Dec. 13, 2011
GameDay Central
RUSTON, La. - After playing seven of their first nine games away from the Thomas Assembly Center, Louisiana Tech (4-5) will play three consecutive contests at home beginning Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against in-state foe McNeese State (4-4) in the TAC.
The Bulldogs lead the all-time series between the two programs 53-38, including 10 consecutive wins at home. Last season Tech lost 80-70 to the Cowboys in Lake Charles.
With a win Wednesday night, the Bulldogs will set a new program record for the most consecutive non-conference wins in the TAC with 21.
After scoring 15 points against Southern Miss on Saturday, senior guard Trevor Gaskins (Alpharetta, Ga.) leads Tech in scoring at 12.6 points per game while sophomore guard Cordarius Johnson (Coushatta, La.) is also in double-figures in scoring at 12.3 points per game.
Junior forward J.L. Lewis (Gonzales, La.) paces the squad with 5.6 rebounds per contest while Gaskins is second at 5.2 per game.
With 2.1 blocks per contest, freshman forward Michale Kyser (Lancaster, Texas) is second in the Western Athletic Conference while fellow classmate guard Kenneth Smith (St. Petersburg, Fla.) is fifth in assists at 4.1 per game and is tops among freshmen in the conference.
McNeese State is 4-4 on the year with wins over Bacone (86-45), Dillard (80-43), Louisiana College (71-52) and Sacramento State (68-63). On the road, the Cowboys are 1-4 with the lone win coming at Sacramento State while they have fallen to Auburn (84-62), Georgia State (69-50), UL-Lafayette (78-56) and to then No. 23 California (73-57).
Patrick Richard and Jeremie Mitchell lead the Cowboys in scoring at 16.1 and 14.0 points per contest, respectively. Rudy Turner is grabbing 6.6 rebounds per game while Dontae Cannon (2.9 apg) and Richard (2.5 apg) pace McNeese in assists.
As a team, the Cowboys are averaging 66.2 points on 42 percent shooting from the field but are only making 29 percent of their shoots from three-point range.
The game can be heard on the LA Tech Sports Network on KXKZ 107.5 FM and KJVC 92.7 FM with the action being called by the "Voice of the Bulldogs" Dave Nitz and Jack Thigpen with color commentary beginning with a preshow at 6:30 p.m. LA Tech All-Access subscribers can listen to and watch a live video stream of the game by logging on through LATechSports.com, the official website of Louisiana Tech Athletics.
Live stats will be available through the GameDay Central page with a link provided at the top of the page. Twitter users can get updates of the game as well by following sports information director Phillip Pongratz at www.twitter.com/LATechPPongratz.
