Without Malik Marquetti for the rest of the year, someone needed to step up for the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns (10-5, 1-1 Sun Belt). JaKeenan Gant not only stepped up, he etched his name amongst some of the all-time great Ragin Cajuns on the way to a 75-61 win over Little Rock (5-10, 0-1 Sun Belt).
How It Happened
It was a rough start for the Cajuns, going 2-of-6 from the field and that led to the Trojans taking an early 8-6 lead. That quickly changed after the first media timeout with a 12-2 run by the Cajuns to make it 16-8 with 11:19 left until halftime. It continued to be all Louisiana thanks in large part to Gant, who pushed the Cajuns out to a 35-30 lead at the break, accounting for 22 of those points.
One of the more concerning parts of the Cajuns game in the first half was shooting from three-point range, going 2-of-13. They immediately improved upon that with a pair of threes to start the second half and wound up with a 45-36 lead after the first media timeout of the second half. From that point on, Gant was all over the floor and was a key factor for the Cajuns win with 23 points in the second half.
Big Number: 45
Gant put his name alongside Andrew Toney and Bo Lamar on Saturday with 45 points. This was the most scored by a Cajun player since Lamar did it on January 5th, 1972 and the first Cajun since Toney in 1979 to put up 40 points.
Player of the Game: JaKeenan Gant
It was the JaKeenan Gant show on Saturday and along with the aforementioned 45 points, the senior had 11 boards and was perfect from the charity stripe (11-of-11) which was the first time since Tyrus Wade in 2005 that a Cajun was perfect with 10 or more free throws.
Next Up: at Georgia St January 10th; Tipoff at 6 pm
-Clint Domingue