Jan. 11, 2012
GameDay Central | Coach White Audio
RUSTON, La. - Louisiana Tech will be looking for their first Western Athletic Conference win of the season against Idaho Thursday at 6 p.m. in the Thomas Assembly Center which will be televised nationally on ESPN Full Court and locally on Cox Sports Television.
The Bulldogs enter the contest with an overall record of 8-8 and are 0-1 in conference play after falling to New Mexico State on Saturday.
Against the Vandals, Tech holds a 10-3 series lead including a 6-0 mark in the TAC including a 71-56 win last season.
Freshman guard Raheem Appleby scored a team-high 19 points against the Aggies to increase his average to 12.2 per game, which leads the Bulldogs. In the past 10 games he is scoring 16.9 points per contest and has tallied 17 points or more in seven of the contests.
Pacing Tech in rebounding is senior guard Trevor Gaskins at 4.6 boards per game and he is the only other Bulldog averaging double-figures in scoring (10.4 ppg). Sophomore guard Cordarius Johnson (4.3 rpg) and freshman guard Kenneth Smith (4.2 rpg) are also pulling down more than four boards a game.
Smith also leads the Bulldogs in assists with 4.3 per contest, which is fourth in the WAC and tops among the conference's freshmen.
After a slow-start at the beginning of the season, junior guard Brandon Gibson has found his shooting stroke the past five games, averaging 12.8 points per game that includes a career-high 22 point output at SMU and 16 against NMSU.
Tech leads the WAC in steals per game (7.5 spg) and is second in offensive rebounds (14.1 rpg) and made three-point field goals a game (7.3).
Idaho enters Thursday's matchup with an 8-8 record and is 1-1 in the WAC after defeating Fresno State (63-59) and losing to Nevada (73-55) at home last week. On the road the Vandals are 3-4 with wins over Oregon State, Seattle and UC Davis while falling to Long Beach State, Montana, Wisconsin-Green Bay and Wright State.
Stephen Madison (12.6 ppg), Deremy Geiger (12.3 ppg) and Kyle Barone (11.9 ppg) all average double-figures in scoring while Barone and Madison are the top two rebounders on the team at 7.6 and 6.2 per game, respectively.
Both Djim Bandoumel and Barone are averaging 1.8 blocks per contest and Landon Tatum paces the squad in assists with 4.2 per game.
As a team, Idaho is averaging 69.9 points a game while surrendering 66.2 points per contest. They lead the WAC in field goal percentage (48.5 percent), assists (14.1 apg), fewest rebounds allowed (31.5 rpg) and blocked shots (5.1 bpg).
Along with being televised, the game can also be heard on KXKZ 107.5 FM and KJVC 92.7 FM with the "Voice of the Bulldogs" Dave Nitz and Jack Thigpen calling the action beginning at 5:30 p.m. with the pregame show. LA Tech All-Access subscribers can watch a live video stream of the action through LATechSports.com, the official home of Louisiana Tech Athletics.
Live stats will be available through the men's basketball GameDay Central page which can be viewed through the link at the top of the page. Twitter users can follow sports information director Phillip Pongratz at www.twitter.com/LATechPPongratz.
