LAFAYETTE – Jordan Brown recorded the first 20-20 game by a Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns Men’s Basketball player in seven years and Greg Williams, Jr., posted his fifth straight 20-point game in a wire-to-wire 77-67 Sun Belt Conference victory over Marshall before a season-high crowd of 5,351 on Saturday at the Cajundome.
Brown scored a team-high 26 points and grabbed 14 of his career-high 20 rebounds in the first half to post the first 20-point, 20-rebound contest by a Ragin’ Cajun since Shawn Long (29 points, 20 rebounds) at Troy on Feb. 25, 2016.
The forward finished 10-for-19 from the floor for the game and scored 17 points in the first 20 minutes as Louisiana (20-4, 10-2 Sun Belt) extended its SBC win streak to 10 – tied for the second-longest in school history and first since winning 10 straight league games between Jan. 22-Feb. 26, 2011.
Playing before its largest home crowd since hosting Southern University in 2018, Louisiana held Marshall (19-6, 8-4 Sun Belt), the league’s No. 2-ranked scoring offense at 82.1 points per game, to 15 points below its average as the Ragin’ Cajuns harassed the Thundering Herd into missing 15 of their first 20 shots from the floor.
The Ragin’ Cajuns took advantage of the missed shots by opening with an 18-6 run that was capped by Themus Fulks’ layup with 13:05 remaining in the first half. Louisiana maintained its double-digit lead until Andrew Taylor’s 3-pointer just before the buzzer cut the score to 36-28 at halftime.
Louisiana would open the second half on a 10-4 run – including seven straight to open the second half - to push the lead back to double digits. Williams, who finished with 20 points on 8 of 14 shooting, hit a jumper to give Louisiana a double-digit lead before Brown scored on a dunk and Jalen Dalcourt followed with a 3-pointer for a 43-28 lead with 17:22 remaining.
Marshall would respond with a pair of baskets to close to within 43-32, but Joe Charles’ 3-pointer from the top of the key extended the lead for the Ragin’ Cajuns.
Taevion Kinsey, the SBC’s leading scorer at 21.1 points per game, scored seven of his game-high 28 points during a 16-5 for the Thundering Herd, who would close to within 56-49 with 6:15 left.
But Louisiana answered with a 9-2 run with Williams scoring seven during the spurt, capped by a dunk after driving past a Marshall defender along the left baseline.
Fulks added 12 points and seven assists for Louisiana with Terence Lewis II adding eight points and 10 rebounds. Charles added eight points for the Ragin’ Cajuns, who finished 29-for-58 from the floor and eclipsed the 50-percent mark from the floor for the 12th time during the 2022-23 season and first since 2017-18.
Defensively, Louisiana held a commanding 47-25 advantage on the glass with Brown and Lewis combing for 30 total boards, including a combined 12 offensive rebounds. The Ragin’ Cajuns held Marshall to 39 percent (24-for-62) from the floor and 7-for-20 from behind the 3-point line.
Taylor, the No. 3 scorer in the SBC entering the game, was held to seven points on 3 of 15 shooting while Kamdyn Curfman, averaging 12.2 points entering the game, finishing with nine on 3 of 10 aim.
Louisiana will hit the road for its next two games beginning with a Thursday night showdown at SBC co-leader Southern Miss (21-4, 10-2 Sun Belt). Tipoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+.
After facing the Golden Eagles, Louisiana will face Troy on Feb. 11 in a 4 p.m. contest at Trojan Arena before returning home to host ULM on Feb. 16 at 7 p.m.
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