Scouting Report: Louisiana Tech Men’s Basketball

The Louisiana Tech men's basketball team is hot and playing terrific basketball as they enter their weekend series with the UTEP Miners. The Bulldogs have won three straight and seven of their last nine games. La Tech enters the Don Haskins Center with an 11-4 overall mark and they have won their last two games against UTEP.

Head coach Eric Konkol is in his sixth season with the Bulldogs and he has a 116-61 career record. Earlier this week, Coach Konkol met the media and previewed the series with the Miners.

Offensively, the key to La Tech's success is for them to play through the post and kick it out to the shooters. They play with good tempo and they like to get out in transition if they have the chance. The Bulldogs could get Kalob Ladeux back in the lineup for the series with the Miners. The senior guard missed the last two games due to undisclosed reasons and he averages 12.4 points per game to lead the team and he is one of the dangerous threats to shoot from the outside. Senior guard Amorie Archibald is also averaging in double figures at 10.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, and 2.5 apg. Sophomore Cobie Williams is the team's point guard and he is averaging nearly 5 assists per game over their last three contests to go along with 8.1 ppg on the season.

6-5 guard Jacolby Pemberton is averaging nearly 10 points and more than 6 rebounds per game and he can play the stretch 4 spot. Sophomore forward Isaiah Crawford is starting to play well as of late, and he averages 10.9 ppg and 4.8 rpg. The biggest member of the team is 6-8 freshman Kenneth Lofton Junior. The nearly 300-pound big man has already had three double doubles this season and he scored 17 points and grabbed 12 boards in a loss to LSU.

Defensively, the Bulldogs will play exclusively man to man defense, but they will zone press the inbounds. They like to wear their opponents out on defense, so the Miners will have their work cut out for them. Everything points to a pair of excellent games that go right down to the wire.