Louisiana’s Ragin’ Cajun men’s basketball team returns to the hardwood on Friday afternoon, when coach Bob Marlin’s squad takes on the Creighton Blue Jays, in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Creighton is the third-seed in the West Regional, while Louisiana is the 14th-seed.

The winner advances to the second round to take on either 6th-seed Baylor or 11th-seeded Nebraska on Sunday.

Louisiana, who will come into the match-up at 23-11, finished in third place in the Sun Belt Conference standings during the regular season, and qualified for the NCAA Tournament by winning the postseason Sun Belt Conference Tournament.

The Cajuns, who won 11 of their last 13 games, will be making their first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2005.

Creighton, who will bring an overall record of 26-7 into the contest, finished in second place in the Big East, right behind Villanova.

Offensively, UL led the Sun Belt Conference in scoring, averaging 81.4  points-per-game, while Creighton averaged 79.5 points a contest.

Defensively, the Cajuns ranked ninth in the Sun Belt, allowing 75.1 points-per-game, while the Blue Jays allowed 67.4 points a tilt.

Louisiana is led by junior guard Elfrid Payton, who is averaging 19.1 points-per-game, to go along with 6.0 assists-per-game, along with sophomore forward Shawn Long, who averaged 18.7 points, to go along with 10.5 rebounds a tit.

Creighton is paced by senior forward Doug McDermott, who leads the nation is scoring, averaging 26.9 points, as well as 7.0 rebounds a game.

The all-time series is tied, 2-2, with Creighton winning the last match-up, 63-58, back in 2010 in Omaha, Nebraska.

Tip-off time is scheduled for 2:10 pm.

You can hear all the play-by-play action ONLY on Hot 107.9, beginning with the pre-game show at 1:40 pm. Local broadcasts cannot be streamed during the NCAA tournament.

More From News Talk 96.5 KPEL