Headed into Thursday night, it felt like the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns (13-8, 4-4 Sun Belt) were going to coast to victory when they traveled up to Boone, North Carolina for a matchup against Appalachian State (7-14, 2-6 Sun Belt). That wasn’t the case as the Mountaineers scored early and often on the way to a 104-77 loss for the Cajuns.
How It Happened:
Things couldn’t have started any better for the Mountaineers, going on a 17-2 run in the first five minutes of the ballgame and from that point on it was all App State. The Cajuns were able to make it a feasible 11-point game with 3:39 left in the first half, but the Mountaineers were able to head into the break after another run with a 20 point lead.
It was much of the same in the second half with the Cajuns continuing to struggle from the field, resulting in a 27-point loss.
Big Number: 21
The Cajuns had a horrible evening on the hardwood and the most embarrassing statistic coming out of Saturday’s matchup was the fact that the Cajuns had 21 turnovers. Add the fact that the Mountaineers scored 26 points off of those turnovers really shows that this could have been even worse.
Player of the Game: JaKeenan Gant
Even in a tough loss, Gant had another solid game with 15 points and 10 boards. It was a bright spot in an otherwise poor start to the road trip in the Carolinas.
Next Up: At Coastal Carolina; Tipoff at 6 pm
-Clint Domingue