LAFAYETTE – It’s been a true basketball odyssey for Terence Lewis II, one that’s made him mature beyond his years and one that’s made him realize the importance of things that younger and less experienced players may not think about.

Such as, being physically and mentally ready for the grind that is college basketball in the spring, especially when you’re part of a UL Ragin’ Cajun team that was picked to win the Sun Belt Conference title.

“It’s important this time of year that we start taking care of our bodies day in and day out,” Lewis said during a rare break prior to the Cajuns’ four-game Sun Belt road swing. “You have to prepare your body if you’re going to stay locked in as a team physically and mentally. It’s already getting near the conference tournament and it’s going to be really tough, you have to play four games in five days or three games in four days.”

Lewis will turn 24 in less than a month on Feb. 10, a Friday when the Cajuns will be somewhere on the road between games at Hattiesburg, Miss. (Southern Miss on Thursday) and Troy, Ala. (Troy on Saturday). He’s the “old man” on the UL squad, but it’s more than just age that makes his journey unique.

Counting his high school career at National Christian Academy in Maryland, not far from his hometown of Upper Marlboro, and a stint at the prestigious Combine Academy prep school, Lewis has been a student and basketball player at seven different schools in seven different states in seven years.

From Maryland to North Carolina, to Florida, to New Mexico, to Texas, to Mississippi and now to Louisiana, it’s been a full basketball life already for Lewis. It’s also been one that’s been rewarding at times and exasperating at times, and his senior and only season with the Ragin’ Cajuns has been no different.

“In the beginning it was really tough,” he said, “just trying to figure out what to do and what I should be doing. There were days where … it was difficult, and I really wasn’t in it. I was making mistakes a lot, but I feel like now I’m in a state where I can trust myself and my teammates and know what I need to know.

“It’s always an adjustment transferring to a new program and now following coach’s game plan day in and day out, but I think I’ve got the hang of it. We’re 16 games in, and I still ask a lot of questions.”

Lewis thought he’d found his basketball home last year at Jackson State, after bouncing from Florida Southwestern to New Mexico Junior College to North Texas. He was playing well – four double-doubles in SWAC play including a 28-point, 10-rebound game against Mississippi Valley when he was honored as SWAC Player of the Week – and his Tigers were playing well. After a slow start, JSU won seven of its final nine in regular-season play before being upset in the opening round of the league tournament.

But long-time Jackson State coach Wayne Brent retired, and Lewis wasn’t sure what his future held in Mississippi. Fortunately for the Cajuns and head coach Bob Marlin, the two had a pre-existing relationship, especially during Lewis’ hugely successful season at New Mexico JC. He was an NJCAA All-American and a Western JCAC all-region and all-conference pick after averaging 18.9 points and 9.3 rebounds per game with 14 double-doubles, and had three 30-point games, hit 60 percent of his shots and 82.5 percent of his free throws for a 23-9 Thunderbird team.

“Me and Coach Marlin had a great relationship over the past two or three years,” Lewis said. “Every time I entered the portal he was in contact with me, and I knew we had a similar approach. The overall goal is obviously to win and get to the national championship, but I like to have that mindset of taking that one game at a time and not just looking at the overall goal. That’s what we do, one game at a time, one day at a time, one practice at a time.”

Lewis was a late arrival at UL – he missed the Cajuns’ August three-game trip to Puerto Rico – but it didn’t take him long to fit in on the most experienced team in the Sun Belt. This year, UL returned five of its top six and eight of its top 11 scorers from a team that went 16-15 but found itself at the end of the year and won three games in the Sun Belt Tournament before falling in the finals.

“From what they went through last year,” Lewis said, “getting to the conference tournament finals and losing only one game from going to the NCAA Tournament, I thought that me being an older guy and with my experience I could help them along the way.

“An older team is a great attribute. You look at teams who win their conference tournaments, they mostly have a lot of older guys who have been in game-ending situations and in close games. They just know how to win games. Rarely do you see a lot of younger players on a team win … it’s happened in the past, but most of the time the most experienced team wins. They have older guys who have been in those situations. Me being here I think has helped the team a lot.”

That’s an understatement. Going into a weekend swing at Arkansas State and Texas State, Lewis is averaging 12.1 points and 8.2 rebounds per game with five double-doubles to rank fourth in the Sun Belt. He’s also fifth in the conference in rebounding, fifth in shooting (65.3% from the field).

He would be leading the Sun Belt in free throw percentage if he had enough attempts to qualify – and before last week’s game at South Alabama he had only missed twice all year (26-of-28, 92.9%). That’s nothing unusual for Lewis, who was an 80 percent free throw shooter at North Texas, made 78 percent last year at JSU and shot almost 83 percent at New Mexico JC.

“It’s a little of both,” Lewis said when asked if free throw shooting just came easy to him or if he worked hard on that facet of his game. “It’s something that comes natural to me and something that I work on. We’re in the gym every single day, working on as many shots as I can get up as possible. It’s really just a rhythm routine when I’m at the free throw line, I’m always relaxed and calm.”

Lewis can also be counted on a handful of offensive rebounds every game, averaging about three as a Cajun.

“I think I just have a knack for rebounding on the offensive board, ever since I was younger,” he said. “Doing that allows me to give my teammates opportunities to shoot after I get it, or for us to get an extra possession.”

The Cajuns fell on the road in their first two conference games, but Lewis has been around enough to know the perils of league play … and that it’s a long season, especially for a team tabbed among the league favorites.

“It’s a great honor to be picked number one, but at the same time it’s bad because there’s a lot of teams that really want to beat us,” he said. “Two teams have beaten us so far and we’ve got the target on our back, but we’ve just got to stay calm and not think about that. In order for us to be really successful in late February and March, we just gotta hold each other accountable, stay in the gym, and just take each day one by one. We can’t worry about the past or other games in the future, we just have to worry about what’s right in front of us.”