In their fourth to last home game of the season, the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns men’s basketball team hosted the Marshall Thundering Herd, who was third in the Sun Belt standings. The Cajuns got off to an early lead and never let their lead go as they dominated on the boards to defeat the Herd 77-67 and improve to 20-4 on the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
Louisiana kicked off the scoring with the first six points. They took the 20-8 advantage by the 11:15 mark of the first half as Jordan Brown led all scorers. By this point, there was a TV timeout that allowed the fans to witness the Fabulous Cajun Chicken for the first time since the ’99 season.
Following the timeout, the Cajuns continued to have a presence in the paint as Brown and Terrence Lewis II knocked down a layup each. Greg Williams Jr. made Louisiana’s first three-pointer of the game on their fifth attempt with 6:43 left in the first half and was up 28-16.
The Cajuns knocked down a few more shots, but the Thundering Herd caught a little bit of fire and was able to cut their deficit to eight as Louisiana went into the half up 36-28.
Williams, Brown, and Jalen Dalcourt all had a made basket to open up the second half and push the Cajuns’ lead to 15. Taevion Kinsley and Micah Handlogten each scored for Marshall to open the half, but the Thundering Herd was silent on the scoreboard for the next three and a half minutes. Joe Charles’ made three that was assisted by Jalen Dalcourt was the lone made shot during that time.
Charles’ next made shot from behind the arc and Themus Fulks’ made layup gave the Cajuns the 51-33 lead with 11:47 left. Kinsley was big for Marshall as he scored seven of their next ten points to cut it to within 10.
Louisiana stayed aggressive on the boards and forced a couple of turnovers as they were up 14 with 4:34 left. Williams scored seven more points in that time.
Brown and other Cajuns players were the closers as they went to the charity stripe to help secure a 77-67 win on Saturday night to improve to 20-4 on the season.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME: Jordan Brown and the Fabulous Cajun Chicken
Brown had himself a nice night scoring 26 points and grabbing 20 rebounds. The first half was where he shined when he had 17 and 14. This was the sixth 20-20 game in school history. The Cajun Chicken also stunned the crowd as he brought back many of his old skits in his return, including dressing up as Elvis and the Grim Reaper.
BIG NUMBERS: 47 and 5351
The Cajuns dominated on the boards tonight as Louisiana outrebounded Marshall 43-14. They really impressed with 16 offensive boards compared to the Herd’s eight. The fans also came in clutch tonight as 5,351 attended the game, which is the largest crowd since they played Southern on December 1st, 2018 when 5,666 attended.
UP NEXT: The Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (20-4) will travel to play the Southern Miss Golden Eagles in another big Sun Belt matchup. The game will be Thursday, February 9th with tip-off set for 7:30.