HOUMA, La. - The Nicholls State University men's basketball team (3-2) will conclude its longest homestand of the non-conference season when the Colonels take on the Loyola-New Orleans Wolfpack (5-5) on Wednesday at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center in Houma, La.  Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m.

"We're excited to get back on the floor," head coach J.P. Piper said.  "We've had a couple of great days of practice, and we're ready to see these guys play another game.  I kind of miss seeing them play.  I'm very, very excited about tomorrow night, and I'm very excited to be down here in Houma.

"I think we're putting a good product on the floor, and I hope that the community of Houma will adopt us the way the community of Thibodaux has," Piper said.  "Hopefully, we can start pulling some more support from down here.  There's a lot of good basketball being played down here at the high school level, and we'd like to build some more interest in the program that we're developing up in Thibodaux to start attracting some more of these fans."

The Colonels will look to build on the momentum of one of the best starts in recent school history.  The Colonels head into the HTCC contest needing three wins in the next five games to clinch the best ten-game start to a season in 16 years.  After picking up the program's first ever victories against LSU (Nov. 16) and Tulane (Nov. 26) along with a win over Southern-New Orleans in their last outing (Nov. 29), the Colonels are two victories away from clinching the first 5-5 ten-game start to a season since the 2003-04 season.

However, with three more victories in the next five contests, Nicholls would claim its best start in 16 years.  The 1994-95 Colonel men's basketball program roared out to an 8-2 start over the first ten games of the season en route to a 24-6 record, a Southland Conference Tournament championship and the program's first trip to the NCAA Division I National Championship Tournament.  Since the Colonels' first trip to the national tournament, no Nicholls program has been over .500 through the first ten games of the season.

Nicholls heads into the contest having established themselves among the nation's statistical leaders in several categories.  Nicholls has been led all season long by senior gurad/forward Anatoly Bose.  The Sydney, Australia native currently ranks second in the nation with a 27.4 point/game scoring average.  Bose trails only UCONN guard Kemba Walker, who leads the nation with a 29.1 point/game average.

Bose has turned in eight consecutive 20-point games dating back to last season, and will look to continue to add to his school record total of 34 career 20-point contests.

Bose isn't the only Colonel turning heads on the national scene, however.  Senior point guard Kenny Franklin Jr. is ranked seventh in the nation with a 3.86 assist-to-turnover ratio and is averaging 5.4 assists/game, the 32nd best average in the country.

However, it's the Nicholls team defense that has keyed the Colonels' hot start to the 2010-11 season.  Nicholls boasts a 7.2 turnover margin, the sixth best average in the nation.  The Colonels are also averaging 9.8 steals/game, the 19th best average in the country.  Nicholls has forced more turnovers than the opposition in each of its first five games, totaling 106 turnovers and averaging 21.2 turnovers/game on the season.

"We're excited about those things (national stat averages)," Piper said.  "I hope those are indicators that we have a good basketball team, and that the remainder of the year will be as exciting as the first part of the season has been.  We need to back those things up, and continue to work to get better, which I think we will do, and I'm really excited to see what tomorrow night brings for us."

The Wolfpack will be far from a pushover, however, as Loyola enters Wednesday night's matchup with the Colonels among the national NAIA leaders in several categories.  Ryan Brock leads Loyola with a 23.4 point/game average that ranks sixth in the NAIA's Division I.  Forward Manuel Gandara is among the top-20 in the nation in blocks.

"Coach Giorlando and I are friends, and I have a lot of respect for the job he does," Piper said.  "In their own right, they are ranked nationally in a lot of statistical categories in the NAIA.  So, they're no slouch of a team coming in here, and while they are not division one, they are still very capable of coming in here and beating us if we are not sharp and on our game.  So, we have to be on edge, and I think we are." 

Tipoff between the Colonels and Wolfpack is set for 6:30 p.m. at the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center located at 346 Civic Center Blvd. in Houma.  The game will be broadcast in the New Orleans-Houma-Thibodaux area on the Colonel Sports Radio Network, including flagship station KLRZ 100.3 FM LaRose and KLEB 1600 AM Golden Meadow.

Following the contest, the Colonels will hit the road for a two-game road trip.  Nicholls will head to Kansas to take on preseason Missouri Valley Conference favorite Wichita State on Dec. 13 before heading to Starkville, Miss. to take on Mississippi State on Dec. 16.  The Colonels will return to Thibodaux on Dec. 16 when Nicholls hosts Dillard at Stopher Gym.