The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team lost 87-73 to the Troy Trojans on Wednesday night inside the Cajundome. The loss ends Louisiana’s hopes of getting a top-four seed and double bye in the Sun Belt Tournament and ensures that they will have to play on Thursday in the second round.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The game began with a 7-2 Troy run, which forced Bob Marlin to use a timeout after just 1:38 of gameplay. After that break, the Cajuns went on a 6-0 run to take an 8-7 lead, with Kobe Julien scoring the final four of the run. At 14-11, the Trojans went on a 7-0 run capped by a Christyon Eugene three to make it 21-11 at the under 12 minute media timeout.
From that point on, Louisiana struggled to gain any traction in the rest of the half. Troy’s high-energy defense created turnovers, and the Cajuns were unable to get many open looks at the offensive end. This continued until there were seven minutes left in the half, where Aamer Muhammed made a three to give Troy a 15-point lead at 37-22.
At that point, Louisiana was able to change their fortunes for the rest of the half. They put together a 17-6 run to end the first half, led by Hosana Kitenge and Joe Charles. This allowed them to climb to within four at 43-39, despite not making a three-point field goal in the first half.
All of the hard work that the Cajuns put in to close the gap was quickly erased in the second half. After Louisiana scored the first two, Troy went on a 15-2 run to extend the lead back out to 15 at 58-43. The Trojan shot it well from three and could not miss at the free throw line. They continued to hold the lead and led by 17 at 69-52 at the under 12-minute media timeout.
From there, Louisiana struggled to cut into the lead, similar to large portions of the first half. Troy’s continued free throw shooting and ability to draw fouls made it very difficult to cut into the lead. Brandon Hardy finally made Louisiana’s first three inside of two minutes left to cut it to 81-71. However, the Cajuns ran out of time, losing 87-73.
BIG NUMBER: 30
Troy made their first 30 free throw attempts before missing one. Even the first one they missed was overturned due to a lane violation. For the game, they shot 38-42 at the line.
PLAYER OF THE GAME: Christyon Eugene
Eugene has a chance to win Sun Belt Player of the Year, and the reasons why were on display on Wednesday. He scored 18 points, grabbed eight rebounds, and made both of his threes and all six of his free throws.
UP NEXT: Louisiana will wrap up the regular season on Friday night at 7:30 when they play host to Southern Miss in the Cajundome.