Men’s Basketball: Cajun fans having big impact courtside

Men’s Basketball: Cajun fans having big impact courtside

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • February 7, 2011

J.J. Thomas liked the final results of UL’s 67-66 win over Arkansas-Little Rock on Saturday night.

The freshman forward really liked what he saw and heard from the crowd of 4,066 in the Cajundome as the Ragin’ Cajuns extended their season-long winning streak to five straight games.

It was UL’s second-best home attendance of the season behind a crowd of 5,624 that watched an 84-75 win over UL Monroe on Jan. 22 during reunion weekend.

"The crowd was crazy," Thomas said. "That was the first time I heard the Cajundome really rocking like that. I love it."

Thomas, who had 16 points and nine rebounds in the win, said the crowd was so loud that he was unable to hear teammate Raymone Andrews at one point during the game. Andrews was standing right next to him at the time.

For the season, the Cajuns (8-14, 5-5 Sun Belt) have an average home attendance of 3,129. If that holds up, it would be the program’s best total since averaging 4,121 fans per game in the 2007-08 season.

UL’s average home

attendance was 2,762 last season and 2,871 in the 2008-09 season.

"It’s like (having) a sixth man on the court," UL senior forward La’Ryan Gary said of the home crowd. "We love it. If we do something good, we want the crowd to get hyped (up)."

First-year coach Bob Marlin wanted to do exactly that to start the game by calling for an alley-oop pass from Andrews to Travis Bureau for a dunk on the team’s first possession.

Andrews connected with Bureau for an emphatic dunk to give the Cajuns an early lead, and Bureau completed a late rally by hitting a pair of free throws with 0.6 seconds left.

"We definitely feed off of the crowd," Marlin said. "But we have to give them something. We have to be solid defensively, and we have to make some plays and certainly keep their trust."

During his post-game press conference, Marlin asked for fans to stand and clap until the opposing team scores at the start of every home game. Traditionally the fans stand and clap until the Cajuns score their first points.

"That would help our defense," Marlin said. "We need a kick-start there."

Sun Belt rundown

After Saturday’s results, UL is now tied for third in the Sun Belt’s West Division with North Texas and UALR with six games left in the regular season.

Denver (11-12, 7-3) holds a half-game lead on Arkansas State (13-13, 7-4) in the division. ULM (6-19, 1-10) is last in the West.

Florida Atlantic (18-7, 10-1) leads the Sun Belt’s East Division. Middle Tennessee (12-12, 7-4) is second, followed by Western Kentucky (10-12, 5-5) in third, South Alabama (10-12, 4-7) and Florida International (9-14, 4-7) tied for fourth and Troy (5-17, 3-7) in last place.

The Cajuns play a pair of games in Florida this week. After going to FIU on Thursday, they travel to FAU on Saturday.

Extra points

Bureau posted his fourth double-double of the season with a season-high 23 points and 11 rebounds Saturday. The senior guard/forward finished just short of his career high in points. He had 24 points against Lamar on Nov. 18, 2008 "» UL made 30-of-38 free throws on Saturday. Those were the team’s second-most made free throws in a game this season. The Cajuns went 32-of-48 at the line in a 93-91 overtime loss to Middle Tennessee on Jan. 8 "» With Saturday’s win, UL improved to 3-11 this season when trailing at halftime and 7-0 when leading with five minutes left "» UL is 13-1 at home in conference play over the past two years. That includes a 4-1 mark this season "» UALR senior guard Matt Mouzy, who is 25th in Sun Belt history with 202 career 3s made, went 0-for-5 from the floor Saturday and missed all four of his attempted 3s. Mouzy made 8-of-10 3s for a season-high 24 points in a 75-72 overtime win against Denver on Thursday as UALR hit 11-of-17 3s.