Cajuns To Take On Texas St. – Inside The Numbers

UL junior guard Kasey Shepherd

Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajun men’s basketball team is back in action on Saturday afternoon, when coach Bob Marlin’s squad travels to San Marcos, Texas to tangle with the Texas St. Bobcats in a key Sun Belt Conference tilt.

Tip-off time is scheduled for 4:30 pm, and you can hear all the play-by-play action on ESPN 1420 and espn1420.com, along with Hot 107.9 and 1079ishot.com, beginning with the pregame show at 4 o'clock.

The game will mark the final game of a three-game road trip for Louisiana, and will be the back-end of a women’s/men’s doubleheader, with the UL women taking on Texas St. at 2 pm.

Louisiana, who is coming off of a 89-85 road loss to South Alabama on Thursday night, has lost five of their last six games, and is 11-10, overall, on the season, and 5-5 in league play, while Texas St., who fell to Appalachian St., 64-58, last Saturday, has lost four-straight, and is currently 10-9, overall, and 4-6 in Sun Belt Conference play.

The Cajuns are outscoring the opposition, 80.5/72.0, while out-shooting foes from the floor, 46.9%/43.2%, and holding down a 40.2/33.8 rebounding edge.

UL is paced by junior forward Shawn Long, who leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, at 17.5 ppg, and 10.0 rpg, respectively, and senior forward Brian Williams, who is averaging 11.4 points, to go along with 4.0 rebounds a contest.

Louisiana is 2-7 on the road this season, including a 2-3 conference mark away from home.

The Bobcats are out-scoring the opposition, 63.6/59.2, and out-shooting foes from the field, 41.7%/40.9%, while being out-rebounded, 34.0/33.1.

Texas St. is paced by sophomore guard Emani Gant, who is averaging 13.9 points and 6.7 rebounds-per-game, along with freshman guard Cameron Naylor, who is averaging 8.3 points, along with 4.7 rebounds a contest.

Louisiana leads the all-time series, 3-0, including two wins over Texas St. a season ago.