MBB Final Louisiana 72, Youngstown State 62

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA - The defending Sun Belt Conference Champion Louisiana men's basketball team is back Monday, November 6 as they host Youngstown State. The Cajuns are 12-1 all-time in home openers under head coach Bob Marlin.

Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. with coverage live on ESPN+. Fans can also listen live on KPEL 96.5 FM locally or worldwide via The Varsity Network app.

Last season the Cajuns went undefeated in the Cajundome for the first time in program history and are riding a 15-game home winning streak into Monday. The Cajuns won 26 games, the second most in program history, and nearly upset Tennessee in the NCAA Tournament opening round.

Returning to the Cajuns is junior, guard Themus Fulks who led the SBC in assists last season at 6.0 per game. Fulks was named to the Preseason All-SBC First Team announced back on October 16. He is back this season as the team's leading returning scorer, averaging 9.2 points per game, and starting all 32 games.

Also back for the Cajuns are Joe Charles, Kentrell Garnett, Kobe Julien, Vinny Sigona, Michael Thomas, and Chancellor White. Charles led Louisiana off the bench in minutes (19.1 per game) while adding in 5.4 points and 4.1 rebounds per contest.

Garnett was second on the team in three-pointers with 55 while knocking them down at a .417 percent clip, tops on the team. Julien led a spirited comeback against Tennessee with 11 of the team's 13 unanswered points in the second half. Two seasons ago Julien was named to the Second Team All-SBC. Sigona averaged 2.8 points over five games while Thomas provided minutes off the bench, averaging 3.1 points and 1.9 assists. White saw action in 14 games where he averaged 2.7 points and 1.6 rebounds in 7.5 minutes per game.

The team also welcomes newcomers Blake Butler, London Fields, Brandon Hardy, Hosana Kitenge, Christian Landry, and Giovanni Nannucci. They'll join Isaiah Crawford and Kyran Ratliff who redshirted their freshman season.

Last season the Penguins won 24 games and claimed the Horizon League regular season championship at 15-5. They would go onto the NIT where they fell to Oklahoma State at home in the opening round 69-64. This season they are projected to finish fifth in the league's preseason poll.

GAME 1 PREVIEW – Louisiana (0-0, 0-0 SBC) vs. Youngstown State (0-0, 0-0 HORIZON)
Date / Time: November 5 6, 2023 / 7:30 p.m.
Site: Lafayette, La.
Arena: Cajundome (12,362)

RADIO/TV
TV: ESPN+
Talent: Dan McDonald (pxp), Eric Mouton (color)
Radio: KPEL-FM 96.5 / The Varsity Network
Talent: Jay Walker (pxp)

LIVE STATS/SOCIAL MEDIA
Live Stats: CajunStats.com
Twitter Updates: @RaginCajunsMBB | #GeauxCajuns

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: Louisiana leads, 1-0
In Lafayette: Louisiana leads, 1-0
In Youngstown: Never played
At Neutral Sites: Never played
Streak: Louisiana +1
Last meeting: Louisiana, 73-61 in Lafayette

Louisiana Athletics
RaginCajuns.com
PRESS RELEASE

[UL_Cajuns]

Youngstown State was actually pretty good last year. 24-10. They were the regular Season Horizon League Champions, made it to the NIT. They lost to OK State in the NIT opening round 69-64.
Decent opponent coming to the Cajun Dome tonight.
Geaux UL!

[Crawfish]

So, I am assuming that the people who say that they never bring any quality non-conference opponents to the Cajun Dome will show up tonight?

You know, like they showed up last season when the Cajuns were good enough to win the Conference.

[Million$Mullet]

Youngstown State was actually pretty good last year. 24-10. They were the regular Season Horizon League Champions, made it to the NIT. They lost to OK State in the NIT opening round 69-64.
Decent opponent coming to the Cajun Dome tonight.
Geaux UL!

They are better than decent. This will be a very difficult game for the Cajuns.

[BigSaucey]

How many of their guys are back from last year?

[cajun55]

For a minute I thought I missed the game as the date says November 5th.

GAME 1 PREVIEW – Louisiana (0-0, 0-0 SBC) vs. Youngstown State (0-0, 0-0 HORIZON)
Date / Time: November 5, 2023 / 7:30 p.m.
Site: Lafayette, La.
Arena: Cajundome (12,362)

Game is tonight, Monday November 6!

[Turbine]

... Date / Time: November 5, 2023 / 7:30 p.m....

That won't help attendance very much.

[BBOYD]

How many of their guys are back from last year?

One guy from last year that was good. They PICKED up some decent guys in the Portal. If this is gonna be a very difficult game for the Cajuns, what does that say about our TEAM. YST is picked to come out 5th in the Horizon, which is never that great of a league.

[BBOYD]

Press release with wrong date is amazing !!!

[cajuns80]

One guy from last year that was good. They PICKED up some decent guys in the Portal. If this is gonna be a very difficult game for the Cajuns, what does that say about our TEAM. YST is picked to come out 5th in the Horizon, which is never that great of a league.

I agree, if we look bad tonight, it's gonna be a long year. Youngstown State is a decent team but we should handle business at home. But I have some doubts on our talent level.

[BigSaucey]

With no big guys I feel like we can lose any game we don’t shoot well.

[RedTails]

How's DaBoot feel about this team vs last year's?

[CajunVic]

. . . not sure, but I bet he is watching closely who will start at QB on Thursday . . .

[sunbeltsports]

My exact thoughts. Live and Die by the 3 this year. Hopefully Kitenge and Charles can step up this year in JB's place.

[SlickRick]

YST has some real height on this team...two 7' centers...one is 7'3" and several nice sized forwards. Hopefully we can out run them...which is what Bob likes to do anyway.