• Toke69
    464
    The Raging Cajuns of the Sun Belt Conference come to town as the Aggies return home for their last game for 10 days. On paper this looks like a win for UCD, but they don’t play the games on paper. Still, last season the Cajuns finished 12-21 and 11th in their conference. Louisiana shoots only around 40% from the field (28.5% from 3) which places them near the bottom of all Division 1 schools. This fits right in with the Ags defense which allows just about that percentage. It’s likely that the team is still trying to find an identity. They have nine players who have logged double digit minutes this season and all but two are newcomers, including four of the starters. On top of that they have new head coach. Bottom line is that this is a 1-5 team who most recently was blown out by Santa Clara, 43-80.

    Their best player is probably Jamyron Keller, but he has been injured since their second game and did not play in their loss to Santa Clara. The 6’3” Jr. guard was a 3-star prospect out of high school. He was averaging 17 ppg before he was hurt. Their most recent starting lineup has been guards De’Vion Lavergne and Dorian Finister and forwards Joshua Lewis, Jeremiah Evans, and Kyran Ratliff and the only returning starter. Prior to that, however, they tended to play a three guard lineup. Oddly, their top three rebounders are their guards, none averaging over 5 rpg. One of them, Jaxon Olvera is their second leading scorer (15.8 ppg) and I would not be surprised to see him start against UC Davis.
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.5k
    I hope the Ags don't overlook this game. It's a Monday night game during Thanksgiving week so there will probably be a small crowd so, with Louisiana coming in after being blown out by Santa Clara, this may be a hard game to get up for.
  • Toke69
    464
    Noting that this game completely overlaps with the 49ers on Monday night, I'm going to have to watch it on replay. Tough choice, but the 49ers need the win and the Ags are still early in their season and should win this one. If they don't I don't know if I want to see it.
  • DrMike
    1k
    they’ve been on the west coast since playing Stanford last Tuesday.
  • DrMike
    1k
    9.5 point favorites with 85% probability of winning. One dire days best bet is pick Davis giving the points. Hoping the Cajuns are anxious to get back home after a long week and we make quick work of them
  • agalum
    467
    Wife and I will be there. Hopefully less traffic than the last visit.
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.5k
    I don't think traffic should be much of an issue since it's Thanksgiving week and the crowd will most likely be very small unfortunately.
  • Oldbanduhalum
    653
    My daughter is in town, so we'll be there. Reliving her youth!
  • Toke69
    464
    As BlueGold noted, I hope they don't overlook this one.
  • DrMike
    1k
    I remember last year Norfolk State came in and we were solid favorites (6-point)...and got beat by 20. Norfolk ended up being really good (24 wins, 14th seed in the NCAA tournament), but at the time they looked like a likely "W" for us
  • eastbayaggie
    141
    NIce Aggie defense in the first break!
  • eastbayaggie
    141
    15-0 at the 12:59 mark
  • eastbayaggie
    141
    33-26 at the half. Louisiana cut it down to one point at one point.
  • Toke69
    464
    I'm watching on a delayed basis and I see that Louisiana is making a lot more threes than would be expected. Making a game out of it now 21-11 where I sit.
  • eastbayaggie
    141
    Then you probably don't want to read what I type. I think I might just keep my mouth shut so I don't ruin your delayed view. :)
  • Toke69
    464
    No problem. I just won't read the thread until I'm done watching.
  • SochorField
    515
    Catching the last 5 minutes.
    Haven't seen a game in a while.

    Cooper is very talented.
    Railing along the court looks terrible.
    Court logos look great.
    I haven't liked how everything has progressively gotten further from the court since I was a student.
    Does Coach Simpson often do games with Marsh? He was always a nice guy around campus as I remember (him and Biggs were always down to chat with students like me).

    *game outcome edited for Mr. Toke my bad!*
  • Toke69
    464
    It looked like the Ags got complacent after the first 8 minutes and relaxed too much on defense. Give credit to the Ragin' Cajuns for not folding and their ability to hit 3s in the latter part of the first half put the Aggies on their heels. The final score does not indicate how close it really was as UL got desperate nrear the ned and their 3-pt. % fell back to where it was when they cam into the game.
  • agalum
    467
    Niko continues to be a dominant force. This year he’s nailing his FTs and burying his 3’s. And dominating the paint. Its hard on a defense when we have multiple guys in double figures.
  • CA Forever
    883
    I don't catch many games due to being on the east coast, but I tuned in last night and those railings are atrocious. They literally cut off part of the court. Mickey mouse set up.
  • DrMike
    1k
    Kinda odd game last night. Come out of the chutes hitting shots and playing shutdown defense - i don’t think they got a shot off with more than 3 seconds on the shot clock in their first 10 or so possessions. Our FTs almost doomed us - they were in the bonus with 16 left, double with about 10 and we couldn’t take advantage. Missed several front ends of 1-1, and 2 straight 0-2. Probably had 6 possessions in a row without a point and let them back in it.

    Fortunately, FTs got better in second half and offense settled; coupled with aggressive defense and it’s a blowout. Wilson is really good in both ends. Nico’s offense is a revelation (although he still looks to pass out when he has a good shot at the bucket).

    These rails must be a bigger deal on TV than in person (at least to my old eyes). I don’t notice them at all.

    Okay crowd, pretty solid student turnout (I like ‘the barn’ section under the basket). We had a new student sideline announcer with one of the great voices you’ll ever hear - young man has potential!
  • Toke69
    464
    Now there is a long break before the team heads out to Hawai`i for a very early Big West match. Stay tuned.
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.5k
    The railing on the student side does not look good on TV but, like you, I don't notice it from our seats on the west side of the court. The ESPN+ cameras are aimed at an angle down to the court from above the east side seats and and it makes the railing look like it is blocking the view of the fans in the lower seats and it is very noticeable at the bottom of the TV screen spanning the length of the court. It looks like they need it there because there is now quite a drop-off between the bottom aisle and the level of the court but it is an eye sore on TV.

    The new Aggie Pack announcer's voice is awesome and he did a great job last night even with the small crowd. We need him at the Aggie football games since Darius is retiring.
  • DrMike
    1k
    Here’s a statistical oddity: The Cajuns had ZERO fast break points. That almost seems impossible! Our turnovers were low but you’d think there’d be one errant pass would roll into the back court for an easy layup!
  • Oldbanduhalum
    653
    absolutely one of the biggest takes from last nights game was the new Aggie pack announcer. That man is going to make a big time living on his voice alone!
  • DrMike
    1k
    just sent a text to someone in the department to get him out to football playoff game! For his first game, he was great!
  • Toke69
    464
    I had no problem with the guy doing the color yesterday, but he's no Bob Williams. Anyone know if Coach Simpson is now the permanent guy?
  • BlueGoldAg
    1.5k
    They've had several color commentators so far this season: Tom Abatemarco, Darius Graham and Sandy Simpson but we haven't see Bob Williams though. I'm not sure if they have a permanent guy right now.
bold
italic
underline
strike
code
quote
ulist
image
url
mention
reveal
youtube
tweet
Add a Comment

Welcome to Aggie Sports Talk!

AggieSportsTalk.com, the pulse of Aggie athletics. The home of Aggie Pride. Create an account to contribute to the conversation!