Stepping up is a tradition at Louisiana

It is becoming the hallmark of athletics at the University of Louisiana: someone on the team always steps up. Thursday night the Cajun Nation will have the opportunity to "step up" and support the Ragin'Cajuns against UALR.

We saw it in the fall as Mark Hudspeth’s Ragin’ Cajuns found one crazy way to win after another. It culminated with a last second field goal that made Brett Baer the hero of the New Orleans Bowl.

In basketball, we witnessed it last Thursday as freshman Elfrid Payton stepped up to the line with four tenths of a second left on the scoreboard clock and coolly canned a free throw to win the game.

Saturday, in a tough road game that the Cajuns needed to keep pace in the Sun Belt Conference West Division chase, sophomore Bryant Mbamalu had his best game as a Ragin’Cajun and Payton knocked down another critical free throw with three seconds left to give Louisiana a 83-78 road victory over Troy.

It was the fourth straight victory for the Ragin’ Cajuns who have a chance to play for first place in the West Division Thursday night when they host the University of Arkansas Little Rock at the Cajundome.

Make no mistake, though. It was a team effort, but teams are led to victory. And the stellar performances coming from the youngest Cajuns portends great things for the future of the Bob Marlin era.

Mbamalu finished with 27 points, grabbed three boards, and dished three assists in his career-high effort. Josh Brown led the team in rebounds with 11. Brown and Darshawn McClellan each added 12 points, while Payton contributed 11 total points.

ESPN 1420’s Jay Walker is fond of reminding his listeners that the hardest thing to do in all of sports is to win basketball games on the road, and Marlin’s 2011-2012 UL team has shown it is up to that challenge.

They have shown that they know how to step up and find a way to win.

Hopefully, the Cajun nation will do a little stepping up of its own, and make its presence felt Thursday night when Louisiana returns to the friendly confines of the Cajundome.

After all, it is for first place in the West. It is about seeding in the conference tournament. And it is about time you showed that YOU are a big part of this whole “stepping up” thing, too.