Men's Hoops To Host Louisiana-Lafayette On Saturday In Lakefront Arena

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NEW ORLEANS – The University of New Orleans men's basketball team will look to remain undefeated at home when the Privateers play host to in-state rival Louisiana-Lafayette on Saturday, Dec. 17, in Lakefront Arena. The game is slated to tipoff at 2 p.m. and will be broadcast live on Cox Sports Television.

UNO is a perfect 3-0 at home to date with wins of 103-67 over LaGrange College on Nov. 11, 90-63 over Florida College on Nov. 25 and 74-59 over Tulane on Nov. 29. The Privateers have now won their last four games on their home court dating back to a 97-86 over Northwestern State on March 5, 2016. Since the completion of Lakefront Arena for the 1983-84 season, New Orleans is now 307-99 in the facility including a 43-20 mark under sixth-year head coach Mark Slessinger.

"It's exciting to be back in Lakefront Arena and have the opportunity to play another storied rival in our program's history," Slessinger said. "We're excited to host the Cajuns, and hopefully play at a good clip again. We've played pretty well at home this year and have historically. With any luck, we can keep that rolling tomorrow."

The Privateers enter the weekend showdown 4-4 on the young season and looking to bounce back from an 83-49 loss to Northwestern on Dec. 11 in Evanston, Ill. Prior to the loss against the Wildcats, UNO had won its previous three games after tagging a 70-54 decision to its victories over Florida College and Tulane.

As a team, New Orleans is averaging 72.5 points, 37.2 rebounds, 15.4 assists, 7.6 steals and 3.5 blocks per game. Senior forward Erik Thomas leads the Privateers offensively with 20.5 points per game, followed by senior guard Christavious Gill with an average of 13.5 and junior forward Travin Thibodeaux with a mark of 9.1. Thomas also paces the team with 7.8 rebounds a night and shares the steals lead with Gill at 1.4 thefts per outing apiece. Gill leads the squad with 3.7 assists per game and junior forward Makur Puou headlines the defense with 1.8 blocked shots per contest.

New Orleans is connecting at a .455 clip from the field, hitting 209-of-459 shots from the floor and 40-of-118 tries from beyond the 3-point arc (.339), while allowing opponents to shoot .445 overall (218-of-490) and .333 from 3-point land (59-of-177). Privateer foes are averaging 76.0 points, 33.9 rebounds, 14.4 assists, 9.0 steals and 4.0 blocks so far in 2016-17.

"We turned the ball over way too much [against Northwestern] and created too many possessions for them," Slessinger said. "We did a good job of taking their best player out, holding Vic Law to 1-for-10 shooting. But the turnovers and the points off turnovers were the difference in the game for us. Not being able to keep that number down really created too small of a margin for error which we weren't able to overcome.

"We've got to take care of the ball and we really have to try and limit their shooters from getting going. They're very good in offensive transition so we'll have to limit their fast-break points and, as always, rebound it very well."

Louisiana-Lafayette comes to town 8-3 on the season and, like New Orleans, aiming to put a loss in its rearview mirror as the Ragin' Cajuns saw an eight-game winning streak halted with a 73-60 loss at Georgia on Dec. 14.

As a team, the Cajuns are averaging 87.4 points, 40.9 rebounds, 14.3 assists, 8.6 steals and 3.3 blocks per game. Frank Barley leads a balanced UL-Lafayette offense with 18.4 points per game while Bryce Washington, Jay Wright and Justin Miller follow with respective scoring averages of 14.9, 13.5 and 10.7. Washington is averaging a double-double to date with a team-best 11.8 rebounds per game and also paces the team with 1.1 blocks per game. Wright leads the squad with 4.2 assists per outing and shares team-high steal honors with Bartley at 2.3 thefts per contest each.

Louisiana-Lafayette is hitting 48.4 percent of its shots from the field, connecting on 337-of-697 field goal attempts, including a 73-of-212 showing from beyond the 3-point line (.344). The Ragin' Cajun defense has allowed opponents to post a 44.9 shooting percentage (288-of-641) and a 35.2 clip from 3-point land (81-of-230) and their foes are averaging 72.6 points, 31.5 rebounds, 12.1 assists, 6.0 steals and 4.1 blocks per game.

"They're really good in offensive transition," Slessinger said of the Cajuns. "They can score very early in the shot clock and attack you. They've done a good job with that. They've got several guards that can score a lot of different ways. They're posts are skilled. They can shoot and pass, and they really try and stretch you out and not let you pack it back. It'll be interesting to see how we can matchup and see if we can use some of our strengths in different areas to put them in some tough situations."

Saturday's game between New Orleans and Louisiana-Lafayette marks 71st time the two teams will meet on the hardwood and the Ragin' Cajuns hold a 38-32 lead in the all-time series.

Playing at home has been a big advantage in the series as the Privateers are 17-13 against the Ragin' Cajuns in New Orleans and just 13-21 when playing in Lafayette. The two teams have also played six neutral-site contests, where the Cajuns hold a 4-2 edge.

UNO has lost the last three head-to-head meetings with UL-Lafayette, including a 79-69 defeat on Dec. 21 in the Cajundome, and the last win in the series came the last time the Ragin' Cajuns came to down – Jan. 8, 2009 – when the Privateers came away with a 61-58 victory.

The game against the Ragin' Cajuns is the start of a busy stretch for the New Orleans squad as UNO will play at Utah State on Dec. 19 before returning home to take on Williams Baptist on Dec. 21 in Lakefront Arena. For tickets the UL-Lafayette and Williams Baptist games, as well as future Privateer Athletics events, contact the UNO Athletics Ticket Office over the phone at (504) 280-GAME (4263) or via the Internet by clicking HERE.