The Cajuns had a tough one last night largely because they weren’t able to play their brand of basketball. You saw the Panthers dominate in almost every statistical category.
They won the rebound battle by 10 boards on Thursday night and that’s mind boggling because of the fact that the Panthers average 33.5 rebounds, which is last in the league and faced off against the second-best rebounding defense in the league.
Now many fans are questioning the loss and where this puts the Cajuns going forward. My response to that: look at the rest of the schedule! After Georgia Southern, you’ve dominated the rest of the conference with double digit wins. Texas State? You smashed their faces in on the road. UT Arlington is Kevin Hervey and four other guys on the starting five. Troy might be the last “true challenge based off what happened when the Trojans came to the Cajundome.
How can the Cajuns keep the Ls in conference play singular? It’s quite simple: play the brand of basketball that you’ve played all season long. Georgia State got you out of your element and forced you take over 30 shots from beyond the arc. You do that, you’re going to lose ballgames.
They’ll need to focus on defense, especially in the paint. They’ve got the ability to stop a team inside, and they should be fine the rest of the way. Once the Sun Belt Tourney starts, all bets are off.
-Clint Domingue