Tuesday night’s season opener for the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns (1-0) was exactly what you expected with a matchup against the Buccaneers of the Virgin Islands (0-4). The Cajuns controlled things from the outset and rolled to a 121-80 win to start the 2018-19 campaign.
How It Happened:
The Cajuns came out of the gates strong, scoring the first six points in the opening two minutes and from that point on, they made it look too easy thanks in large part to Jeremy Hayes, who racked up 10 points in that first half. However, the big story of the first half was JaKeenan Gant making four of the final five baskets for the Cajuns to take a 54-29 lead into the break.
Louisiana started to let up on the gas a little bit early in the second half, keeping the Buccaneers within 25 points. After Trajan Wesley was subbed into the ballgame, they started to put it all together and were able hit the jets and cruise to a huge win.
Key Play: Strong Finish to First Half
As mentioned earlier, Gant helped the Cajuns wrap up the first half on a strong note with four of the five baskets. What makes that more impressive is that three of those were slam dunks. Sure it’d be more notable if he drained three or four threes in the final moments, but you have to respect what he was able to do on Tuesday night
Player of the Game: JaKeenan Gant
Gant had a very good start to his senior season with 19 points, four rebounds, three assists, and three blocks on the evening. Everything was going right for him and those 15 points in the first half really started to turn Tuesday’s matchup into a boat race.
Big Number: 47
The 121 points for the Cajuns in the season opener were the most in a season opener in 47 years. That was back in the 1970-71 season when the Cajuns beat Oral Roberts 124-114.
Coach Speak: On Jerekius Davis’ performance
“He can heat up and score the ball in a hurry.” Bob Marlin said after the game, “I haven’t even looked at his line tonight, it says that he doesn’t have any rebounds I thought he might’ve had a couple I know he went after some. He needs to do rebounding defensively, but 14 points in 15 minutes is similar to what he did at South Alabama last year.”
Next Up: at Tennessee Volunteers November 9th; Tipoff at 4 pm
-Clint Domingue