UL junior forward Shawn Long

 

Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajun men’s basketball team returns to the hardwood on Saturday afternoon, when coach Bob Marlin’s squad takes on the Georgia St. Panthers in the semifinal round of the Sun Belt Conference Championships at the Lakefront Arena in New Orleans, La..

Tip-off time is scheduled for 1 o’clock, and you can hear all the play-by-play action on our sister-station, Hot 107.9 FM & 1079ishot.com, beginning with the pregame show at 12:30 pm.

The Cajuns, who are the four-seed in the tournament, defeated the Panthers, the top-seed, after winning the regular season championship, 82-81, in overtime in last year's championship game.

The winner will advance to the finals on Sunday at noon.

Louisiana, who is coming off of a 53-43 quarterfinal win over Texas St. on Friday, their seventh-consecutive victory, is 20-12 on the season, while Georgia St., who drew a double-bye in the tournament, is currently 22-9.

The Cajuns are outscoring the opposition, 77.3/69.1, while out-shooting foes from the floor, 45.6%/42.2%, while holding down a 40.1/33.2 rebounding edge.

UL is paced by junior forward Shawn Long, who leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, at 16.6 ppg, and 10.4 rpg, respectively, and senior forward Brian Williams, who is averaging 10.1 points, to go along with 3.7 rebounds a contest.

The Panthers are out-scoring the opposition, 72.7/62.5, while out-shooting foes from the field, 48.4%/38.2%, and being out-rebounded, 33.4/32.8.

Georgia St. is paced by senior guard Ryan Harrow, who is averaging 20.2 points and 2.2 rebounds-per-game, along with junior guard R.J. Hunter, who is averaging 19.7 points, to go along with 4.8 rebounds a contest.

The two teams split the two regular season match-ups, with Louisiana winning, 84-80, in Lafayette, and Georgia coming out on top, 75-64, in Atlanta, Georgia.

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