NEW ORLEANS – The Texas State men's basketball team is aiming for its second straight appearance in the semifinals of the Sun Belt Conference Championship but will have to go through regular-season champion Louisiana to do so. The quarterfinal contest will take place at 11:30 a.m. Friday in Lakefront Arena.
 
Entering the game, the Bobcats are 15-17 on the season while the Ragin' Cajuns are 26-5 after going 16-2 in conference play.
 
Fans can listen to the game on the radio on 103.1 FM The Zone out of Austin and KTSW 89.9 FM out of San Marcos with Bill Culhane (play-by-play) and Brant Freeman (color) \on the call. The contest will also be streamed through the TuneIn Radio app on mobile devices.
 
Streaming on ESPN3, commentators for the game are Matt Stewart (play-by-play) and Bob Donewald (color).
 
Nijal Pearson is coming off a 20-point performance as he became the first TXST player to recorde back-to-back 20-point contests since Kavin Gilder-Tilbury did so last season. In the first-round game against the Chanticleers, the sophomore moved into ninth in both field goal attempts (424) and three-pointer field goal attempts (174) for a season. He also tied Ojai Black for 10th for most career starts at 69.
 
Eric Terry had a career day with 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting and went 4-for-5 at the free-throw line on Wednesday. Other big performances for the Bobcats from the first round were Tyler Blount's 14-point game, while Tre'Larenz Nottingham added 10 points with a 7-for-8 mark at the charity stripe.
 
Scouting Louisiana
Louisiana ended the regular season with a 72-61 overtime loss at home to Little Rock. Prior to the defeat, the Ragin' Cajuns had won six straight. UL is 2-1 this season when playing at a neutral site. The Cajuns defeated Iowa (80-71) and Richmond (82-76) while falling to Wyoming (70-61) in the Cayman Islands Classic.
 
Pacing UL in scoring (17.4) and free throw percentage (87.0) is Frank Bartley. The first team All-Sun Belt selection is shooting 43.3 percent from the field and 38.0 percent on three-pointers with a team best 73 made treys. He has also recorded 39 steals and is averaging 3.4 rebounds per game.
 
JaKeenan Gant is putting up 14.7 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, the second most on the team in both categories. He is shooting a team-high 56.1 percent from the field and has blocked 72 shots. The conference's Defensive and Newcomer of the year has also connected on 32.6 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc and 69.2 percent at the charity stripe.
 
Bryce Washington averaged a double-double of 10.6 ppg and 10.7 rpg to earn All-SBC first team honors. He has made 53.6 percent from the field, recorded 40 steals and blocked 26 shots.
 
The fourth UL player to average over double-figures is Johnathan Stove at 10.6 ppg. Primarily coming off the bench, he is made 53.7 percent of his shot attempts and 81.7 percent from the free throw line.
 
Putting up 8.6 ppg with 51 made three-pointers is Malik Marquetti, who is averaging 8.6 ppg. Both Justin Miller (6.8) and Marcus Stroman (6.5) are netting just over six points a contest. Stroman is second in the conference with 6.4 assists per game and has recorded a team-high 49 steals.
 
Cedric Russell has made 50 three-pointers and is shooting 43.1 percent from long distance.
 
All-Time vs. Ragin' Cajuns
The all-time series has seen Louisiana win 10 of the 11 meetings including both regular season games. The lone win for the Bobcats came on Feb. 20, 2016 in Strahan Coliseum by the score of 61-57. Only once before has the teams met in the Sun Belt Tournament. That came in the 2015 quarterfinals and was won by the Ragin' Cajuns 53-43.
 
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 Instagram and Twitter at @TxStateMBB and like on Facebook at /TexasStateMensBasketball.