Ask UL’s Bryant Mbamalu about his ridiculously hot hand of late, and he spreads the love.

To just about everyone, that is, except himself.

"I can’t take much credit," Mbamalu said.

Rather, he doles a nod for dimes to — in the order he mentioned them — his maker, his coach and a list of teammates topped by his point guard.

"I have to give a lot of credit to God, really," Mbamalu said. "I’ve been doing a lot of praying, and He’s been helping me out immensely."

The numbers don’t lie.

Heading into Sun Belt Conference home games tonight against South Alabama and Saturday night against Arkansas State, Mbamalu has more scored more than 20 points in four of his last six games for the 6-11 Ragin’ Cajuns.

He’s scored 17 or more in five of his last six — a span in which he’s averaged 18.8 points and shot an impressive 62.1 percent (41-of-66) from the field, including a remarkable 53.3 percent (16-of-30) from 3-point range.

And he’s scored in double digits in nine of his last 11, boosting a scoring average that stood at 9.7 points after the season’s first six games — including four straight single-digit outings — to 13.7 through 17.

The only off nights in UL’s most-recent 11-game stretch, in fact, are a 4-point effort in a Dec. 27 loss at Arkansas State and an 8-point showing in a Dec. 15 non-conference loss at Houston.

"We’ve run some plays to get him going, and tried to get him some looks — because he’s shot the ball extremely well for probably the past eight-to-10 games," Cajun coach Bob Marlin said this week.

"(I) just told him to be aggressive, and certainly, the other day at FIU — that was his most-aggressive game," Marlin added with reference to a 75-70 loss last Saturday night at Florida International in which Mbamalu scored 23 while shooting 8-of-15 from the field, including four made treys on a season-high nine attempts from behind the long-distance line. "I thought he did a really nice job, and was attacking off the dribble as well as shooting the 3-point shot."

After thanking God, Mbamalu — a junior small forward from Houston who has started all of UL’s 17 games this season and 25-of-32 last season — next gave a shout out to Marlin.

"Coach Marlin," he said, confirming what the coach said, "he’s been telling me, ‘Be more aggressive,’ and he’s been helping me out, putting me in good situations to score."

Perhaps the biggest on-court boost, however, has come from sophomore point guard Elfrid Payton.

"We have used Elfrid’s penetration, for the most part, to free up some shots," Marlin said with reference to Payton, who had 13 points and 10 assists at FIU.

The double-double at FIU was Payton’s third of the season, but his first with points and assists as opposed to points and rebounds.

"Elfrid, he’s gonna get in the lane," Mbamalu said. "So he’s looking for me. My teammates are trying to find me, give me good shots.

"My teammates do a good job of setting good screens and trying to get shots for me," he added. "They’re always telling me, ‘It doesn’t matter if you’re 0-for-30 or 30-for-30, we’re gonna keep looking for you,’ and ‘If you’re open, let us know.’ That’s really it."

It especially helps Mbamalu when aforementioned teammates are also scoring.

Payton certainly does his part, averaging 14.2 points per game. And center Shawn Long is UL’s top scorer at 15.8 ppg.

But when someone else besides Mbamalu is hitting consistently from the outside, it frees him up for even cleaner looks and really does make a world of difference.

"It’s big, because sometimes, other teams, they don’t really like to help off me that much," he said. "So if they want to stay attached to me, then we have other shooters, like Alan-Michael Thompson. Really, everybody on the team can shoot. So, that helps.

"If they’re gonna play closer to them, they can’t guard everything and everybody how they want to."