Geaux Cajuns

Despite having its 12-game home win streak snapped on Saturday against South Alabama, the Ragin' Cajuns sit just a game back of first place in the Sun Belt Conference and have a chance to surge back into a tie for first place on Monday when they face in-state rival and league-leading ULM at the Cajundome.

THE LAST TIME OUT
Shawn Long put in 22 points and pulled in a career-high 22 rebounds, but South Alabama shot 66.7 percent from the floor in the second half and came back from down as much as 15 points in the first half to upset the Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns 89-82 on Saturday night at the Cajundome.

South Alabama trailed 25-10 with just over eight minutes to play in the first half before catching fire, hitting 55.2 percent from the floor for the game and canning 20 of 30 shots in the second half alone. Meanwhile, the Cajuns had their roughest shooting night of the year at home, hitting just 39.7 percent from the floor and 6-for-20 from three in seeing their 12-game home winning streak come to a close.

The loss negated an otherwise big statistical night from Long, who had a double-double by halftime. The junior big man hit just 6-for-18 from the floor, but was a career-best 10-for-13 at the foul line to fuel a 22-point night to go with his 22 rebounds.

South Alabama put five players in double figures, led by Ken Williams who hit 9-for-14 from the floor and finished with a career-high 28 points, including 14 points in a 54-point second half for the Jaguars. Taishaun Johnson picked up a double-double for USA as well, with 15 points and 10 rebounds.

UP NEXT
Monday's game opens up a three-game week for the Cajuns with a home meeting with Arkansas State awaiting UL on Thursday before traveling to Atlanta, Ga., on Saturday to take on Georgia State for the second time this season.


QUICK HITS
• Shawn Long's 22-point, 22-rebound game is the first 20/20 game by a Cajun since Dan Gay had 21 points and 20 rebounds against McNeese State on March 7, 1981.

• Saturday's loss to South Alabama snapped a 12-game home win streak for the Ragin' Cajuns. It was the longest home win streak for UL in the Bob Marlin era.

• UL won 10 of its first 11 games when out-rebounding its opponent, but has dropped each of its last two games despite owning the edge on the glass against Georgia Southern and South Alabama.

• South Alabama took the lead for good at the 5:53 mark of the second half on Saturday. The Ragin' Cajuns are now 0-7 when trailing the 5-minute mark, while owning a 10-0 record when leading.

• Louisiana had its streak of eight straight games scoring at least 80 points snapped at Georgia Southern. It was the longest such streak for UL since the 1989-90 squad had 11 straight 80+-point games to start the season.

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