[zephyr]

App. or Georgia State? Both?

Rather have played App. GSU scares me for obvious reasons. They can lockdown on defense for stretches of the game, especially in the backcourt where we have struggled. They also have some really long guys inside to contain our bigs and potentially get them in foul trouble.

[Million$Mullet]

Rather have played App. GSU scares me for obvious reasons. They can lockdown on defense for stretches of the game, especially in the backcourt where we have struggled. They also have some really long guys inside to contain our bigs and potentially get them in foul trouble.

Fk Georgia state! We are the standard!!!

[ZoomZoom]

I would expect the Georgia State coach comes in and has his team play the Nolan Richardson defense of “40 minutes of hell”. They know our weakness.

That said, my heart sees a possible team of destiny with the Cajuns.

Geaux Cajuns!

[RaginDave]

I would like to apologize, I was wrong about Michael Thomas. Last year I stated that I did not think Michael Thomas was a D1 basketball player and I think I was accurate about the way he played last year, but he has steadily grown into becoming a very capable PG at the D1 level and considering he is only a Sophomore and has 2 more years to play he is going to be a very good PG. I don't love the fact that he is small, but if he improved this much from season 1 to season 2, I am very excited to see him in years 3 and 4.

[cajuns80]

I would like to apologize, I was wrong about Michael Thomas. Last year I stated that I did not think Michael Thomas was a D1 basketball player and I think I was accurate about the way he played last year, but he has steadily grown into becoming a very capable PG at the D1 level and considering he is only a Sophomore and has 2 more years to play he is going to be a very good PG. I don't love the fact that he is small, but if he improved this much from season 1 to season 2, I am very excited to see him in years 3 and 4.

The last 8-10 games he has really grown up. I think he finally realized he can get by guys and is getting into the paint a lot more. I am very excited to see him stepping up.

[Million$Mullet]

I would like to apologize, I was wrong about Michael Thomas. Last year I stated that I did not think Michael Thomas was a D1 basketball player and I think I was accurate about the way he played last year, but he has steadily grown into becoming a very capable PG at the D1 level and considering he is only a Sophomore and has 2 more years to play he is going to be a very good PG. I don't love the fact that he is small, but if he improved this much from season 1 to season 2, I am very excited to see him in years 3 and 4.

He’s definitely improved tremendously. My only complaint about him would be he dribbles too much at times and gets his pocket picked. But overall I think the offense is better when he is in. And as far as his size, I think he makes up for it with his speed on the defensive end. He’s been really good

[RaginDave]

He’s definitely improved tremendously. My only complaint about him would be he dribbles too much at times and gets his pocket picked. But overall I think the offense is better when he is in. And as far as his size, I think he makes up for it with his speed on the defensive end. He’s been really good

agreed.

[Cajunsmike]

Fk Georgia state! We are the standard!!!

I know that is a joke. However, in reality Georgia State IS the standard in SBC basketball. They have had more success by far than any other league team since they joined the conference.

[Hatch]

I would like to apologize, I was wrong about Michael Thomas. Last year I stated that I did not think Michael Thomas was a D1 basketball player and I think I was accurate about the way he played last year, but he has steadily grown into becoming a very capable PG at the D1 level and considering he is only a Sophomore and has 2 more years to play he is going to be a very good PG. I don't love the fact that he is small, but if he improved this much from season 1 to season 2, I am very excited to see him in years 3 and 4.

Under normal circumstances Thomas would have redshirted last year but the covid rule made a redshirt pointless so he played a little bit. He is still technically a freshman, so he still has 3 years. I said even the little I saw him play last year I thought he could develop into an solid mid major level starting PG. I don't think he will ever be a stud all conference level guy but with the right pieces around him he can be successful in his role.

[ULvictory]

One thing I noticed last night with the Georgia State/App game was Georgia State's ability to penetrate the paint inside against App. The difference is that we have Akwuba and Brown utilizing the paint defensively more effectively than we have all season (I've been screaming this all year). To me, that's been the biggest difference in this tournament. We are forcing teams to shoot more from the outside of take more jumpshots in general due to our size in the paint. I expect more of the same tonight. Georgia State will have to be able to really shoot against us, which they're definitely capable of. But they'll at least have to EARN their points. Offensively, if we continue to be patient in distributing the ball without rushing shots, we will be the ones cutting the nets at the end of the game. Also, it's very hard to beat a team three times in a season. UTA and Texas State learned that just this weekend.

[ManAboutTown]

Biggest reason for success this past week, in my view:
1. Best defense I've seen a Cajun team play in years. Relentless.
2. Mike Thomas playing under control and trusting in his own abilities.
3. Greg Williams being the player we know he should be.
4. Team seems to be playing TOGETHER. That hasn't been the case most of this season.

Pull out your church shoes fellas.. Feels like we're jitter buggin' our way into March....