Former UL Star Shawn Long Has Monster Game
A former Louisiana Ragin' Cajun basketball star recently had a career night at the professional level.
Shawn Long, who played for Louisiana from 2013-2016, scored 43 points to help his Korean Basketball League team, Hyundai Mobis Phoebus, to a 92-88 win over the Sonic Boom on Wednesday.
The 43-point performance by Long is the highest individual scoring output by a single player in the Korean Basketball League this season and ranks as the most points in a single game in Long's professional career.
Long went 14-of-24 from the field, including 2-of-3 from beyond the three-point arc, and 13-of-16 from the free-throw line, while also pulling down 14 rebounds.
The Korean Basketball League, which was founded in 1997, features ten teams who play a 54-game schedule.
This is Long's first season in the KBL, after spending two seasons in the National Basketball League, which is compiled of nine teams, including eight in New Zealand and one in Australia.
Long is having an outstanding season in South Korea, currently leading the KBL in both scoring (20.0) and rebounding (11.4), while shooting 53% from the field.
He has helped Mobis Phoebus to an overall record of 21-13, which ranks second in the league.
Long appeared in 18 games for the Philadelphia Sixers during the 2016-2017 season, his first in the NBA, averaging 8.2 PPG and 4.7 RPG in 13.0 minutes per contest.
Prior to signing with the Sixers, Long was a standout in the G League in his first professional season, averaging a double-double (20.2 PPG, 11.1 RPG) in 39 games for the Delaware 87ers, an affiliate of the Philadelphia 76ers.
A forward/center, Long began the 2017-2018 season with the Xinjiang Flying Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association, where he averaged over 12.0 points and 6.0 rebounds per contest, before playing again in the G League with the 87ers, averaging 14.6 PPG and 7.7 RPG in 33 games, following his 13-game stint in China.
A native of Morgan City, Long scored 2,342 points and compiled 1,447 rebounds in his career at UL, becoming the first player to school history to score 2,000 points, while also pulling down 1,000 rebounds.
Long’s career points are the third-most in Cajun basketball history, while his rebound number ranks first.
The 6-foot-9, 248-pound Long was named a first-team All-Sun Belt Conference selection three times.