Men’s Basketball: Red vs. White game?

Men’s Basketball: Red vs. White game?

Jersey mishap puts Cowboys in Cajun red.

Dan McDonald
dmcdonald@theadvertiser.com

A lot of late-arriving fans at Blackham Coliseum looked a little confused Thursday night.
The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns were in their accustomed white home uniforms. The team sitting on Blackham’s south bench were in Cajun practice gear.

At tipoff, McNeese State’s game uniforms were in a car between Jennings and Crowley, being raced to the arena by former Cowboy player Andrew Queen.

"Our managers just left them in Lake Charles," said MSU sports information director Louis Bonnette. "They feel really bad about it."
It had to be embarrassing for the Cowboy players, forced to wear red practice jerseys and shorts of a nearby rival instead of their regular blue-and-gold game uniforms.

The McNeese staff didn’t realize the jerseys were left behind until they arrived at Blackham for Thursday’s renewal of the long-time rivalry. Despite their best efforts, Queen’s delivery and a five-minute delay in starting the game, they were forced to bear "Louisiana" and "Lafayette" on their chests.

"It was awkward," said MSU coach Tic Price.

Queen arrived at Blackham with a big equipment bag 2:25 before halftime. But a change of uniforms at halftime would have created hardships, mostly due to technical fouls that are required if players change jersey numbers.

"We’ve never had that happen," said UL coach Robert Lee. "We’ve had guys that have forgotten shoes before, but never that."

DISPUTED TREY: McNeese’s J. T. Williams had 19 points by halftime, including a 3-pointer at the end of a scrambling final 10 seconds of the first half that saw two possession changes.
Television replays of the KLAF-TV broadcast showed Williams’ foot halfway across the 3-point line when he went up for the shot, meaning it should have been a two-point basket. But none of the three game officials had a clear view of Williams’ takeoff.

Television replays can be used in that situation, but in order for that to happen a monitor has to be available on the scorebook side of the floor. KLAF’s broadcast location was opposite the benches and the official scorer, so could not be used to determine whether the basket was a two or a three-pointer.

PERRY FACTOR: First Baptist Church senior pastor Perry Sanders delivered the invocation for the second straight home game, but couldn’t resist throwing in a dig at the Cowboys’ lack of uniforms before the prayer.
"Coach," Sanders said over the Blackham microphone, "don’t be too hard on whoever was responsible for that. We’ve all made mistakes."

The Cajuns are now 2-0 after invocations by Sanders, a fixture at UL basketball games dating back to the squad’s years in Blackham.

ODD NUMBER OF THE NIGHT: McNeese made 28.3 percent of its shots inside the 3-point arc and 54.5 percent outside the line. Those numbers mean that Cajun opponents have now shot better from 3-point range than from inside the arc seven times in nine games. Opponents were better outside the line in all of the Cajuns’ first six games.

LAGNIAPPE: UL faces its first ranked opponent of the year in its next outing when the Cajuns travel to face Nevada’s Wolf Pack on Thursday, Dec. 29. Nevada is ranked 22nd in this week’s AP poll … The Cajuns have now won seven of eight meetings with McNeese since the teams resumed their series after a long hiatus in the 1998-99 season. UL has also won 23 of the last 27 games between the two clubs … Dwayne Mitchell’s 21 points and nine rebounds continued his streak of scoring double figures and getting at least eight boards in every game this season … In attendance Thursday was former four-year Cajun letterman Brett Smith, now an assistant coach under Lafayette native and ex-Cajun assistant and current University of North Alabama head coach Bobby Champagne. Smith ranks in UL’s all-time top 20 in career rebounds in a career from 1998-2001.

GAME SUMMARY

Louisiana 89, McNeese State 77

McNEESE STATE (3-5)

Jarvis Bradley 2-3 0-0 4, J.T. Williams 7-14 3-5 22, Darris Manciel 0-1 0-0 0, Troy Aaron 2-6 0-0 5, John Ford 0-1 2-4 4, Jamelle Juneau 1-3 0-0 3, Dwight Boatner 5-11 5-7 19, Ryan Price 2-7 3-4 7, Quentin Gonzales 2-10 1-2 6, Aldryan Wardell 4-12 1-5 9. TOTALS 25-68 15-27.

LOUISIANA (3-6)

Michael Southall 6-8 9-13 21, Ed Turner 5-12 9-11 20, Maurice Barksdale 3-6 2-2 9, Lucian Pesoli 2-4 2-4 7, Dwayne Mitchell 7-10 5-8 21, J.T. Fields 0-1 0-0 0, Ross Mouton 3-5 1-1 9, Rhett Hebert 0-0 0-0 0, Adam James 0-1 2-2 2, Valentino Hart 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS 26-47 30-41.

Halftime Score: McNeese 43, UL 39. 3-point FG: McNeese 12-22 (Williams 5-9, Boatner 4-6, Aaron 1-2, Juneau 1-2, Gonzales 1-2, Price 0-1), UL 7-13 (Mitchell 2-2, Mouton 2-2, Barksdale 1-2, Pesoli 1-2, Turner 1-4, Fields 0-1). Rebounds: McNeese 28 (Williams 5), UL 43 (Southall 13, Mitchell 9, Barksdale 5, Pesoli 4, Mouton 3, James 3, Hart 3, Turner 2, Team 1). Assists: McNeese 10 (Aaron 3, Boatner 3), UL 17 (Mitchell 6, Barksdale 6, Southall 2, Turner 2, Mouton 1). Turnovers: McNeese 13, UL 23. Blocked Shots: McNeese 0, UL 8 (Southall 5, Pesoli 1, Mitchell 1, Mouton 1). Steals: McNeese 9 (Wardell 4), UL 6 (Barksdale 3, Mitchell 3). Total Fouls: McNeese 29, UL 19. Technical Fouls: Turner, UL. Attendance: 4,535.

Originally published December 23, 2005