The Louisiana Ragin Cajuns have had a solid start to the season so far, going 9-4 in non-conference play highlighted by some big games against the Kansas Jayhawks and Tennessee Volunteers on the road and a tough loss to Louisiana Tech at home. Now comes the fun part with the Cajuns getting started with conference play on Thursday night against Arkansas State.
With that in mind, let’s look ahead to the second half of the Cajuns season right now!
Less Than Ideal Start to 2019
Right before conference play got kickstarted, Bob Marlin has mentioned that Malik Marquetti is going to be out for the rest of the year with an MCL & ACL injury. The senior was a big part of the Cajuns offense, averaging over 15 points a game and 4.5 rebounds per game. Combine that with JaKeenan Gant who’s still recovering from an injury, the offensive output of this team could dip downward with some tough opponents from the conference right around the corner.
The offense is still going to have players like Marcus Stroman and Justin Miller that can pick up the slack with both players averaging about 10 points per game. However, ine of the big reasons why losing Marquetti hurts is that it takes away from the three-point shooting ability of this team. He was a solid shooter from beyond the arc, shooting 45.2 percent and was also one of the better defenders for the program.
The early start of conference play is going to be a real challenge to find the right guy that can fill the void that Marquetti leaves even though that’s easier said than done because of how many roles that he played for the team.
Landmines Abound
When you look at the Sun Belt Conference, it’s a little bit of a different world at first glance with Texas State currently at the top of the standings with an impressive 11-2 record. The Bobcats only losses came to the Arkansas Razorbacks and a pretty good Drake Bulldogs program who kept it within single digits against Iowa State.
Of course there’s Georgia State, who always makes a run for the conference title once the calendar flips over to March.Outside of that, you really can’t make much out of the conference at this point in time, but then again that’s the case for a lot of conferences. We could see UT Arlington get out of the basement and UL Monroe could surprise some teams once they get into the thick of it.
Hold Down Homecourt
One of the big things that I took away from their non-conference slate was how good that the Cajuns looked inside the friendly confines of the Cajundome. The last game was a rough one for the vermillion and white and a lot of that has to be because of Gant’s injury taking the sails out of what has been a pretty good offense at home, averaging 98 points per game headed into Sun Belt play.
They’ve done a great job protecting home court the last couple of years, but with one loss already on the board you have to wonder if they can hold home court at least in the first couple of home games. They’ve got a relatively easy start against Arkansas State and the Little Rock Trojans, but nothing’s guaranteed. Let’s not forget what happened the last time the Trojans came to the Cajundome and pretty much derailed their chances of making it to the big dance.
Overall Thoughts
The Cajuns took a big hit losing Marquetti, but there’s some players that can make an impact like Justin Miller and Jerekius Davis and they’ll be relied upon to get things done while Bob Marlin figures out which pieces go where.
-Clint Domingue