Riding 7-game streak, Evans’ club hits road

LOUISIANA La. — It’s not quite time to put pedal to the metal, but it’s getting close.

Louisiana has won seven straight games to gain separation from the rest of the Sun Belt Conference, winning by an average of over 15 points per game during that streak.

The one time they didn’t win by double digits, the Ragin’ Cajuns rang up rival Western Kentucky in a 110-102 triumph.

Now coach Jessie Evans’ squad will be challenged by five games on the road before playing at the Cajundome again.

This is no time to back off.

“We can look at the tape of the first Denver game (an 83-81 escape), and games after that,” Evans said Monday. “And when you look at tape of this last game with Denver (last Saturday’s 94-74 win) it’s almost night and day.

“We’re more comfortable with each other now. We’ve had the same combinations for a number of games. Now we’ll take the show on the road, so to speak, and we’ll find out if we can win in late February.

“It will be very interesting.”

First up in the Cajuns’ odyssey will be a Thursday date with South Alabama in Mobile. USA is the only team to hand UL a Sun Belt defeat, rallying from 70-60 behind for a 76-73 win in the Cajundome on Jan. 15.

“I don’t know if the wheels came off in that game, but we certainly had a couple of flat tires,” Evans said. “We’ve got to learn to close out games better. You have to remember that we weren’t at full strength for that game (Orien Greene wasn’t active yet), although South Alabama certainly deserved the win.

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Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com