Men's Basketball Sun Belt Conference

Ragin’ Cajuns Cruise to SBC Semifinals

PENSACOLA, Fla. - A 23-2 run in the middle stages of the second half helped the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (17-8) pull away to a comfortable 79-68 win over the University of South Alabama Jaguars (17-11) in the Sun Belt Conference Men's Basketball Championship Quarterfinals Saturday night at Hartsell Arena.

“It was a hard-fought basketball game,” said Louisiana Head coach Bob Marlin. “They were coming in with a lot of confidence after their win over Louisiana-Monroe yesterday, and we knew they would be a tough test for us.”

South Alabama led big early in the game. After a driving layup from Louisiana’s Mylik Wilson opened the scoring, South Alabama got back-to-back threes from Tyreke Locure and Michael Flowers to take a 6-2 lead. The Jaguars led for the remainder of the first half. USA built its lead to as many as 11 at the 9:33 mark on a fast break layup from John Pettway. The Ragin’ Cajuns clawed back to within one late in the half on a layup from Theo Akwuba, but the Jaguars led by four at the half, 33-29.

“We had some stops, defensively, and we played a little bit of zone, we went back man, we switched it up a couple of times,” Marlin said of the adjustments made that ignited his team, “ [and] just dig in and give ‘em one shot.”

In the early moments of the second half, though, the Jaguars continued to hold the lead. USA pushed its lead back out to nine at 16:09 on another triple from Locure that made the score 43-34 in favor of the Jaguars, but at that point, the Ragin’ Cajuns began to rally.

Wilson scored five quick points for Louisiana, and with 13:07 to play, a 3-pointer from Cedric Russell drew the Ragin’ Cajuns even at 46. That was in the middle of Louisiana’s 23-2 run, which spanned more than six minutes, during which the Ragin Cajuns’ held the Jaguars without a made field goal. Louisiana’s lead eventually reached as many as 16 points, and the Ragin’ Cajuns coasted to the 79-68 win.

Akwuba led all scorers with 19 points, and four other Louisiana players joined him in double-figures. Wilson and Don Gueye each poured in 16, and Devin Butts and Kobe Julien each notched 11 apiece. Akwuba, Wilson, and Gueye each had double-doubles, grabbing 14, 10, and 11 rebounds, respectively. Wilson added six assists and three steals as well, and Akwuba had three rejections.

For the Jaguars, Pettway paced the effort with 16 points, and Sam Iorio (14), Flowers (13), and Kayo Goncalves (12) also broke the 10-point barrier. 

The Ragin Cajuns’ dominated on the glass. They out-rebounded the Jaguars 53-29 in the game, and they reeled in 22 offensive rebounds. Louisiana turned those second chance opportunities into 26 points, and they put up a whopping 50 points in the paint.

The Ragin’ Cajuns have punched their ticket to the semifinal round of the SBC tournament, where they will take on the Georgia State University Panthers (15-5). The game is slated for a 5:30 p.m. CT tip-off at the Bay Center, and it will be televised on ESPN+.