The truth is UL's season-opening loss to Akron on Monday didn't reveal a lot about coach Quannas White's second team.

With injuries holding some starters and rotational players out and a few others playing out of position, it was hard to get a good read on the makeup of this year's Ragin' Cajuns.

The second chance to impress comes at 7 p.m. Friday against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Cajundome.

The most encouraging part of the 75-61 loss was the play of 6-foot-8 Tennessee Tech transfer Dani Pounds.

"He was a bright spot for us," White said. "He's physical and can do some things offensively. He's continuing to develop. He's shooting the 3-ball way better than he's ever done. That was a huge focal point over the summer."

Indeed, Pounds showed high energy, the ability to score in various ways and he's aggressive to the basket.

With junior Todd Jones, redshirt sophomore Deion Ware and true freshman point guard Isaiah Wilks not available in the opener, transfer Mekhi Cooper was forced to play 26 minutes off the bench, despite only practicing twice in the last month with a hip injury.

That certainly slowed down the offense's progress early on. Still, perhaps the most encouraging stat in the game was only having seven turnovers without the point guard settled just yet.

"It's not easy," White said of practicing without Cooper. "Before the injury, he had a really good summer. He was coming along and building chemistry with his teammates. Moving forward, he'll be better."

Jones is expected back "in a couple of weeks," while Wilks could return as soon as Friday's game with asthma. 

As for Ware, he could have helped UL on the defensive end.

"Defensively, he's an athlete," White said. "He's tough. He has the potential to be a good rebounder on the wing. He's a bigger guard who can defend. He's quick twitch, but he can really defend."

There still weren't enough easy baskets in transition, so perhaps Ware's return and help in that area.

Once Cooper settles in, Trent Middleton can concentrate more on scoring as a shooting guard.

"We'll continue to play Trent off the ball," White said. "He can score the ball at all three levels. It'll take some pressure off him and slide him over to do what he does best."

One thing we did learn Monday is redshirt junior guard Jamyron Keller isn't into making excuses for the team's shortcomings.

The biggest thing lacking Monday was defense and Keller wasn't pleased.

"We don't need to overcomplicate it," said Keller, who scored 26 points with four assists. "All it is about is guarding the ball and wanting to stop your man. There were a few miscommunications (Monday). That's what ultimately led to them making the runs."

On offense, Keller said, "There's no need to change nothing up. When we ran our actions, we actually got all the way to them. They were there. We just didn't knock down the shots."

The other untapped resource could be 6-foot-10 freshman Mikhai Dulkay, who had no points, six boards and two assists in 17 minutes.

"I expect him to make a huge impact," White said of Dulkay. "He's continued to work on his defense, which is the part of the game that he's struggled with but he's made strides at practice. Mikhail is skilled. He can score the ball. We've got to figure out ways to get him more opportunities.

"He only took one shot (Monday). The thing that I was impressed with is the six rebounds he grabbed. He's been consistent at rebounding. I thought he passed up a couple of shots in the paint that he should have taken."

The visiting Islanders lost their first game as well - 67-55 to former Sun Belt member Texas State. Corpus Christi shot 41.2% from the field and 17.6% from 3-point land on 17 attempts.

The only two double-figure scorers were Desmond Kent with 13 points on 6-of-8 shooting and Daniel Michelini-Jackson with 10.

"They're a real hard-nosed, physical team," White said. "They're going to try to deny and pressure you to create turnovers. They play really, really hard. It's a well-coached team. The best thing they do as a whole is the intensity they play with for 40 minutes."