Men’s Basketball: Cajuns shock Sun Belt with streak

Men’s Basketball: Cajuns shock Sun Belt with streak

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • February 15, 2011

UL left for Florida last week with the longest active winning streak in the Sun Belt and returned home Sunday with two more wins and as one of the hottest teams in the country.

After knocking off Florida International 72-68 on Thursday and league leader Florida Atlantic 72-64 on Saturday, the Ragin’ Cajuns have now won seven straight games. That’s tied for the ninth-longest active winning streak in the nation.

Now UL (10-14, 7-5 Sun Belt) sits just one game behind Arkansas State and Denver for the top spot in the league’s West Division. The Cajuns play Arkansas State (14-13, 8-4) at 7:05 p.m. Thursday in the Cajundome.

"It’s amazing to go from being 3-14 to 10-14 and on the verge of becoming the leader for our side of the conference," said UL senior forward Travis Bureau. "If we beat Arkansas State, we can be tied with Denver for first place on our side.

"We’re going to try to take them down one-by-one and end the season on an 11-game win streak."

As they had in the previous five games, the Cajuns came up big down the stretch to go 2-0 last week in Florida.

They hit 10-of-10 free throws in the final two minutes at FIU last Thursday to seal a four-point win. It was the program’s second straight road win for the first time since the 2005-06 season. Bureau led four double-digit scorers with 18 points that night.

Two days later the Cajuns got 15 points apiece from La’Ryan Gary and Randell Daigle and made 16-of-16 free throws to down FAU, which had the league’s best overall record.

It was only the third game since the 2001-02 season that they had hit all of their free-throw attempts. The other times were at Oral Roberts (6-of-6) on Nov. 21, 2006, and at Western Kentucky (8-of-8) on Jan. 22, 2009.

Going back to the second half of the FIU game, UL has now made 28 consecutive free throws.

"We were struggling a bit (on free throws) earlier in the season," Bureau said. "But we’re getting more serious at the free-throw line and taking our time, and we’re knocking them down when we need them."

First-year UL coach Bob Marlin has seen a major difference in his team over the past month. Back on Jan. 13, the Cajuns lost at Arkansas State 74-65. After falling at Arkansas-Little Rock 73-68 two days later, they started their current winning streak by blowing out Centenary on Jan. 19.

UL is looking for its first eight-game winning streak since the 2004-05 season.

"The guys are playing with a pep in their step, and they should be," Marlin said. "They’re playing good basketball. I don’t know if it’s a sense of accomplishment necessarily, but that’s what I like.

"What I see is the way that I want things to be: On an even keel and business as usual. That’s the attitude that they have, and we’re going to need it for Thursday."

Extra points

UL junior forward Scottie Farrington (abdominals) and senior forward La’Ryan Gary (knee) are expected to be limited for workouts early this week "» UL is 7-4 at home this season. Arkansas State is 3-13 this season away from home "» Arkansas State coach John Brady used to be the head boys basketball coach at Crowley High School from 1977-82. He was LSU’s head coach from 1997-2007, going 184-126 over that stretch with a trip to the Final Four in the 2005-06 season "» First-year UL assistant coach Nikita Johnson under Brady at LSU from 2004-07 "» The Cajuns lead the all-time series against Arkansas State, 42-20. They’ve won six of the past seven meetings.

Athletic Network Footnote:

Click here for the photo gallery of the Jan. 21-22, 2011 Basketball Reunion

Click here for the January 18, 2003 Basketball Reunion

Click here for the Nov. 1-2, 2001 Shipley Basketball Reunion

Rebounders Club Meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 15th and 22nd…noon, Abacus Station, 510 W. Pinhook Rd….lunch is $13
Geaux Cajuns, Karren Hays 288-2163