Louisiana can’t hold off Owl rally in Bracket Buster.

HOUSTON — For Louisiana's Ragin' Cajun basketball squad, Saturday’s ESPN Bracket Buster contest provided a lesson in physical play.

The lesson: If you play physical on the road, you may run out of bodies.

Three Ragin’ Cajuns finished Saturday’s contest against Rice on the bench — two via fouls and one ejection — and they and their teammates watched the host Owls parade to the free throw line for an 81-76 victory.

Rice (18-7), staying alive for a possible NCAA Tournament at-large bid, made 25-of-32 free throws in the rough-and-tumble contest. The Cajuns, meanwhile, could count their foul shot attempts on one hand.

“When you play on the road, you understand that,” said Cajun coach Jessie Evans, whose 15-7 squad will now almost definitely have to win the Sun Belt Tournament to gain an NCAA berth. “You foul more on the road … and the home team doesn’t foul as much.”

Rice made 17-of-22 free throws in the final 9:37 alone after a 10-0 run provided its first lead since the opening three minutes. Much of that number came courtesy of a season-high 21 Cajun turnovers and the Owls’ late domination of the backboards.

Rice had a 24-15 board advantage in the second half and had eight offensive rebounds after halftime, including four in a row that led to tip-ins and putbacks at the end of the run that turned a 53-46 Cajun lead into a 56-53 Rice advantage with 10:44 left.

Michael Harris had two of those, part of his 27-point, 14-rebound effort.

Sixteen of those points and nine of those boards came in the second half when all of the Cajun postmen except for Houston product Cedric Williams were in foul trouble.

“They (UL) were being physical and trying to bully us a little bit,” Harris said.

“It was a very physical game,” said Owl swingman Jason McKrieth, who finished with 20 points. “Both teams wanted to make a case for themselves (for the postseason). They delivered the first punch, and we answered.”

McKrieth was talking about the Cajuns’ early run and Rice’s comeback, but he could have been describing an incident with 4:28 left with the Owls in possession and leading 61-58. Rice postman Yamar Diene and Williams were shoving for post position when a double foul was called. The pair locked up in a skirmish that resulted in both being ejected for the remainder of the game and for each team’s Monday game (the Cajuns at North Texas and the Owls hosting Fresno State).

“It just got physical in the post,” Evans said. “We’ve gotta clean up post play. It’s tough to referee that, but they made the right call. If you lose your composure, that’s what happens. It was the right decision.”

Rice coach Willis Wilson disagreed.

“It’s unfortunate,” he said. “I thought both kids should’ve still been in the game. I’m proud of Yamar for standing up for himself, but I’m disappointed he threw a punch.

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@lafayette.gannett.com