Men's Basketball | 1/20/2017 2:04:00 PM

SAN MARCOS, Texas – After a trip to Alabama last weekend, the Texas State men's basketball team returns to Strahan Coliseum for a 4:30 p.m. contest against Louisiana on Saturday.
 
The Bobcats enter the game with a 10-7 record on the season and 3-2 in the Sun Belt Conference while the Ragin' Cajuns are 12-6 overall and 2-3 in conference action.
 
Live stats, audio and video will be available for the game with Bill Culhane calling the game on either 1300 The Zone (1300 AM) or 103.1 FM out of Austin and on KTSW 89.9 FM out of San Marcos.
 
Promotion
One lucky participant will have a chance to attempt a half court shot during the game for a chance to win $10,000 from UFCU.
 
Last Time Out
Five Texas State players reached double-figures in points in a four-point victory at Troy, the most in a game since five netted at least 10 on Jan. 15, 2015 at Georgia State. Leading the way was Kavin Gilder-Tilbury with a game-high 17 points. With is final point of the contest, he moved past Jeff Foster for 16th on the program's career scoring list with 1,085 career points.
 
Nijal Pearson posted the second double-double of his young career with 15 points and 11 rebounds, tying his career-high. He also added three assists and three steals.
 
Recording his third straight double-digit scoring game was Bobby Conley with 13. He went 5-for-10 form the field for the second game in-a-row while connecting on 3-of-5 shots from beyond the arc.
 
Both Ojai Black and Immanuel King netted 12 points apiece. For King, it was a new career-high as the junior made 6-of-8 from the field. Black did most of his damage at the charity stripe, connecting on all eight of his attempts.
 
With the win Texas State matched its best start in school history in SBC play, matching the 2014-15 squad.
 
Scouting Louisiana
Louisiana is coming off a rough weekend at home that saw the team drop games to Georgia Southern and Georgia State. When playing on the road this season, the Ragin' Cajuns are 4-4 with victories over James Madison, Little Rock, McNeese and New Orleans. Their losses have been to Arkansas State, Georgia, Minnesota and Montana State.
 
Four players are averaging 10 or more points per game led by Frank Bartley IV's 15.1. He has made 44.4 percent of his shots, 35.1 percent from long range and 73.5 percentage at the free throw line. He is tied for the team lead of 34 made three-pointers with PJ Hardy and is second in assists (2.6/game) and steals (30).
 
Jay Wright is averaging 14.6 points per game but has made just 28.6 percent of his three-point attempts and 69.6 percent at the charity stripe. The senior point guard paces Louisiana with 3.9 assists per game and his 2.1 steals per game mark leads the league and is 28th in the nation.
 
Bryce Washington has recorded 15 double-doubles this season, tied for the most in the country, and is averaging 14.4 ppg and a conference best and third in the nation 12.2 rebounds per game. He leads the team in field goal percentage (57.3) and blocks (17) buts has struggled at the free throw line (59.6%).
 
The fourth player putting up double-digit points is Justin Miller at 10.3 per contest. He is also retrieving 4.7 rpg, the second most on the team.
 
Johnathan Stove enters averaging 8.4 ppg and 3.9 rpg. Hardy is shooting a team-high 53.1 percent from beyond the arc while putting up 7.2 ppg.
 
All-Time Series
The Ragin' Cajuns have dominated the all-time series 7-1. Texas State picked up its first ever victory over Louisiana in last year's meeting in Strahan Coliseum. Leading the charge in the 61-57 contest was Emani Gant with 19 points and eight rebounds and Black with 14 points that matched his then career-high.
 
All but one of the meetings has been a SBC game. The lone exception was the first ever meeting on Feb. 8, 1959 in Lafayette, Louisiana.
 
The 2017 Sun Belt Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Championships are scheduled for a week of March Madness in the Big Easy.  New Orleans will once again be home to the two championships that will take place at Lakefront Arena from March 7-12 and ticket books can now be purchased from your school's ticket office.  For more information, visit the Sun Belt Conference's championship central websites - Men's Championship – Women's Championship – and be sure to follow the #FunBelt on social media - @SunBelt.
 
For the latest on Texas State men's basketball, visit the official website of Texas State athletics at www.txstatebobcats.com, follow the team on Twitter at @TxStateMBB, Instagram at @TxStateMBB and like on Facebook at /TexasStateMensBasketball.