Men’s Basketball: Daigle enters exclusive UL group

Men’s Basketball: Daigle enters exclusive UL group

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • January 29, 2011

After enduring a number of ups and downs this season, Randell Daigle joined an exclusive club for UL basketball.

Daigle scored 13 points in Thursday’s 93-88 win over preseason Sun Belt Conference West Division favorite North Texas to become the 39th player in school history with 1,000 for his career.

"Just to be able to do that, to be in the history books, is a good thing," said the senior guard, a graduate of Northside. "It’s something that will be here forever. That will never change. It feels good to be included with some of the best that have ever played here."

Daigle, who has now scored 1,009 career points at UL (6-14, 3-5 Sun Belt), can add to his scoring total on Sunday at South Alabama (9-10, 3-5). He had scored in single digits in his previous two games with seven points against Centenary and six points against ULM.

"Randell came off the bench to score his 1,000th point," UL coach Bob Marlin said. "That’s quite an accomplishment."

Daigle is the second Cajun to join the 1,000-point club in the past two seasons. Chris Gradnigo reached that milestone last season before transferring to Coastal Carolina over the summer.

Now Daigle sits within striking distance of Gradnigo (1,015 points), Dwayne Mitchell (1,028 points), Elvin Ivory (1,028 points), Lonnie Thomas (1,043 points), Marcus Stokes (1,055 points) and Blane Harmon (1,060 points) on UL’s scoring chart.

Career night

Javan Mitchell enjoyed his best game as a Cajun in Thursday’s win over UNT, scoring a career-high 13 points and tying a personal best with seven rebounds.

The sophomore center from St. Martinville made 5-of-6 shots from the floor and 3-of-6 free throws and added two blocked shots in 22 minutes off the bench.

"This whole week in practice my teammates told me that I needed to pick them up and help out," Mitchell said. "I just came out and tried to score a bit and help us get the win."

Marlin was pleased with Mitchell’s performance. He went into Thursday averaging two points and 0.9 rebounds in 18 games this season. Mitchell had a combined eight points and two rebounds in his previous three games.

"He’s got a little rhythm and is so long and is a good face-up shooter," Marlin said. "What I really liked about his play were those seven rebounds."

Extra points

UL senior guard/forward Travis Bureau posted his third double-double of the season Thursday with 15 points and 10 rebounds against UNT. His other double-doubles this season were against McNeese State on Dec. 1 (17 points, 10 rebounds) and Louisiana College on Nov. 15 (16 points, 14 rebounds) "» Sunday’s game at South Alabama will air at 4 p.m. on CST/CSS "» South Alabama won its second straight game with Thursday’s 62-61 win over ULM. The Jaguars had lost five of their previous six games prior to that two-game winning streak.

Athletic Network Footnote: Click here for the Basketball Reunion Photo Gallery (Jan. 21-22, 2011)
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