--Junior college transfer G Jamel Guyton might have come out of his scoring slump with a 22-point outing Dec. 13 in a win over Centenary. After an impressive 27-point season debut against Louisiana-Lafayette on Nov. 15, Guyton averaged just 9.3 points per game over the next six before the Centenary game (he missed the team's Dec. 10 game vs. Louisiana-Monroe). That six-game slump had plenty to do with his inability to get to the free-throw line. In his two 20-plus point games through Dec. 14, Guyton made 17 of 20 free throws. In his six-game slump in between, he hit just 2-of-6.

--While the recent success for Louisiana Tech seems to have come as the offense got on track, F Kenneth Cooper thins it all started on the defensive end and on the boards. "Coach got into us, so we stepped it up," Cooper told the Shreveport Times. "We were moving with the ball instead of fouling, playing good defense, and boxing out. Then we just capitalized on the other end. ... We told ourselves we were going to step up on defense."

Cooper's rebounding, which was at a team-high 7.6 per game through Dec. 14, seems to be a good litmus test for the Bulldogs' success. Cooper grabbed 9.2 rebounds per game in the team's first five wins and just five per game in the three losses he played in.

KEY EARLY SEASON CONFERENCE GAME
at San Jose State, Jan. 3. -- One of Louisiana Tech's three WAC wins in the 2007-08 season came in the regular season final March 8 in Ruston, La. Three days later, San Jose State eliminated Louisiana Tech from the WAC tournament with a two-point win (64-62).

LAST YEAR'S CONFERENCE RECORD: 3-13, ninth in Western Athletic Conference

QUOTE TO NOTE
"We want to see our bigs pass between each other. Once the opposition takes that away, we look to pass out to our shooters and then pass back down into the post." -- Louisiana Tech coach Kerry Rupp.

Copyright (C) 2008 The Sports Xchange. All Rights Reserved.