Final Stats COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Nicholls State University men's basketball team took on one of the top teams in the nation in the Missouri Tigers Friday night in Mizzou Arena, and although the Colonels were able to hold MU's best player to just six points, the team couldn't keep the Tigers off of the free throw line as Nicholls fell 74-54.

The loss drops the Colonels to 0-2 on the season, while Missouri improves to 3-0.

For the second consecutive week, Nicholls went into a hostile environment and came away earning the respect of the crowd as Nicholls got 22 points from Fred Hunter who led all scorers on 7-of-11 shooting. Hunter went to the line 11 times and made eight, grabbing five boards in the process.

Nicholls had three players total finish in double figures, as T.J. Carpenter scored 14 after hitting 3-of-6 3-pointers and Sam McBeath score 10 although he fouled out toward the end of the contest.

Missouri finished the night just hitting 22 shots to Nicholls' 19, getting just two more 3-pointers than the Colonels on the night, but where Missouri excelled was at the free throw line as the home side connected on 23 of 32 attempts while Nicholls went to the line just 18 times making 11.

Alex Oriakhi led the Tigers with 17 points, making just four shots from the field but was 9-of-10 from the charity stripe. Earnest Ross chipped in 16, followed by Keion Bell's 13 and Laurence Bowers' 12. The preseason SEC Player of the Year Phil Pressey was held to just six points, 13 below his average of 20 per game.

Down by just one, 14-13, with 8:13 left in the first half Missouri back-to-back 3-pointers from Ross to go up 20-14, as the Tigers went on to outscore Nicholls 11-1 over the next four minutes to take their biggest lead of the half to go up 25-14. Missouri ended the half leading by seven as the Colonels cut the deficit to seven trailing 32-25.

Missouri picked up the defensive intensity in the second half and forced the Colonels into turnovers and turned those chances to points, getting 19 points off Colonel turnovers, leading by as many as 22 during the period. Trailing 58-38, Nicholls went on a 9-3 run to pull within 14 points of Mizzou with 8:46 left in the second, but would not get any closer for the rest of the contest.

The Tigers outscored the Colonels 30-24 in the paint, and got 17 second chance points on 16 offensive rebounds. Missouri ended up outrebounding the Colonels 41-25, although Nicholls got 10 offensive boards on the night.

Nicholls returns to the court on Nov. 26, hosting the New Orleans Privateers at 6:30 p.m. in Stopher Gym.