Ragin’ Cajuns Winning With Defense And Post Play [VIDEO]

We're less than a week away from the beginning of March, and Garry Brodhead's Ragin' Cajuns are in fine form.

Brodhead's Women's Basketball team won two games in the state of Texas last week, forcing more than 20 turnovers in both wins. Smothering defense was their forte, as usual. The Cajuns are now 8-1 when they hold opponents under 50 points, and the wins over Texas State and UT-Arlington were perfect examples of their winning formula.

When the Cajuns apply pressure on defense, they're hard to beat.

"The last couple of games we had some goals to keep them under a certain amount," Brodhead said. He typically shaves at least ten points off the opponent's average to set his goal for the game, "When we hit our goals, we usually win."

It helped that Keke Veal and Kia Wilridge stayed on the floor for almost the entirety of both games.

Opposing teams try to take Veal and Wilridge out of games with foul trouble, but they kept their hands clean defensively and avoided charges in the lane in both wins. Veal scored 42 points in the victories, and she played 77 of the 80 combined minutes for her coach. Seniors are supposed to step up in their final year, and Veal isn't going to let herself, or her team, come up short.

Postseason runs require leadership. Sometimes leadership is as simple as commanding attention.

"When Keke Veal says something, they listen," Brodhead said.

With her strong voice in the locker room and offensive output on the court, the Cajuns are in every fight.

Veal and Wilridge always play well in the backcourt, but they can't win games by themselves. When they get help from Simone Fields in the paint, the wins tend to come a lot easier. Fields possesses all the potential in the world, but consistency has been an issue this season for the sophomore.

To Brodhead's credit, he said all season that Fields could be the difference in the season. They recruited her to be a dominant presence in the paint, and she's slowly blossoming in the back end of the season. She had 30 points and 18 rebounds in the wins over UT-Arlington and Texas State, but her coach knows she can register a double-double every night if she is in the zone.

When the talent ceiling is high, sometimes coaches get flustered when players don't stay at the top of their game. Thankfully for Brodhead, things are starting to click for Fields.

"I've been impatient. I've been pulling my hair out," Brodhead said about waiting for his post player to get into form. "She's so talented...these last two games she's been more consistent."

Jaylyn Gordon's indefinite suspension from the team earlier this season required another player to step up on the offensive end. Fields is filling that role late in the season. Even though sooner is better than later, later is better than never.

It took some hard coaching from Brodhead to get Fields to this point. Tough love goes a long way with players that can take the added pressure to produce.

"I think Simone kind of took it to heart that we've been on her, that we need her to score," Brodhead said.  He needs more help though, "We need some of the other kids to start stepping up, and it's mostly defensively."

There are four games left on the Cajuns' schedule, and they still have a chance of securing a bye in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament. It's hard to win a tournament with three players (Veal, Wilridge, Fields), and Brodhead doesn't want his team to miss out on another taste of postseason play.

If they want to build on last season's success in postseason play, they need to keep playing defense like they did in Texas and get a few more players to contribute in crunch time. March madness is approaching, and Brodhead's team wants to be part of the insanity.