James Madison Dukes (13-0, 2-0 Sun Belt) at Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns (7-6, 0-1 Sun Belt)
Lafayette, Louisiana; Thursday, 8 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: No. 19 James Madison plays the Louisiana Ragin’ Cajuns after T.J. Bickerstaff scored 21 points in James Madison’s 82-65 win over the Texas State Bobcats.
The Ragin’ Cajuns are 4-0 in home games. Louisiana is 0-1 in games decided by less than 4 points.
The Dukes are 2-0 against conference opponents. James Madison leads the Sun Belt with 17.5 assists. Michael Green III paces the Dukes with 4.8.
Louisiana makes 46.1% of its shots from the field this season, which is 4.6 percentage points higher than James Madison has allowed to its opponents (41.5%). James Madison has shot at a 49.9% clip from the field this season, 4.4 percentage points greater than the 45.5% shooting opponents of Louisiana have averaged.
The Ragin’ Cajuns and Dukes face off Thursday for the first time in Sun Belt play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Kobe Julien is scoring 18.6 points per game and averaging 4.4 rebounds for the Ragin’ Cajuns. Joe Charles is averaging 11.0 points and 8.9 rebounds over the last 10 games for Louisiana.
Green is averaging 11.2 points and 4.8 assists for the Dukes. Bickerstaff is averaging 16.6 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.6 steals over the last 10 games for James Madison.
LAST 10 GAMES: Ragin’ Cajuns: 5-5, averaging 74.5 points, 31.7 rebounds, 11.9 assists, 9.5 steals and 4.3 blocks per game while shooting 45.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 72.5 points per game.
Dukes: 10-0, averaging 89.4 points, 39.7 rebounds, 17.2 assists, 9.8 steals and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 51.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.6 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
