Louisiana-Lafayette’s men’s basketball team didn’t enjoy its stay Saturday night in Lawrence, partly because of the 96-51 pounding it took from Kansas University, and partly because it didn’t really want to be here in the first place.
The Ragin’ Cajuns had two holes in their schedule, and KU was one of the few teams offering to fill a void.
After the Ragin’ Cajuns’ lopsided loss at Allen Fieldhouse, coach Robert Lee questioned the wisdom of making the trek to KU.
“I’ll be perfectly honest with you, yes, there are second thoughts from coming here,” Lee said. “We’ve got to do a good enough job as a coaching staff to make sure mentally it doesn’t break you down, because it can break you down mentally.”
KU gave Louisiana-Lafayette all the mental and physical beating it could handle, especially in the first half, when the Jayhawks surged to a 54-22 lead behind Keith Langford’s 19 points.
The Cajuns couldn’t stop the Jayhawks from scoring around the basket early. The Jayhawks took a 16-6 lead with a pair of dunks from Wayne Simien and six quick points from Langford as he drove down the lane nearly untouched each time.
Once the Cajuns managed to tighten their defense, the Jayhawks had no problem switching to perimeter shooting. They made eight three-point shots in the first half.
Meanwhile, the Cajuns shot an abysmal 32 percent from the field and made fewer than half their free-throw opportunities.
“Shooting is a question mark for this team,” Lee said. “We don’t have enough guys that can jump up and make shots, so with us not being able to execute, it forced us into the wrong guys taking shots.”
Guard Tiras Wade was one of the few bright spots for the Cajuns. Wade scored 12 points. Forward Brian Hamilton also chipped in 12 points, but half of them came from the free-throw line. Hamilton also turned the ball over five times.
“We’re just not very good shooters right now,” Lee said.
It didn’t get much better for Cajuns defensively, either.
ULL had allowed opponents to hit 50 percent of their shots. KU hit 57.6 percent.
Defensive ugliness forced the Cajuns to hack and foul.
Fortunately for the Cajuns, the Jayhawks struggled from the free-throw line, making 16 of 28 attempts.
“We couldn’t contain the dribble, we couldn’t keep them off the glass, and when you can’t contain the dribble and can’t keep them off the glass, all you can do is reach and foul,” Lee said.
The Cajuns were the sixth victim this season of a stout Jayhawks lineup made all the more daunting by a raucous crowd. Lee said playing in Allen Fieldhouse was tougher than ULL’s visits to Arizona and the NCAA Tournament last year.
“It’s not even close to this. I mean, this atmosphere and the crowd and everything about it goes unmatched,” Lee said. “We might as well try Duke next year.”
WIBW video: WIBW video: KU blows out UL-Lafayette
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Get the stats: KU vs. UL-Lafayette box score
Photo Gallery: KU vs. UL-Lafayette
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