JONESBORO — Coach Mike Balado says Arkansas State wants to play at a faster pace after struggling to score in recent losses.
Louisiana-Lafayette and Marshall, the Red Wolves’ opponents this week at First National Bank Arena, aren’t likely to mind a quick tempo.
The Ragin’ Cajuns are third among Sun Belt Conference men’s basketball teams in scoring at 81.2 points per game, the Thundering Herd second at 81.6. Both average eight or more 3-point baskets per game.
ASU (9-10, 1-5 Sun Belt) is looking for a way out of a five-game losing streak. Now 13th out of 14 Sun Belt teams in scoring at 65.4 points per game, the Red Wolves have put up 58 points or less in each of their last four games.
“We have to continue to be efficient offensively, take good shots and be confident, and then have no late-clock breakdowns defensively,” Balado said Tuesday. “We don’t have a lot of room for error. Going into this week, we’re obviously playing two of the top three teams in the league.”
Louisiana-Lafayette (14-4, 4-2 Sun Belt) visits ASU for a 7 o’clock start this evening. Marshall (15-4, 4-2 Sun Belt) comes to town Saturday.
Sun Belt coaches picked the Ragin’ Cajuns first in their preseason poll, also naming 6-11 UL Lafayette forward Jordan Brown as the preseason player of the year. Brown is living up to his billing, averaging 19.2 points and 7.5 rebounds.
Balado said the Red Wolves will have to play team defense against Brown.
“He’s so good at getting deep position and taking shots over guys. He’s got great touch and he can step out and shoot the 3 as well,” Balado said. “It’s going to have to be a team effort. It’s going to have to be our five men being really locked into defensive principles with him early, before he catches the ball.
“The key with Jordan Brown is not so much when he has it in his hands, but before he gets it and not letting him get position where he’s comfortable because once he gets it, you’re in trouble.”
But if the Red Wolves pay too much attention to Brown, they run a risk on the perimeter.
UL Lafayette leads the Sun Belt in 3-point field goal percentage (.397), led by two of the conference’s most accurate from long range. Sophomore Kentrell Garnett is 35-of-73 from the 3-point line (.479), while senior Greg Williams Jr. is 39-of-87 (.448). Senior Jalen Dalcourt (24-of-62, .387) is another long-range threat.
Williams and Terence Lewis average 13.2 and 12.1 points, respectively. Lewis is the Cajuns’ leading rebounder with an average of 8.1 per game.
“They’re very deep and have a lot of guards, good size, and they play in transition, which is something we want to do now anyway, play faster like we have been in the past, even though our bench is still small,” Balado said. “We have to score in transition to get some easy baskets because we do go on scoring droughts.”
Transition baskets helped the Red Wolves play Southern Miss to a tie in the first half last Saturday. Unable to run as the Golden Eagles shot 54.2 percent from the field in the second half, ASU shot just 26.1 percent as Southern Miss pulled away for a 74-57 victory.
Junior guard Caleb Fields and senior forward Omar El-Sheikh average 11.7 points and 11.1 points, respectively, to lead the Red Wolves. El-Sheikh also averages 9.7 rebounds to rank third among Sun Belt players.
Balado said the Red Wolves have talked about picking up their defensive pressure, but they might not try that against the Cajuns.
“We’re not 100 percent sure yet if maybe Louisiana is the right team to do it against because they play fast anyway. It’s something we’ve talked about and maybe that’s something, looking down the line, we continue to mull over,” Balado said. “It’s been discussed and that’s one way to get the game going faster, getting quicker shots, making the team take quicker shots. You always worry about foul trouble and you worry about your depth. That’s something we have to take into consideration.”
