Men’s Basketball: Invaluable Cajun – UL, Marlin lean heavily on sophomore point guard Payton

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, January 24, 2012

Just like Shawn Long, there have been only two games in 21 this season that he hasn’t scored in double figures.

He averages 15.2 points per game, just 0.6 shy of Long’s 15.8, and averages a team-high 5.0 assists as well, tied for the Sun Belt Conference lead with North Texas’ Chris Jones.

He’s scored at least 20 points four times, and has three double-doubles while also averaging 6.0 rebounds per game from the perimeter.

Yet he’s been rather overshadowed lately by redshirt freshman big man Long, the Cajuns’ leading scorer and rebounder who is averaging a double-double and has 12 of them this season.

To truly appreciate point guard Elfrid Payton, though, all the 7-14 Cajuns have to do is play without him.

UL found that out the hard way in its last outing, an 82-60 loss at Middle Tennessee last Saturday night in which the young point was unable to finish either half due to quadriceps cramps.

"It seems like when he (Payton) goes out of the game "» we will make a mistake," said head coach Bob Marlin said, whose club kicks off the second half of its Sun Belt Conference season by playing host tonight to 10-8 Florida International.

The Cajuns of course make miscues, too, with Payton on the floor.

But the bottom line is that they run much more smoothly with Payton — who is still only 18 years old, even though he’s well into his sophomore season — than without.

"Elfrid’s played fine," Marlin said. "He’s shooting the ball well. He’s penetrating, and playing well."

As a result, the Gretna High product averages a team-high 34.8 minutes per game — 4.2 more than Long, 7.3 more than when he was a backup much of last season and more than everyone else in the Sun Belt except Florida Atlantic’s Greg Gantt (36.5) and Arkansas State’s Brandon Peterson (35.0).

Part of that is because another UL guard who could potentially could have offered relief help at the point, Tulane transfer Kevin Brown, is out for the season with a broken foot bone.

Another part is that is his primary backup all season long, true freshman combo guard Kasey Shepherd, has encountered hurdles in making the jump from Houston-area high school basketball to college play in the Sun Belt.

"He’s disappointed in himself," the Cajun coach said of Shepherd, who scored a career-high 13 points and pulled down a career-high seven rebounds while playing a career-high 37 minutes in a Jan. 12 double-overtime loss to South Alabama — but struggled so much on UL’s most-recent road trip that he played just eight minutes before being benched in the loss at Middle Tennessee.

"He (Shepherd) wants to play, and he knows he’s got to get stronger. That’s the main issue. He can shoot the basketball. He’s got great speed. And he’s trying to do what we ask him to do. But sometimes he puts himself under limitations, instead of just playing basketball.

"He’ll beat his man — and slow down to run the offense, or set it back up, when that’s not what we need to do at that stage," Marlin added. "It’s just a trial for him every day."

Marlin expects the freshman to "maintain, at least, our level of play, if not increase our level of play."

But except for the South Alabama game and a few other flashes, Shepherd has not done that on a consistent basis.

"So," Marlin said, "it hurt when Elfrid (Payton) goes out of the game."

Payton knows it, and Marlin suggested the sophomore accordingly has a handle on just how his important his presence is.

"He understands," the Cajun coach said.

"He has been zeroed in," Marlin added. "I think he’s played great."