Game 33 • #5 Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns (19-12, 10-8) vs. #8 South Alabama Jaguars (16-16, 8-10)
March 14, 2019 • 5 p.m. • Lakefront Arena (8,933) • New Orleans, La. • Sun Belt Tournament

THE COACHES
South Alabama
Richie Riley (Eastern Kentucky, 2005)
Record at USA: 16-16 (1st year)
Overall Record: 51-44 (3rd year)
Record vs. Louisiana: 0-3

Louisiana
Bob Marlin (Mississippi State, 1981)
Record at LA: 166-118 (8th year)
Overall Record: 391-249 (19th year)

LAST GAME
South Alabama advanced in the Sun Belt Tournament with a 75-67 win over Arkansas State on Tuesday. Louisiana won its regular-season finale in overtime, 90-87, at Arkansas State.

NEXT GAME
The winner will face No. 4 seed Texas State on Friday at 5 p.m.

ON THE AIR
Radio: 99.5 FM The Jag; J.T. Crabtree (pxp)
Web: 995thejag.com/listen (audio); ESPN+ (video); Matt Stewart (pxp), Bob Donewald (color)

RANKINGS (through March 11)
USA: #235 NET, #208 Sagarin
LA: #195 NET, #161 Sagarin

THE SERIES
Tied 27-27.

Current streak: Louisiana, won 5
USA's last win in series: 83-70 (2/27/16)
Last meeting: Louisiana 88, South Alabama 84 (1/24/19)
USA's last win in the Sun Belt Tournament: 62-59 (3/3/98)
LA's last win in the Sun Belt Tournament: 90-68 (3/11/16)
USA's record in the Sun Belt Tournament: 3-2
USA's record at a neutral site: 3-2
USA's neutral streak: Lost 2
USA's longest winning / losing streak in series: 4 / 5

Notes: South Alabama had a four-game win streak in the series ended in 2013-14 with the largest loss ever to LA (102-74)… The two teams traded wins in the 2008-09 (LA) and 2009-10 (USA) seasons by the same 67-65 score… LA has four wins vs. USA (three regular season, one SBC tournament) that were vacated due to NCAA penalties… The Ragin' Cajuns won the 2008-09 contest in Lafayette on a half-court shot by Randell Daigle… South Alabama's 88-64 win in 2012-13 broke a string of seven games in the series decided by six points or less, including two in overtime… Neither team has dominated the other for an extended period—the longest win streak by either school is five.

OPENING TIP
South Alabama has lost its last two Sun Belt Tournament meetings vs. Louisiana dating back to 2000 (last three on the court, counting a vacated win by ULL in 2004). The Cajuns bounced the Jaguars from the 2016 tournament 90-68 in Lakefront Arena.

A win Thursday would tie USA's most wins in a season since 2009. The Jags won 17 games in 2009-10, 2011-12 and 2012-13.

South Alabama shot 60.0 percent from the floor in the second half for the second straight game on Tuesday and seventh time this season. The team is 6-1 this season when hitting that mark after halftime.

Josh Ajayi and Trhae Mitchell represented South Alabama on the all-Sun Belt teams released Monday. Ajayi was named to the second team and Mitchell was named to the third. It is the first time the men's basketball program has had two all-conference honorees since 2008-09.

Ajayi posted his 10th 20-point game of the season Tuesday with a game-high 22. He shot 7 for 14 from the floor and 8 for 10 from the foul line.

Ajayi is averaging 24.0 points in his last two games and leads the Sun Belt in field-goal percentage (.562).

Ajayi barely missed a double-double with nine rebounds, his most since grabbing 10 vs. UT Arlington on Feb. 28. Ajayi has 10 double-doubles this season, second in the conference.

Trhae Mitchell came up just short of a triple-double vs. Arkansas State with 13 points, a career-high-tying 13 rebounds, and 8 blocks. The 8 blocks are tied for third in school history and one shy of the record.

Mitchell has 67 blocks this season, which ranks second in the Sun Belt behind Louisiana's JaKeenan Gant. That total is the second-highest ever by a South Alabama junior and fifth by any player. The single-season record is 85 set by Kelvin Kato in 1993-94.

Mitchell's double-double was his ninth of the season which ranks third in the conference. He has posted back-to-back double-doubles for the third time this season after putting up 18 and 11 at App State.

Mitchell also had 4 assists vs. Arkansas State to jump up two spots to 16th in USA's career history with 227. His 116 this season are the most by a Jaguar since 2007-08, and he's the second player in school history to have 200 rebounds and 100 assists in a season.

Kory Holden recorded his first 20-point outing since his first game of the season, at Southern Miss on Nov. 28. Holden went 5 for 10 from distance and 7 for 13 overall off the bench. He leads the team in 3-point percentage this season at 46.8 percent (59-126).

Rodrick Sikes went 2 for 5 from distance on Tuesday to move into a tie with Richard Law (2002-06) for fifth at South Alabama in career 3s with 161. Sikes is already fifth in 3-point attempts (453).

Sikes needs 23 points to score 1,000 points in his career. His scoring average of 15.3 ppg is 11th at USA.

Gant leads the league in double-doubles (12) and blocks (2.7 bpg), is second in rebounding (8.6 rpg) and field-goal percentage (.541), and third in scoring (20.4 ppg).

Gant had 28 points against the Jags earlier this season in Lafayette, and is averaging 17.7 points and 3.3 blocks in three career games.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/WeAreSouth_JAGS. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

Join the South Circle, the unrestricted giving option of the University of South Alabama Athletics. Contributions to South Circle directly support all 17 sports in addition to various support programming. For more information on how you can join visit: http://jaguarathleticfund.com/give
 
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