The Book: 2002-2003 Basketball (Ragin'Cajuns)

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Alumni Band

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Alumni Band member take a well deserved break.

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ADVOCATE-BOBBY ARDOIN

LAFAYETTE -- The way guard Laurie Bridges sees it, everyone is a potential starter on the University of Louisiana at Lafayette basketball team.

Bridges certainly made that evident at the Cajundome Thursday night. Starting for the third time this season, Bridges scored 20 points and pulled down eight rebounds for ULL, which defeated New Mexico State 81-74 in the Sun Belt Conference opener for both teams.

With an injury sidelining starting forward Anthony Johnson, the Cajuns began the game with a three-guard lineup. Bridges wanted to provide a spark.


"This team is deep with players," the junior from New Orleans said. "When one of them goes out, the other can step up."

The win was No. 100 at ULL for Cajuns' coach Jessie Evans, who began coaching the Cajuns in 1997.

ULL's victory -- the eighth in 12 games this season -- also established a Cajundome record of 15 straight victories dating back to Nov. 24, 2001.

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[NOCajun]

Thank you so much for posting the Alumni Band pictures!! We had a BLAST playing last night!!!

By the way, you wouldn't happen to have anymore, would you??

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LOUISIANA

Houston, TX

HOUSTON

72 56 Cedric Williams experiences wishes at Homecoming

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Advertisers-Dan McDonald

HOUSTON - Jessie Evans probably would take a Sun Belt Conference win over a career milestone, but the Louisiana head coach got both on Thursday.

Now, the fifth Ragin' Cajun coach to garner 100 career victories will be in first place in the Sun Belt race for at least a week.

The Cajuns' 81-74 home win over New Mexico State on Thursday was the league's first action of the year, and marked the eighth straight season that the Cajuns have won their Sun Belt opener. Now, Evans' charges will sit back and watch the rest of the league knock heads for the next few days.

They won't exactly be relaxing, though, as the Cajuns (8-4, 1-0 Sun Belt) play a non-conference game tonight on the road at the University of Houston (2-7), kicking off a series of four straight road games. Before the current streak ends on Jan. 15 at Providence, the Cajuns will have played nine out of 10 games away from the Cajundome.

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[Cajun1997]

And you guys were great. Thanks for making it a real special game.

[NOCajun]

Originally posted by cajun67
And you guys were great. Thanks for making it a real special game.

...BELIEVE me!! I had the BEST time I've had at a UL basketball game in a long time, especially with the large crowd and the GREAT play from the CAJUNS!!!

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Houston Chronicle -JERRY WIZIG

Rebounding dominance, point-blank scoring key Cajuns' win

Spicy as Cajun cooking, Louisiana quickly shredded any thought of a home-court advantage by the Houston Cougars to score its first victory over UH in seven tries Saturday night at Hofheinz Pavilion.

The 72-56 outcome doesn't begin to show the Sun Belt Conference team's dominance. The Cajuns outrebounded UH by a 59-37 margin and overwhelmed the Cougars 50-18 in the paint while handing them their fifth straight loss and eighth in 10 games this season.

Louisiana's 28-14 edge in offensive rebounds was another major factor for the Cajuns (9-4).

"We'd get a stop, and they'd get two or three more opportunities to score," UH coach Ray McCallum said. "We couldn't get offensive rebounds, so we couldn't fast break, and we let them get behind our defense in transition, which was a big disappointment."

Four days after shooting just 27 percent in a 62-48 loss at Texas Tech, the Cougars hit only 25.9 percent (7-of-27) in the first half before settling at 34.5 for the night. They also missed 13 of 25 free throws.

Louis Truscott led UH with 17 points, and freshman Ramon Dyer was the only other Cougar in double figures with 10. Sophomore Cedric Williams, from North Shore, had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Louisiana.

Earlier this season, the Cajuns defeated then-No. 12 Mississippi State, and they won 68-47 at Charlotte, dealing the 49ers their lowest scoring total, worst shooting (26 percent) and most one-sided loss at Halton Arena. Last season, Louisiana, formerly known as Southwestern Louisiana, finished 20-11 after losing in the first round of the NIT.

UH trailed 35-19 at halftime, and things didn't get much better for the Cougars in the second half.

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