Men’s Basketball: Marlin’s Cajuns on hot streak

Men’s Basketball: Marlin’s Cajuns on hot streak

Joshua Parrott • jparrott@theadvertiser.com • February 4, 2011

Bob Marlin kept the faith that UL would eventually win a road game in his first season as head coach. It helped given that half of his team’s 10 road losses had been by single digits.

His patience was rewarded as the Ragin’ Cajuns ended a 15-game slide on the road and won their fourth straight contest this season with a 76-70 overtime win on Sunday against South Alabama. It was their first road win since winning at UL Monroe, 72-65, exactly one year earlier on Jan. 30, 2010.

"Like I said last week, I knew we were going to win a road game," Marlin said. "Hopefully, winning that game will help us in our final three road games this season."

Before playing on the road again, UL (7-14, 4-5 Sun Belt) faces Arkansas-Little Rock (12-11, 4-4) at 7:05 p.m. Saturday in the Cajundome.

The Cajuns have been nearly unbeatable at home in conference play over the past two seasons, posting a 12-1 mark over that stretch. Their lone home loss this season came in overtime to Middle Tennessee, 93-91, on Jan. 8.

UL’s four-game winning streak was tied for the longest active one in the league going into Thursday with Western Kentucky.

Cleaning the glass

UL senior guard/forward Travis Bureau grabbed 20 rebounds on Sunday against South Alabama, the most this season by a conference player.

Bureau also set single-game school records in Sun Belt action for total rebounds and defensive rebounds (17). Bryan Collins held the previous marks with 19 total rebounds against South Alabama on Jan. 26, 1995 and 14 defensive boards vs. Jacksonville on Feb. 19, 1994. Bureau’s effort also tied for the 10th-best rebounding performance in school history.

On the season, Bureau is averaging 9.6 points and 6.6 rebounds and shooting 52.2 percent from the floor and 42.1 percent from 3-point range. His rebounding, field-goal shooting and 3-point shooting totals are career highs. He is fifth in the league this season in field-goal shooting and tied for eighth in rebounding.

Going head-to-head

UL went into Thursday night a half game behind UALR in fifth place in the Sun Belt’s West Division. The Cajuns have lost seven of the past eight games against the Trojans but still lead the all-time series, 19-15.

UALR played Sun Belt Conference West Division leader Denver on Thursday night in Little Rock. Results were unavailable at press time. The Trojans had lost two straight games.

Extra points

UL freshman forward J.J Thomas posted his fifth double-double of the season with a career-high 28 points and 13 rebounds on Sunday at South Alabama. The Cajuns got a team-high seven double-doubles last season from Sun Belt Player of the Year Tyren Johnson "» The Cajuns are averaging 38 rebounds per game this season. That’s tied for second in the league. They haven’t averaged that many rebounds since the 2001-02 season (38.8 per game) "» UL is also outrebounding its opponents, who have averaged 35.3 rebounds per game this season. The 2006-07 season was the last time that the Cajuns outrebounded their opponents.

Athletic Network Footnote: Click here for Men’s Basketball Reunion Photo Gallery