Ragin' Cajuns hope 2000 loss to Vols helps spur victory
ORLANDO, Fla. -- When the University of Louisiana men's basketball team takes the floor today in T.D. Waterhouse Centre, it will have been exactly four years and two days since the Ragin' Cajuns last played in the NCAA Tournament.
To ULL coach Jessie Evans, it seems more like an eternity.
Stung by a couple of calls that didn't go his team's way in the final half-minute of a first-round game against Tennessee in 2000, Evans could only sit and watch as the upset-minded Ragin' Cajuns came out on the short end of a 63-58 score.
As much as it hurts to relive it, Evans is hoping that game will give 14th-seeded ULL (20-8) some added motivation for its matchup today with No. 3 seed and 15th-ranked North Carolina State (20-9) at 11:15 a.m. CST (Cable Ch. 7).
Over the years, Evans has popped the tape of that ULL-Tennessee game into the VCR and showed it to his teams. He did it again this season, just before the Ragin' Cajuns began their Sun Belt Conference schedule.
"In 2000, we played well -- but not quite well enough against Tennessee," Evans said after the Cajuns, who won the conference's regular-season and tournament titles, went through a 50-minute practice Thursday. "Hopefully, we can carry it out and finish it this time."
That little statement, however, doesn't come close to revealing the pain Evans still feels from the Cajuns' setback to the 11th-ranked Vols that day.
Down two points with less than 20 seconds left, ULL thought it came up with a big stop on defense and what would have been a game-tying layup going the other way. But center Brett Smith, who picked up the ball when UT guard Tony Harris lost control of it in the lane, was called for a foul.
Louisiana, which led by 12 points in the first half and eight in the second half, was later whistled for an intentional foul. Three Tennessee free throws in the waning seconds sealed the Vols win.
"To lose the way we did was gut-wrenching," Evans said. "We were right there -- right there. That loss hung with me for a long time because we thought we put in the time to be a really competitive team.
"But that happens in this game," he said. "I show the tape to the players to illustrate that they have to play for 40 minutes. You have to play through fouls. The players have to play and the refs have to ref."
The rest of the story
By SHELDON MICKLES
smickles@theadvocate.com
Advocate sportswriter
Quote
