THIBODAUX -  The Nicholls State University men's basketball team (4-3) will look for their second road upset of an SEC opponent this season when the Colonels visit preseason SEC West Division favorite Mississippi State (5-2) in Starkville, Miss. on Monday.

Monday's contest will feature two of the top five scorers in the nation as Nicholls senior forward Anatoly Bose shares the court with MSU's Ravern Johnson.  Bose began last week ranked second in the nation with a 27.4 point/game scoring average, and is coming off a 26-point performance, his 35th career 20-point game, on Friday night at Wichita State. 

Meanwhile, Johnson began last week ranked first in the nation by averaging 4.2 three pointers per game.  Johnson also began last week ranked fifth in the nation with a 25.4 point/game scoring average.  The Bulldogs also feature guard Riley Benock, who began last week leading the nation with a 5.67 assist/turnover ratio and turned in a career high 15 points in his last outing.

However, the Colonels will look to bring one of the nation's best defenses into Monday's contest.  The Colonels entered last week 19th in the nation with a 9.8 steal/game average.  Thanks in part to senior guard Kenny Franklin, Jr.'s 3.86 assist/turnover ratio that ranks seventh in the nation entering last week, Nicholls owned a +7.2 advantage in turnover margin, the sixth best average in the entering last week.

After the Colonels' three-game winning streak was snapped by preseason Missouri Valley Conference favorite Wichita State on Friday night in Wichita, Nicholls will try to return to the form that saw them upset LSU in Baton Rouge on Nov. 16, snapping the Tigers' 82-game home court winning streak against Louisiana opponents.

A win over Mississippi State would give the Colonels two wins against SEC opposition this season, more than Nicholls has had in their 30-year history of NCAA Division I basketball.  Nicholls entered the 2010-11 season with an all-time record of 1-36 against SEC opponents with their lone SEC win prior to this season coming at Auburn on Nov. 30, 1993.  Nicholls went on to a 19-9 record with a 12-6 Southland Conference mark that season.

However, the Colonels will be running into a highly-motivated MSU squad on Monday night.  The Bulldogs began a stretch of four games in four days on Saturday by suffering a 63-62 loss to defending Atlantic Sun Conference champion and 2010 NCAA Tournament qualifer East Tennessee State.  the Bulldogs rebounded on Sunday with a 74-58 win over North Carolina A&T.  The Colonels will be the third game in three days for MSU.

Tipoff between the Colonels and Bulldogs is set for 7:00 p.m. in Starkville, Miss.   Every Nicholls men's basketball game is broadcast in the New Orleans-Houma-Thibodaux area on the Colonel Sports Radio Network, including KLRZ 100.3 FM in LaRose and KLEB 1600 AM in Golden Meadow.  Links to live stats and live streaming audio will be made available on the men's basketball schedule page of www.geauxcolonels.com on the day of the game.

Following their road trip, the Colonels will return to Nicholls to conclude the home portion of the non-conference schedule with games against Dillard (Dec. 16) and Jarvis Christian (Dec. 21).  Nicholls needs two more victories in their next three games to clinch the best ten-game start to a season in 16 years.