Men’s Basketball: Trojans laud Long after Sun Belt tourney game

Tim Buckley, The Advertiser, March 12, 2016

 

UL’s Shawn Long tries to defend a Little Rock guard during the Cajuns’ loss to the Trojans on Saturday at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans.(Photo: Courtesy Sun Belt Conference)

 

 

NEW ORLEANS — After he scored a career-high 34 points in UL’s opening Sun Belt Conference tournament win over South Alabama on Friday night, Ragin’ Cajuns senior big man Shawn Long had Arkansas-Little Rock coach Chris Beard concerned.

“I didn’t sleep (Friday) night,” Beard said Saturday. “I started watching tape of him, and then I couldn’t put it down.

“He’s a special player. He might be the best rebounder I’ve ever seen in college basketball — and I’ve seen some good ones. I mean, he can literally get any rebound he wants to.”

As it turns out, however, a game-high 25 points and seven boards from Long were not enough for UL to topple top-seeded Little Rock in their semifinal-round meeting Saturday.

UALR beat UL 72-65, and will play UL Monroe in Sunday’s championship game.

Still, the Trojans were raving about Long after their win Saturday.

“Lafayette,” Trojans senior Josh Hagins said, “is a fantastic team, a fantastic program, with probably the best player in the conference, hands-down.”

Long, the Sun Belt’s Player of the Year and its career rebounding leader, added to his place in UL and Sun Belt history in Saturday’s loss.

He passed Kevin Brooks (2,294 points) for third place on UL’s all-time scoring list, trailing only Andrew Toney (2,526) and Bo Lamar (3,493).

He also became just the third player in UL and Sun Belt history with at least 2,300 points, and at 2,305 is now within 15 points of passing Charlie Bradley (2,319) on the SBC’s all-time leaders list.

Long additionally had three blocks Saturday, moving him past Alan Ogg (266) and into second place on that Sun Belt list behind only Brett Royster (301).

“I think another thing that’s gone without maybe as much notice is he’s been coached, too,” said Beard, a former longtime Texas Tech assistant coach. “He’s really gotten better in his four years in Louisiana. Their coaching staff deserves a lot of credit.

“I mean, he can shoot the ball now. He can dribble it. He can post; he faces. So there’s a lot of work to go into that. Not only is he a special, talented player, but it’s very, very evident that he’s been coached — because he gets better every year.

“So we knew we weren’t going to stop him. And we certainly didn’t stop him,” the Trojans coach added. “But I did think we slowed him down a little bit. We got some timely turnovers by forcing, changing the looks on him. So I give our guys a lot of credit. They competed well against a special player.”

Cajuns head coach Bob Marlin sure thinks so.

“He’s been focused on winning, and getting back to the (NCAA) Tournament would have been a great thing for him,” said Marlin, who took Long and UL to the 2014 NCAA tourney. “He’s the most dominant player in our league, and he showed it the last two nights.

“I think he played well, made shots, blocked shots and drew double-teams quite consistently. So, he’s disappointed.

“(But) he’s still got a future playing basketball,” Marlin added, “and good things are in store for him, I’m proud of the way he’s matured and played this year.”

   MORE GAMES?

The season for Long and the Cajuns may not be done yet.

Asked after Saturday’s loss about perhaps playing in a postseason tourney, Marlin confirmed it could happen.

“There’s a possibility,” he said.

“We’ll have to wait and see, get back and talk to our administration and see what’s going on. We’ve had some preliminary contact with a couple of different groups, so we’ll see.”

UL won two games in last year’s CollegeInsider.com Tournament, one of multiple postseason events to teams that do not make the NCAA Tournament.

   TOURNEY FUTURE

After a five-year run in Hot Springs, Arkansas, the Sun Belt tournament has been held at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans for three straight years now – and last year the SBC announced its original three-year contract was extended to 2017.

It still remains to be seen, however, where the tourney will be played beyond next year.