Cajuns Prepare for North Texas

Louisiana (12-19, 8-12 (SBC)) will play North Texas (12-19, 7-13 (SBC)) Friday night at 6:30 PM on the opening day of Sun Belt Tournament play. The Cajuns have defeated UNT twice this season, but Coach Marlin doesn’t expect the third game to be any easier than the previous two games against the Mean Green this season.

For the second consecutive Sun Belt Tournament UL will face off against the North Texas Mean Green on the opening day. The Cajuns, this year’s No. 8 seed, will face the No. 9 seed Mean Green at 6:30 PM Friday night. Last year, UNT’s Brandan Wilson sank a 3-pointer with a few seconds left in the game to give North Texas the win over Louisiana on the first day of play.

Once again this season UL has had UNT’s number during the regular season, winning the first game earlier in Denton 80-76 and won the rematch in the Cajun Dome 105-74 on January 31st. Coach Marlin made it clear Monday that his Cajuns are not over confident and remember losing the game in the Sun Belt Tournament last year very well.

“They are playing with great confidence right now, as they popped Arkansas State 74-50 the other night,” Coach Marlin stated. “They have their point guard Chris Jones back; he did play in the first game up in Denton. Jordan Williams is an all conference player and he scored 31 points against us in the last game here in the Cajun Dome. Roger Franklin will probably also make all-conference. And Tony Mitchell is capable of taking over a game at anytime; he is the best pro prospect in the league and will play much better. They have had success in the tournament before and we are going to look at some of things they did when Coach Forrest was them.”

Even with the play of Chris Jones, Roger Franklin and Jordan Williams in the first game, the Cajuns were able to take advantage of hot shooting from the field and were fortunate to come away with the win in Denton according to Coach Marlin.

“We were fortunate to get the win in Denton,” Coach Marlin mentioned. “I don’t think many of you were there, but we played really well and Tony Mitchell was in foul trouble and some of their other guys stepped up. We hit shots; Bryant Mbamalu was 5-of-5 from the 3 -point line and 6-of-6 from the field. Steven Wronkoski hit a big 3-point shot with 1:15 remaining in the game and Aaron Leblanc hit a big 3-point shot for us. Shawn Long had a big game for us that night, scoring 27 points.”

“In the game at home Jordan Williams scored 31 points and he is an excellent wing player and another pro prospect in our opinion. Tony Mitchell didn’t have a good game that night, but he is the best player in the conference and is certainly capable of having a big game. We will big efforts from a couple of people on Tony Mitchell Friday night.”

While the Cajuns won both games during the season, Coach Marlin recalls the game against North Texas in Hot Springs last year.

“We were up late in the game and got a two-on-one and Bryant took it in and got his shot blocked; Mitchell made a great block and then on the next possession Elfrid took it down the lane hard and he got that shot blocked. We thought there could have been some contact on the shot, but there were two great blocks by Tony Mitchell who didn’t have many points in the game. They took the ball down court and swung the ball to Walton who hit a big 3-point shot with a few seconds left in the game. We inbounded the game at half court with four seconds left to play to Brown on a play that we had not run and it wasn’t the shot we were looking for and got beat. It propelled them into the next round and all the way into the finals. It was a good game for our players but we feel short. I remember Elfrid Payton stepped up in that game because we had a few player suspensions and I thought Elfrid played lights out and he started this season off that game. “

The goal remains the same this year, advance to the next round and all the way to the Finals.

“We are going to look at doing a few different things and taking from Shawn Longs experiences in this league and at a couple different schools with the success that he has had,” Coach Marlin said. “Its something we are going to draw upon going into the game.”

“Two years ago UALR won the tournament as a 9th seed. Last year Western Kentucky won four days in a row and won the tournament as a 7th seed. There is no reason an 8th seed can’t win it and we are excited about the opportunity to play in the Sun Belt Tournament.”