It was a tough weekend for multiple programs at the University of Louisiana as football fell in overtime to Southern Miss on Thursday, Women’s basketball lost both games to Auburn and Kent State, and Men’s basketball fell to Toledo on the road.
However, the feeling on Monday around the athletic facility was one of hope and the ability to bounce back in a big way this week.
Here’s a look at football, men’s basketball, and women’s basketball:
FOOTBALL
The Cajuns sit at 5-5 after a gut-wrenching overtime loss to Southern Miss at home Thursday night. However, Louisiana has to shift their focus quickly as they head on the road to battle the Sun Belt West division leader in Troy.
“It’s time for our team to get over the hump,” head coach Michael Desormeaux said. “I mean, this year, we’ve talked about it quite a bit and we’ve been so close. Everybody’s tired of hearing it, I’m tired of saying it, and the team are tired of talking about it. So it’s time for us to get over the hump and quit knocking on the door waiting for someone to let us in.”
MEN’S BASKETBALL
After picking up a season-opening win over Youngstown State inside the Cajundome, Bob Marlin’s team went on the road for the first leg of the Sun Belt-MAC Challenge to Toledo to battle with the Rockets, a team that had a very similar record to the Cajuns last season. Louisiana jumped out to a big lead in the first half but was not able to hold on as they fell to Toledo 87-78.
This week, they will welcome Louisiana Christian to the Cajundome and the Cajuns will need the play of Themus Fulks to continue to be at a high level.
“He’s doing a good job and just playing with a lot of confidence,” Bob Marlin said of his point guard. “He made several tough shots in the game and if you look back to the Youngstown State game I think he was 6 of 17 from the field in this game, the floater was going and he was getting the basket and finishing, I think he was 10 of 13. He also had a few assists and a few turnovers, and got called for a walk in the first half that we didn’t see. I thought he did a really nice job of distributing and a little bit better job rebounding, however, we need him to be a little bit better defensively. That’s where we need him to step his game up.”
WOMEN’S BASKETBALL
Garry Brodhead’s team went on the road to the Plains to battle with Auburn last Thursday and gave the Tigers everything they wanted. Leading at halftime, Louisiana was not able to hold on to the win and fell 60-54. After that game, the Cajuns came home to host Kent State in their first leg of the Sun Belt-MAC Challenge. This team has battled some minor injuries early on and it showed on Sunday, falling to the Flashes 64-55.
Now, the team has a couple of days to rest up and get prepared for Nicholls State, who will kick off a four-game homestand for the team starting on Saturday afternoon.