The Louisiana men’s basketball team made their season debut Monday, Nov. 4 against the Kent State Golden Flashes. It was the first half of a two-game home stand to open up the season.
As expected, the Ragin’ Cajuns came out aggressive, typically on the defensive end. They were forcing turnovers left and right, clogging up the paint which led to ill-advised passes.
They came out with an unmatched defensive energy that sparked the offense to score. It took the Golden Flashes exactly six minutes to finally get a point on the board as it was by the charity stripe.
The Cajuns had as large as a 10-point lead in the first half before Kent State came crawling back on the strong shoulders of Voncameron Davis.
He constantly mashed the paint, putting pressure on the Louisiana interior defense which contributed to many trips to the free throw line.
The Golden Flashes showed early signs of their ability to dominate inside. They rallied to a 30-27 halftime advantage behind their second and third opportunities on offense. They collected eight offensive rebounds to the Cajuns’ one.
It was a back and forth contest for the rest of the night, no team gaining a substantial margin for victory. The Cajuns did lead for the majority of the second half, but by no means were they in control. Even when they were down, Kent State stayed true to their style of play: attacking the paint and drawing fouls. And that’s exactly what Louisiana grew susceptible to.
The Cajuns would finish the game shooting the ball better from the field, behind the arc and committing less turnovers. However, they were just physically outmatched and overpowered.
They were outrebounded 35 to 26, and the Golden Flashes made a living at the free throw line.
Davis led the charge as he made as many free throws as the entire Louisiana team (13). He also did it on 15 attempts while it took the Cajuns an abysmal 21 attempts to reach that target.
Kentrell Garnett was the leading scorer for the Cajuns as he tallied 14 points and showed the range with four triples.
Kent State would go on to win on the road in the home opener 70-66.
The next opponent to travel to the Cajundome was the UT Dallas Comets as Louisiana looked to bounce back after a tough loss. It was a good way for the Cajuns to let off some steam.
There will be no overreaction considering our opponent but an 82-65 victory against the Comets showed some good signs.
These early games are simply a feeling out process to figure out where exactly the team stands against different levels of opponents. The game was essentially over halfway through the second half as we separated ourselves with as much as a 23-point margin.
Louisiana didn’t play that great offensively but just like in the opener, our elite defense sparked the transition game where they got out for quick buckets in the paint.
The Cajuns forced 24 total turnovers and scored 30 points off of the Comets offensive mistakes. That’s something that they’re going to be good at this year and won’t really have a choice any other way.
Louisiana has a pretty small unit and no dominant, interior presence without Hosana Kitenge. Our abundance of smaller, quicker guards should cater to a more potent perimeter defense.
Running such a small lineup like Coach Bob Martin has been doing has allowed them to full-court press almost every defensive trip. The constant, nagging pressure has been the main catalyst to tiring out the opposing guards and forcing mental lapses, hence turnovers. Although it was a convincing win, the Cajuns will have to shoot better from behind the arc. Out of their 21 attempts they only made four.
Next up on the schedule, the Ragin’ Cajuns will be on the road for the first time battling the previously fourth-ranked team in the nation, the Houston Cougars. They just received their first loss to Auburn, so they’ll drop the rankings a bit.
However, they’re still a top team in the nation and playing them in Houston will be no easy task. That game is Wednesday, Nov. 13.