Louisiana hopes to follow win over S. Illinois

LOUISIANA La. - Shortly after his short jumper gave Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns a thrilling 63-61 victory over Southern Illinois on Wednesday, Chris Cameron was asked what it could do for the team heading into Sun Belt play.

"It's huge," Cameron said. "It gives us confidence, and we can use all the confidence we can get.

"We know the NCAA Tournament comes down to (winning) three games in March, so every game we play in the conference we need a win."

The 15-game Sun Belt campaign begins with tonight's 7:05 home contest against the Denver Pioneers as the Cajuns begin defense of the Sun Belt crown they captured last March at Western Kentucky.

"This game was a confidence-builder for us," said Brian Hamilton, who scored a season-high 17 points against Southern Illinois. "We're trying for sure to win all our home games (UL is 4-0 so far at home). There's no reason we should lose any at home."

"Beating SIU can do a lot for us," Lee said. "It showed the team that we are a quality team, because we proved we could beat a quality, quality team. It will help us gain confidence. But we have to be that way on a consistent basis.

The rest of the story

Bruce Brown
bbrown@theadvertiser.com