THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University men's basketball team opens the 2012-13 season on Saturday afternoon taking on the Vanderbilt Commodores at 3 p.m. in Memorial Gym in Nashville.

The Colonels are coming off of a 10-20 season in which team made the Southland Conference Tournament for the fourth consecutive year to tie a program record. Nicholls fell in the opening round to Texas-Arlington and finished with a 6-10 record in Southland Conference play.
 
After a season that was plagued by injuries to key positions, Nicholls returns four starters from last year's team, along with veteran and all-conference guard Fred Hunter who sat out all of last season after injuring his knee at the end of the 2010-11 year. A total of nine letterwinners returns to a team that was one of the youngest in the nation a year ago.
 
Key returners include Sam McBeath, last year's College Sports Madness Southland Conference Freshman of the Year, Shane Rillieux, who started every game and averaged 31 minutes a contest and Jeremy Smith who shot over 50-percent from the floor filling in as a starter and as the first reserve off of the bench.
 
Two of three players who sustained season-ending injuries that will play a factor this season will be Lachlan Prest and Pedro Maciel. Prest played in 13 games and started 12 before a knee injury at the beginning of conference play sidelined him for the rest of the year, while Maciel only saw action in the team's exhibition against Mobile.
 
There are seven newcomers to the squad this season in Drew Caillouet, T.J. Carpenter, Piers Carroll, Ja'Dante' Frye, JaMarkus Horace and Dominique Vallejo. Caillouet, Carpenter, Frye and Vallejo are all from Louisiana, while Horace prepped at Austin High School in Sugarland, Texas and Carroll is from Australia.
 
Vanderbilt is coming off of its first tournament title since 1951 in winning the SEC last season, but lost eight players from that team and returns only three that saw minutes. Vanderbilt won 25 games last year, the most for any Commodore team since 2007-08, and earned its seventh consecutive 20-win season.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 3 p.m. in Nashville, and follows the women's game against McNeese State. The audio broadcast of each Nicholls men's basketball game will begin 15 minutes prior to tip.
 
 
TV: None
Radio: 91.5 FM KNSU
Broadcast Team: Clyde Verdin (play-by-play)
Colonels on the Internet: www.geauxcolonels.com/showcase
Live Stats: www.vucommodores.com