Final:: Louisiana 54, Southern Miss 62

[NewsCopy]

The Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Men's Basketball team returns to action on Thursday when it travels to face Southern Miss in the Sun Belt Conference opener at Reed Green Coliseum.

Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The game will be available on ESPN+ with fans able to listen to the game in the Lafayette area on KPEL-FM (96.5) and worldwide on the Varsity Network app.

Louisiana (1-10) faces Southern Miss (6-5) for the first of two games in a 17-day span with the Golden Eagles set to visit the Cajundome on January 3, 2026. The Ragin' Cajuns look to snap a nine-game losing streak in their Sun Belt Conference opener and win for the second consecutive time against the Golden Eagles on the road.

The Ragin' Cajuns will close out their three-game road trip on Saturday (December 20) against ULM in a 2 p.m. contest at Fant-Ewing Coliseum.

Season tickets for the 2025-26 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns Men's Basketball season are available now at RaginCajuns.com/tickets or by calling the Louisiana Athletics Ticket Office at (337) 482-GoUL (4685).

Fans are encouraged to stay engaged with the Ragin' Cajuns by downloading the #GeauxCajuns app. Click here for iOS/Apple platforms and here for Android platforms.

For the latest on Louisiana Men's Basketball, stay tuned to RaginCajuns.com and follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (RaginCajunsMBB).

GAME 12 PREVIEW – Louisiana (1-10) at Southern Miss (6-5)
Date/Time: December 18, 2025 / 7:30 p.m.
Site: Hattiesburg, Miss.
Arena: Reed Green Coliseum (8,095)

RADIO/TV
TV: ESPN+
Talent: Lee Roberts (pxp); Larry Boyd (color)
Radio: KPEL 96.5 FM/ The Varsity Network
Talent: Jay Walker (pxp)

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

SERIES HISTORY
Overall: Southern Miss leads, 35-27
In Lafayette: Louisiana leads, 18-12
In Hattiesburg: Southern Miss leads, 23-8
Unknown Sites: Louisiana leads, 1-0
Last 10: Southern Miss, 6-4
Streak: Louisiana +1

STORY LINES
• Louisiana opens Sun Belt Conference play on Thursday when it faces rival Southern Miss at Reed Green Coliseum.
• Louisiana and Southern Miss will face off against each other twice in 17 days.
• Louisiana will host USM on Saturday, January 3, 2026 at the Cajundome.
• Louisiana's nine-game losing streak is its longest since the 1953-54 season when it lost a school-record 10 straight games.
• The Ragin' Cajuns play on the road for the eighth time in 12 games with a Saturday afternoon contest scheduled at ULM.
• Louisiana claimed a 62-60 victory over Southern Miss in the last meeting at Reed Green Coliseum.

QUICK HITS
• Louisiana is averaging 55.7 points in seven road games in the 2025-26 season.
• Louisiana's 66 points scored against Stanford was a season-high.
• Louisiana's 43 points at Santa Clara was the fewest scored by the Ragin' Cajuns against a non-conference opponent since scoring 44 at Indiana in 2021.
• Jaxon Olvera, a transfer from WCC member Pepperdine, leads the Ragin' Cajuns in field goal attempts (138) with Dorian Finister next at 107.
• Olvera's 21-point performance against UNCW was the third 20-point game of his collegiate career.
• Dorian Finister is eighth in the league in minutes played (31.8).
• Joshua Lewis' 16 points against Stanford were a season-high.
• Starting point guard Jamyron Keller (Oklahoma State transfer) has missed the last nine games due to injury after averaging 17.0 points in games against Ball State and SLU.
• Working to find the right mix with both point guards Keller and Karris Bilal (Vanderbilt transfer) out to injury, Louisiana has used 10 different lineups in the first 11 games.
• Louisiana has 13 new players on the roster.
• Nine players hail from the state of Louisiana.

UP NEXT
• Louisiana wraps up a three-game road trip and plays its final contest before the Christmas break when it visits ULM on Saturday at 2 p.m.
• Louisiana will return to action on December 28 against Norfolk State in the Cajundome before resuming SBC action with a New Year's Eve battle against South Alabama at noon.

Louisiana Athletics
RaginCajuns.com
PRESS RELEASE

[HelmutVII]

Anybody want to take a shot at how much we lose by?

Less than 10
10 to 20
20 to 30
More than thirty.

[NOCajun]

LFG CAJUNS!!!

#cULture
#WeAreLouisiana
#GeauxCajuns
#BEATsouthernmiss

[CajunAlan]

20 - 30

[cajunref]

18

[zephyr]

Anybody want to take a shot at how much we lose by?

Less than 10
10 to 20
20 to 30
More than thirty.

We lose 68-48

[RedBug58]

We lose 68-48

This sounds about right.

[ZoomZoom]

77-56, based on averages. -11.5 dog

o/u 132.5
High alternate spread is -20.5

[Turbine]

This is conference play.

Unleash the inner Gator

[IdeaL]

Louisiana 13
USM 11
9:07 1st half