Welcome everyone to another edition of #3OT where I break down what went right and what went wrong for the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns! Today, I look at their loss to Georgia Southern.
1st OT: Too Many Fouls
There’s one thing that determined the direct outcome of the game and that was what went down from behind the charity stripe. The Ragin Cajuns and Georgia Southern combined for a total of 49 personal fouls and the Eagles dominated at that aspect with 29 of their 81 points coming off of free throws. The Cajuns had 15 less free throws and only had nine in the second half. It was competitive throughout, but when the game gets chippy early on you can expect some fouls to be called in bunches. It’s not the best game to watch, but that’s what was put before a crowd of over 5,000 in the Cajundome on Saturday night.
2nd OT: Smith and Brown Show Out
One of the big keys to the Cajuns win last Saturday against UL Monroe was that they were able to keep their best players out of the game in Nick Coppola and Travis Munnings. That was not the case as both of their better players in Tookie Brown and Ike Smith put together a great performance with a combined 47 points. Again, most of their points came off of free throws, but the point still stands that when the Cajuns are up against a team with more than one star, it’s an issue defensively for the Cajuns.
3rd OT: Lackluster Shooting From Beyond
The shooting for the Ragin Cajuns from beyond the arc is typically good, especially within the friendly confines of the Cajundome. However, the Cajuns couldn’t buy a bucket from three-point range with Jay Wright being the only one to nail it from that area. The scariest part of this is that P.J. Hardy, who has shown that he can be one of the best shooters in the conference, only shot two shots on the night. It wasn’t anybody’s night and when you’re best three-point shooter isn’t getting it done, you need to have someone else who can pick up the slack. Wright has the ability to be good at this aspect of the game, but he has a tendency to put up these crazy shots. All that being said, Georgia Southern is number one in the conference right now for a reason.
-Clint Domingue