Ragin’ Cajuns invading Kansas

Louisiana-Lafayette hoping to make impression

The guy driving Louisiana-Lafayette’s team bus Friday was surprised to hear of the school’s unique nickname.

“Our bus driver had no idea what Ragin’ Cajuns are,” first-year coach Robert Lee said Friday after pulling into Lawrence for tonight’s nonconference contest against Kansas University (7 p.m., Allen Fieldhouse).

“I said, ‘After tomorrow, you will remember the Cajuns one way or another,'” Lee added with a laugh.

A Cajun is a “Louisianian descended from French-speaking immigrants from Acadia.” A Ragin’ Cajun is a Louisiana-Lafayette basketball player.

“Our style is, we like to get it up the floor, but we have to be selective in our shot selection,” said Lee, whose 3-3 squad is led by 6-foot-6 East Tennessee State transfer Tiras Wade, who averages 18.7 points and 5.7 rebounds a game.

Two other transfers — Orien Greene (Florida) and Dwayne Mitchell (Auburn) — average 14.7 and 7.8 points respectively.

The Cajuns, who are three-time defending Sun Belt West Conference champions, won’t be shocked by the caliber of competition tonight. Louisiana-Lafayette already has played a tough schedule, having lost at LSU (83-69), at Georgia State (85-78) and at Charlotte (84-64) while defeating Louisiana Tech (84-63), Rice (75-61) and St. Mary’s (79-63) at home.

Earlier this week, a Lafayette Advertiser reporter asked Lee if it would be “fun” taking his team to No. 2-ranked KU today and No. 12 North Carolina State the following Wednesday.

“I told him that fun stuff can be overrated,” said Lee, who worked the past eight years as an assistant at Louisiana-Lafayette, taking over after coach Jessie Evans departed for San Francisco and replacement Glynn Cyprien had to resign over resume issues.

“Maybe for you, it will be fun,” he said of KU fans. “I don’t know how much fun it’ll be for us. I hope we can have some fun. We are a very athletic team, but we’re playing against pros.”

KU coach Bill Self is wary of the Cajuns’ athleticism.

“TCU is the quickest team, athletic and very fast. This team is the running, jumping team,” Self said. “This team will be the best-looking team we’ve played thus far as far as having long athletes who can play above the rim. They’ve got athletes who can go make plays.”

The Cajuns return two starters — 6-11 Chris Cameron and 6-6 Brian Hamilton — from last year’s 20-9 NCAA Tournament team.

“We scheduled this because we needed a game, and it gives us an opportunity to play in Allen Fieldhouse which will be a great experience for our guys,” Lee said.

As far as the N.C. State game, the Cajuns fell to the Wolfpack, 61-52, in a first-round NCAA Tournament game in March in Orlando, Fla.

“It’s a game we felt we let get away,” Lee said. “It was the only way to get an opportunity to play them again. These games will help us mentally prepare for the Sun Belt Conference. We’ve done well in the past (in league). We want to continue the trend.”

He hopes his Cajuns, who have 74 steals in six games, can resemble the squad that forced 31 turnovers off 17 steals in a home win over Rice.

“The main concern is keeping them off the glass,” Lee said. “The No. 1 preseason team presents a tremendous challenge for our team. We’re excited about it.”

And excited about spending some time in Lawrence and experiencing some Midwest hospitality.

“I don’t know how friendly they’ll be between the hours of 7 and 9 p.m.,” Lee joked, “but I think everybody will be great to us before and after the game. One of our coaches was at a tournament where (former KU coach) Roy Williams was at last night in New Orleans. Roy said, ‘You have no idea what you’re getting into.'”

¢ Louisiana-Lafayette has an enrollment of 16,561 and is located in Lafayette, La. The team plays in the Sun Belt Conference and has colors of vermillion and white, with the nickname of Ragin’ Cajuns. The school’s official name is The University of Louisiana at Lafayette. However, the sports teams wish to be referred to as Louisiana-Lafayette. The teams do not wish to be referred to as ULL, UL Laf., La-Lafayette or Lafayette.¢ Louisiana-Lafayette leads the all-time series with Kansas University, 1-0. Then-Southwestern Louisiana defeated Larry Brown’s Jayhawks, 54-45, Dec. 29, 1983, in the championship game of the Sugar Bowl Classic in New Orleans. The school’s name was changed in 1999.¢ The Cajuns have defeated Louisiana Tech (84-63), Rice (75-61) and St. Mary’s (79-63) and lost to LSU (83-69), Georgia State (85-78) and Charlotte (84-68).¢ The Cajuns, who are in their final-exams period, last played Dec. 4 at home versus St. Mary’s.¢ Louisiana-Lafayette is three-time defending Sun Belt West Division champion with postseason berths in the 2004 NCAA Tournament and 2002 and ’03 NIT Tourneys. The Cajuns lost to North Carolina State, 61-52, in a first-round NCAA game last year in Orlando, Fla.¢ Head coach Robert Lee is in his ninth season overall with the program. Lee, 36, is a New Roads, La., native and 1991 graduate of Nicholls State. He spent the previous eight seasons serving on the staffs of former head coaches Marty Fletcher (1996-97) and Jessie Evans (1997-2004). He was promoted after Glynn Cyprien first accepted the job, then was denied the job after problems with Cyprien’s resume.¢ Tiras Wade, who came to Louisiana-Lafayette after transferring from East Tennessee State following the 2002-03 season, has led the Cajuns in scoring in all six games. He averages 18.7 ppg. Chris Cameron and Orien Greene each had 15 points with less than a minute left in the Rice game Nov. 27. But Wade drove the lane for a basket with :38 left to eclipse the duo in scoring.¢ Louisiana-Lafayette last beat a ranked team Dec. 28, 1992, when the Cajuns stopped North Carolina, 109-80, in the Rainbow Classic in Hawaii.¢ UL-Lafayette has 74 steals this season for an average of 12.3 per game, which ranks as the best average in the Sun Belt. At the current pace, the Cajuns would eclipse the school record of 327 steals set in 1995-96. Greene and Brian Hamilton have 23 and 19 steals respectively.¢ Aaron Miles needs 18 assists to become the Big 12’s career assists leader and 29 to become KU’s all-time leader.