From the Bird’s Nest: Okay, that was fun

I used to wear it all on my sleeve when it came to Cajuns sports.

I used to relish in every win...and agonize over every loss.  And one day, several years ago, I realized that I'd die really young if I kept doing that.

Since then, it's been my policy to never get too high after a win; never get too despondent after a loss.

Now, there have been exceptions to that in the last few seasons.   High:  Zach Osborne's performance against Rice in the NCAA Regionals last year.  Low:  The football loss on the road at FIU in 2009. 

Last night was a high.  I just couldn't help it.

All season long we've been waiting for the Cajuns to put together a solid performance against a quality team and get rewarded for their efforts.  Last night, we finally got to see that happen.

Louisiana 93, North Texas 88,

This wasn't against Louisiana College.  Or Lamar.  Or Troy.  Or Centenary.  Or ULM.  No disrespect to those schools, but the best record in that bunch is Lamar.  And they're 8-10, with three wins against non-D-1 teams.

This was North Texas.  16-4 North Texas.  Defending Sun Belt Champion North Texas.  Picked to win it all again this year North Texas.

And the Cajuns gave the 3000 fans in attendance their best performance of the year.

I honestly went into the game feeling like the Cajuns had a chance.  They had won two in a row.  They were playing with more confidence.  They were playing at home and North Texas hasn't exactly been road warriors this season.  But it was going to take a very good performance to beat the Mean Green, who rely on a half dozen seniors who have been playing together for quite some time in order to get this one done.  It was going to take a total team effort, with contributions from more than two or three guys.  It was going to take, perhaps, some really impressive individual performances.

Check, Check and Check.

The Cajuns placed seven in double figures.  Travis Bureau had a double double.  Raymone Andrews had a season high in points, a career high in assists, three steals and no turnovers in 31 minutes.  Javan Mitchell had a career high in points, tied his career high in rebounds, blocked a couple of shots and outplayed UNT's all-conference rebounder George Odufuwa.  La'Ryan Gary had another solid game including an incredible blocked shot on what looked to be a breakaway layup.  Bryant Mbamalu played another solid defensive game and hit clutch free throws.  Josh Brown had a spectacular dunk to put the exclamation point on the night.

Want to know how impressive a team win this was?  On the postgame show we talked about all this and never even mentioned Randell Daigle joining the 1,000 point club.

I owe Radar one.

Coach Bob Marlin was as happy as I've seen him all season.  He's pretty even keel when we're doing pregame and postgame interviews, but fans could hear the excitement in his voice in the postgame show.

I asked him after the ULM game, not on the air, if he though his team was finally "getting it."  He frowned and said "Well, we're better, but we're still not good enough defensively."  And, while that's true, the Cajuns are doing a much better job of running the offense the way Marlin wants.  They're playing more good minutes per game than they have been.  Even in their losses to Arkansas State, UALR and Middle Tennessee, you can see that they're playing better basketball for longer periods of time. 

Despite allowing 88 points last night, the Cajuns defended well at times.  But it was the offensive execution that had to be pleasing.  The Cajuns again shot 50% from the field.  They drove to the basket and got to the free throw line.  And, with exception of Josh Brown (1-7) and one forgettable trip to the line by Javan Mitchell, they shot them well.  In fact, they beat North Texas at their own game last night.  If you had told me before the game that there would be 56 fouls called and 73 free throws shot, I would have told you the Cajuns would not win.

But they did.

The Cajuns only turned the ball over twelve times.  That's just 19 turnovers in the last two games.  And, until an ill-advised pass and a charging call late, the Cajuns had just three turnovers in the second half.  Despite not having Scottie Farrington and Courtney Wallace, they outrebounded UNT. 

Now, I'm still realistic.  The Cajuns haven't won a road game since January of last year.  They have to find a way to get those multiple contributions when wearing the red jerseys.  Three of the last four road games (at USA, at FIU, at ULM) are winnable, IF the Cajuns can find a way to put more minutes of good play together while on the road.  South Alabama, who won last night at Troy, won't be an easy task, but it'd doable.

But, for me, you can put last night's game in the "High" column.  When I arrived home, I wrote a game story for this website and checked our espn1420 Facebook page.  I answered a few emails.  It was nearly midnight when I got to bed and after 1am before sleep finally came.

This morning I texted Coach Marlin and told him I was holding him responsible for my lack of sleep.

He texted back....

"It was 3am for me."