McNeese Hoops Will Face Marlin-less Ragin’ Cajuns on Sunday

McNeese State will be on the road for their final non-conference tilt before opening up Southland Conference play as the Cowboys will head to Lafayette to face off against the Ragin' Cajuns. Sunday's contest will have a little bit of added flavor with the return of a Former Cajun and with the recent firing of Head Coach Bob Marlin.

Will Wade and his crew have had a bit of a break in December with only playing 3 games throughout the majority of the month before starting conference play on the 28th as the University of New Orleans comes to the Legacy Center.

The Pokes are currently 5-5 and looking to get over .500 after they dropped a tough contest against Mississippi State in Tupelo, Ms Saturday. The Cowboys led 55-50 with eight minutes remaining, but the Bulldogs surged with a 9-0 run to take a 64-58 lead with just over two minutes to play. Joe Charles led McNeese with a season-high 19 points, while Brandon Murray added 10 points, nine rebounds, and four assists. The Cowboys shot 41% from three-point range but couldn’t overcome Mississippi State's advantage at the free-throw line, where the Bulldogs hit 23 of 33 attempts.

McNeese currently has one of the toughest schedules in the country, a complete 360 from just a year ago. Some of that is by design, the other part is the inability to schedule quality opponents during the offseason.

On Sunday, the Pokes will finish its non-conference slate against the Louisiana-Lafayette Ragin' Cajuns inside the Cajundome. To say the Cajuns have been struggling might be the understatement of the year, some might call them the not-so-ragin' Ragin' Cajuns.

There will be a few interesting headlines as there always is when the Pokes and the Cajuns meet up, but this year there will be a little added flavor with Former Cajun returning to the Cajundome but this time donning the blue and gold.

The surprising news came out on Thursday as Athletic Director Bryan Maggard announced that the university has fired Head Coach Bob Marlin. The timing is a bit surprising since the Cajuns had just defeated App State to open up Sun Belt Conference Play. That win would push Lafayette to just 3-9 overall.

Assistant coach Derrick Zimmerman will be the interim head coach when the Cajuns play the Cowboys. ULL officials announced that Zimmerman will keep the position for the rest of the season while the school searches for a permanent head coach.

Marlin, in his 14th season with the Cajuns, had a 269-198 record. He led the team to three conference championships and two NCAA Tournament appearances.

The Cajuns and Cowboys will go to battle Sunday afternoon at 2:00 inside of the Cajundome. If fans can't make it to Lafayette for the matchup, it will be aired on ESPN+ and broadcast live on Power 92.1 with Bruce Merchant on the McNeese Sports Network.