Ragin' Cajuns get serious

[NewsCopy]

Home loss paints UL in corner in Sun Belt race

MOBILE, Ala. - Desperate times call for desperate measures, and both the University of Louisiana and South Alabama are getting close to desperation even though the Sun Belt Conference race is one week old.

UL's Ragin' Cajuns have already suffered a home loss in league play and are 1-6 on hostile courts this season. The Jaguars are 0-2 in the conference and have lost six straight.

That all makes the stakes even higher than normal when the teams clash tonight at 7:05 in USA's Mitchell Center.

The Cajuns (6-7, 0-1 Sun Belt) open a stretch of three straight Sun Belt road games with tonight's battle, and are still smarting from Saturday's disappointing 72-66 home loss to Denver that opened league play.

Cajun coach Robert Lee is hoping a 6 a.m. two-mile run Sunday morning, only hours after that defeat, helped to focus his squad.

"You've got to let that one go," Lee said, "and the only way to get that one back is to go on the road and win. We haven't done that on a consistent basis."

But those previous road games have come against the likes of Kansas, North Carolina State, Charlotte, LSU and Vanderbilt. Lee's hoping those outings and home-court wins over solid teams in Rice and Southern Illinois have prepared his team for the league wars ... Saturday's performance notwithstanding.

"We're used to playing on the road," he said, "but we haven't had a lot of success on the road. We need to start seeing signs that those early games have helped us."

If those signs are going to appear, the time may be right since the homestanding Jaguars have struggled since mid-December. USA lost all four of its road games in the current streak by 20 or more points, and had losses to Southern Mississippi (69-60) and Alabama-Birmingham (82-76) in those six games.

The rest of the story

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

[Turbine]

Originally posted by NewsCopy
... close to desperation even though the Sun Belt Conference race is one week old....

To me that is a stretch.

They need to focus, hustle and try their best, not get desperate.

Desperation will only result in poor execution and forced shooting.

[NewsCopy]

LOUISIANA La. -- Don't expect an offensive show in Mobile, Alabama, tonight from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and South Alabama.

South Alabama averages a Sun Belt Conference-low 56.5 points a game, while the Cajuns are not far behind (68.2).

The Cajuns are also the SBC's worst free throw shooters (56 percent), as ULL and USA prepare for tipoff at 7:05 p.m. today in the Mitchell Center.

In addition to his team's accuracy at the free-throw line, ULL basketball coach Robert Lee is looking for a little consistency.

After beating Southern Illinois at the Cajundome last Wednesday night, ULL opened SBC play there with a 72-66 loss to Denver University.

"It seems like we can't put anything back-to-back," Lee said. "At this point, I can't really say we're a good team."

The USA game is significant because it marks the start of a three-game conference road trip for the Cajuns, said Lee. That made the loss to Denver more crucial.

"Winning all the home games in the conference is important and that's really important right now because of the road stretch coming up," Lee said.

ULL (6-7) also plays at UNO on Saturday night followed by another conference game Jan. 20 at New Mexico State.

Lee said ULL needs to start improving on free throws to offset a team which is only average at shooting the basketball.

"We have to be ready to play well every night, because we don't have the ability to score that well," Lee said. "If we continue to shoot poorly from the free-throw line, we're not going to win anything."

In the last three games, the Cajuns have made only 23 of 58 free throws after making 17-of-23 in a Dec. 20 win over Georgia State.

South Alabama (3-10, 0-2) is also having its share of problems. The Jaguars haven't won since Dec. 12 against Arkansas-Monticello (71-62).

USA's two conference losses have come against Arkansas State (83-58) and UNO (71-51).

Mario Joiner (16.2 points per game) is the Jaguars' key offensive threat. He and backcourt mate Dewarwick Spencer are two of the SBC's top 3-point shooters.

USA's defense is limiting teams to 67.9 points per game.

ULL guard Tiras Wade is ranked among the nation's top 30 scorers (19.3 points), while Cajuns forward Brian Hamilton is ranked No. 17 in steals per game (2.9).

Wade is also ULL's top free throw shooter (71.9 percent). He is also averaging 6.5 rebounds.

Hamilton (12.9 ppg), is ULL's top rebounder (7.4 rpg).

The other members of tonight's ULL starting lineup will probably include forward Spencer Ford (5.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg), guard Dwayne Mitchell (8.7 ppg, 4.2 rpg) and center Chris Cameron (7.5, 3.7).

The rest of the story

By BOBBY ARDOIN
Special to The Advocate

[RaginFan2]

"South Alabama averages a Sun Belt Conference-low 56.5 points a game, while the Cajuns are not far behind (68.2)."

While the Cajuns are certainly not an offensive powerhouse, it seems to me that averaging nearly 12 points a game more than USA does not warrant the "Cajuns are not far behind" statement.

"The Cajuns are also the SBC's worst free throw shooters (56 percent), as ULL and USA prepare for tipoff at 7:05 p.m. today in the Mitchell Center."

Huh?

[Zeebart21]

he writes about the Cajuns only because he has to...

it shows.

[DaddyCajun]

3pt. win for the Cajuns not so bad for UL rebuilding and on the road!!!!!!!

DaddyCajun!!!

[RaginFan2]

Originally posted by DaddyCajun
3pt. win for the Cajuns not so bad for UL rebuilding and on the road!!!!!!!

DaddyCajun!!!

I'll take it!