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

[Turbine]

I can go into detail if you don't get mmy drift but here is my take on the team so far this year.

If you pull a piece of the puzzle (lose a player) out, it is no big deal the Cajuns win.

If you try to put the same piece back in, the Cajuns struggle and lose.

[NewsCopy]

Dan McDonald
Posted on January 10, 2003
MOBILE, Ala. - Sun Belt Conference basketball games often come down to one shot.

Not normally, though, are those shots bank-in three-pointers.

South Alabama's Chris Young was the beneficiary of that friendly carom, and it was his trey with 1:06 left that turned the tide in favor of the host Jaguars and snapped the longest losing streak in the league.

UL Lafayette's favored Ragin' Cajuns never recovered in that closing minute, and USA held on for a 93-89 victory that gave the Jaguars their first conference victory in over a calendar year.

"I heard him call the bank,' said USA first-year head coach John Pelphrey, "so it counts.'

The Jaguars (7-6, 1-1) inbounded the ball in front of their own bench with 1:12 left and with eight seconds on the shot clock. Young took a pass from Henry Williams and lofted a prayer over two Cajun defenders that kissed off the glass and hit home to turn an 81-80 lead into a four-point advantage.

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[NewsCopy]

South Alabama tops UL with strong second half

MOBILE, Ala. -- South Alabama outscored Louisiana 54-41 in the second half and the Jaguars placed all five starters in double figures to post a 93-89 win over the Ragin' Cajuns Thursday night at the Mitchell Center in Sun Belt Conference men's basketball action.
USA guard Demetrice Williams sank seven-of-eight free throws down the stretch as the Jaguars held off a late comeback Louisiana-Lafayette, according to a university news release.

Williams scored the Jaguars' final five points as USA had an answer for each time the Cajuns sank a shot in the final seconds.

The Jaguars opened the second half with a 21-8 run that propelled them into a 60-56 lead at the 11:36 mark. The Jaguars tied the game at 55-55 on a Henry Williams tip-in and took the lead, 57-55, for good at 12:32 on a wide-open dunk by Malerick Bedden.

USA opened up six-point advantages at 69-63 and 76-70 only to see the Cajuns claw back to within one point.

The Cajuns cut into the Jaguar lead 69-68 with a Brad Boyd 3-pointer and Kenneth Lawrence layup. However, a 3-pointer from USA's Chris Young broke the Cajuns momentum and the Jaguars pulled out to another six-point lead.

Louisiana trimmed the lead 81-80 on a Michael Southall free throw, but another Young 3-pointer, this one banked off the backboard, broke the Cajuns momentum and gave USA an 84-80 lead with 1:06 left to play.

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[NewsCopy]

Advertiser-Dan McDonald
NEW ORLEANS - Louisiana basketball coach Jessie Evans knows his team could have claimed a hard-to-get Sun Belt Conference road victory on Thursday night.

The Ragin' Cajuns get another chance tonight, but it won't be any easier.

In fact, when the Cajuns travel down I-10 to take on the Privateers of New Orleans, they'll be facing the hottest team in the league.

UNO (9-4, 2-0) posted a 65-55 home win over New Mexico State on Thursday, putting the Privateers atop the Sun Belt's West Division, and the Cajuns will be trying to keep pace when the clubs renew their rivalry at 7 p.m. at Lakefront Arena.

The Cajuns (9-5, 1-1) dropped a 93-89 decision to South Alabama on Thursday after leading by nine points at halftime.

"We let one get away tonight," Evans said after the host Jaguars (7-6, 1-1) shot almost 57 percent from the field in the second half and committed only six turnovers the entire game. "It was always a one or two possession game, and I always thought we were going to make a play."

The Cajuns never regained the lead in the final 12 minutes, though, and now face the prospects of falling near the bottom of the early-season West race unless they can claim their first conference road victory.

That's a daunting task. The Privateers beat South Alabama 70-61 last Saturday, and tonight's game will be UNO's third straight conference game at home. The Privateers currently hold a 12-game home winning streak after Thursday's win over the Aggies, one in which UNO clamped down defensively.

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[NOCajun]

LOUISIANA'S RAGIN' CAJUNS won another barn-burner game against the UNO Privateers 78-71 at the Lakefront Arena in front of their largest crowd of the season. Major stats for the CAJUNS tonight included Anthony Johnson going 15-18 from the foul line and the CAJUNS out-rebounding UNO by their worst margin of the season (43 to 29 [I believe]). The CAJUNS had as much as a 15-point lead in the second half and were never behind in the game.

[NewsCopy]

Advertiser-Bruce Brown

NEW ORLEANS - Sometimes, a team has to pull together when things get challenging.

Louisiana's short-handed Ragin' Cajuns did just that Saturday night at Lakefront Arena, using 24 clutch points from Anthony Johnson to earn a 78-71 Sun Belt Conference victory over the UNO Privateers.

The Cajuns played without leading scorer Brad Boyd, who was seriously injured in an automobile accident on I-49 Friday night and remained in Lafayette.

They played without center Michael Southall for the last 4:46 of the contest when he was called for his fifth foul.

But they played with determination before a crowd of 3,283 that was clad largely in red in support of their effort.

"It was an important road win, because they were in first place and we're trying to get back to first after losing to South Alabama on Thursday," Johnson said. "It was very important to win this one on the road."

Johnson made sure that happened, hitting 15-of-18 free throws including 11 in crunch time after the Privateers had closed to within 60-54.

"I felt comfortable with the ball in my hands down the stretch," Johnson said. "I'm a senior, and I wanted to step up and make big plays like tonight."

The Cajuns, who improved to 10-5 overall and 2-1 in the Sun Belt, got a call from Boyd just before taking the court. Only then did they discover that a vehicle he was riding in on the way to Opelousas had flipped as the driver tried to avoid a car coming the wrong way on the Interstate.

"He's pretty badly shaken up," coach Jessie Evans said. "They took X-rays, and I don't think he has any internal injuries. When he called, he sounded like he was hurting. But he wanted us to know he was thinking about us.

"Our locker room was quiet before the game. It's not usually quiet."

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[NewsCopy]

Advocate-LES EAST

NEW ORLEANS -- The University of Louisiana overcame the loss of leading scorer Brad Boyd and won a war of attrition, 78-71, over the University of New Orleans on Saturday night in Lakefront Arena.

Boyd stayed home in Lafayette after being injured in a car accident between Lafayette and his home in Opelousas on Friday night.

Boyd's teammates learned the details of his accident when he phoned the locker room moments before tip-off to wish his teammates luck.

"The X-rays showed nothing internally, but Brad sounded like he was hurting," Ragin' Cajuns coach Jessie Evans said. "When he called it got very quiet in our locker room, which is unusual.

"Everyone wanted to listen to what Brad had to say. We won this game for Brad."

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[Turbine]

Once again a piece of the puzzle is removed . . . NO PROBLEM.

I suspect the problem will be when he comes back. At some point I hope they can overcoe this tendency.

[NewsCopy]

Advertiser-Bruce Brown

LAFAYETTE - If there is someone Louisiana's Ragin' Cajuns would rather see than Anthony Johnson with his hands on the ball when it counted most, the list would be a short one.

The senior forward had missed three games with an ankle sprain before returning to action for a pair of crucial Sun Belt Conference road games last week at South Alabama and New Orleans, and quickly showed fans what they had been missing.

In last Thursday's 93-89 loss at USA, Johnson pumped in 21 points in just 28 minutes off the bench. That enabled him to become the 34th player in school history to reach the 1,000-point plateau.

Then, when the Cajuns met UNO on Saturday without injured leading scorer Brad Boyd, Johnson again showed why he is so valuable when he is on his game by scoring 24 points including 15-of-18 free throws.

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[Turbine]

Providence has 8 wins against 5 losses, with wins over Boston College and St. Johns.

[NewsCopy]

Advertiser-Dan McDonald

Accident slows down Cajuns'' point man.

LAFAYETTE - Louisiana head basket- ball coach Jessie Evans isn't sure he wants Brad Boyd to make today's trip with his Ragin' Cajun teammates.

It's not that he doesn't want the junior's 17.3 points per game or his 60 three-pointers this season on the court Wednesday night when the Cajuns take on Big East Conference member Providence in an intersectional game. But he wants to make sure that Boyd's healthy for the Sun Belt Conference battles to follow.

Boyd was injured in an automobile accident late Friday night and did not make the trip to New Orleans Saturday, when the Cajuns took a 78-71 league win. In fact, he hasn't made many trips out of his dormitory bed since early Saturday when he returned there after a stop by the emergency room following his accident.

"He still hasn't moved very much," said roommate Laurie Bridges on Monday. "When the alarm went off today, he asked me to turn it off for him."

Boyd did make it to the Cajuns' practice session Monday afternoon, but was limited and Evans was looking more at a return for Saturday's home conference battle with Florida International.

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[DrySwamp]

Great win for the Cajuns. Hope they can beat Providence. It would probably help attendence on next (2) home games.