Every year, fans gather for college basketball games hoping to see their favorite team break through and achieve success. Whether it’s a conference championship or a trip to the NCAA Tournament, there are always goals to obtain.
Don’t look now, but the Louisiana Ragin Cajuns are making some noise in the Sun Belt Conference.
The Cajuns are hitting the halfway point of the conference season with their matchup Thursday night against Troy that’ll open a four-game home stand for Bob Marlin’s team. At 16-4 and 6-2 in the conference, there’s a lot to be proud of so far.
“This team is exciting and they’ve done a lot of good things,” Marlin said earlier this week. “They’ve made history already, but there are bigger things in front of us.”
Tonight’s contest with the Trojans kicks off Coaches vs Cancers week, where the coaches will wear suits and sneakers to raise money for cancer research.
Louisiana currently ranks in the Top 25 nationally in six different categories, including field goal percentage (9th), rebound margin (23rd), scoring offense (25th), and three-point percentage (7th). The Cajuns also lead the Sun Belt in four of those six statistics.
The Cajuns have been led all season long by preseason Player of the Year Jordan Brown, who is in his second season with Louisiana. Brown is averaging 19.8 points per game (25th nationally) with 7.9 rebounds per game as well. The former Pac-12 Sixth Man of the Year is shooting 56.7% from the field in 2022, which ranks 47th nationally.
Themus Fulks and Terence Lewis II are two newcomers that have made a large impact on Louisiana early on. Fulks, a Dodge City Community College transfer, is currently fifth in the country in assists while ranking 6th in assists per game from the point guard spot. Lewis, who joined the Cajuns from North Texas, currently ranks 13th in field goal percentage nationally, shooting 64.1% from the field through the first 20 games of the season.
Louisiana hasn’t played in the NCAA Tournament since 2014, which is the last time the Cajuns won the Sun Belt Tournament as well. Their last postseason appearance came in 2017-2018 when they won the regular season championship and played LSU in the NIT.
With 10 games remaining in the 2022 season, Louisiana will play seven of them in the friendly confines of the Cajundome, beginning tonight against Troy before hosting Georgia Southern this Saturday. The Fabulous Cajun CHicken will make his long-awaited return to the sidelines next Saturday against Marshall on Senior Night in a game that will have major implications on the Sun Belt standings down the final stretch of the season.