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Louisiana’s Mostapha El Moutaouakkil shot 14 free throws and went 7 of 15 from the floor for a game-high 23 points.

“We got to make sure that these guys are more locked in to the scouting report,� Jackson said. “The one kid from South Alabama [Elijah Ormiston] had a career night [in a Marshall loss on Thursday], and I believe that [El Moutaouakkil’s] career-high is 24. He had 23. He got them by going right, shot-faking and shooting 14 free throws.�

Marshall shot 24 free throws to Louisiana’s 32, making 14. Nate Martin went 9 of 11 from the stripe.

“The more aggressive team shoots the most free throws,� Jackson said. “They were the aggressor, and that’s why they shot 32. We shot 24. Nate shot 11 by being aggressive.�

But the free shots seemed to be the ones inside. Louisiana (9-18, 6-8) had 40 points in the paint, following 56 from South Alabama in Marshall’s previous game.

“Two games in a row now. We’ve given up 96 points in the paint in two games,� Jackson said. “That’s toughness plays, mentally and physically.�

The Ragin’ Cajuns also outperformed their typically low shooting splits, going 46.2% from the field and 33% from deep, both improvements from the mean. Many of those easy shots came on fast-break attempts.

Despite being a below-average team in both tempo and average possession length, Louisiana had 25 fast-break points and 18 from turnovers.

“They’re not even a fast-break team, and they got 25 fast-break points,� Jackson said. “They’re a team that turns the ball over at a high rate. If you look at their assist-to-turnovers, they’re under.�

A bright spot for the Herd came from Obinna Anochili-Killen. He snagged nine blocks to go along with 18 points and six rebounds. Jackson is quick to go past the box score, however.

“Looking at stats, 18-9-6 is a great numbers game, but we’re looking a bit deeper than that,� Jackson said. “From a scouting perspective, we can’t let guys get right. We also can’t let guys get in the paint, shot-fake and get you in the air when we said he’s going to shot-fake.�

Anochili-Killen fouled out with 3:27 left.

“Any time you get nine blocks is good,� Jackson said. “But we have to do a better job of executing the game plan. If O executes the game plan, I don’t think he fouls out. We told him that [El Moutaouakkil] likes to fake in the paint. He did, and he shot 14 free throws.�

The Herd’s next chance to do so comes on Thursday as it remains on the road for a 7 p.m. matchup at Old Dominion. It’s part of a final road swing before the Herd hosts the Monarchs and Appalachian State in the final two regular season games, beginning on Feb. 25.