THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University men's basketball team returns to the court on Tuesday night, taking on the Tulane Green Wave at 7 p.m. in the renovated Devlin Fieldhouse in New Orleans.
 
 The Colonels are coming off of a tough 84-39 loss to No. 13 Michigan State this past Saturday, falling to 1-3 on the season and 0-3 in road games. Nicholls had the task of taking on a Spartan team that was fresh off of a loss to Miami, while also dealing with a rash of injuries leading up to the game as the club dressed out only eight players for the contest.
 
Leading scorer Fred Hunter sat out because of a hamstring strain suffered against New Orleans last Monday, while Lachlan Prest and Linden Smith-Hyde each sustained concussions during practice and did not travel with the team to East Lansing. Sam McBeath traveled with the team and earned the start, but only played four minutes against the Spartans due to flu-like symptoms.
 
Nicholls was held to less than 40 points for the tenth time in team history, and has scored 38 and 39 points against Michigan State in each of the last two meetings. Nicholls was held to season-lows in points, shots made, field goal percentage and free throws made, among others.
 
The lone bright spots were the play of T.J. Carpenter and JaMarkus Horace. The two combined for 53 percent of Nicholls' points on the night, as Carpenter scored all of his team-leading 11 points in the second half before fouling out, while Horace posted his second double figure scoring game in his third game as a Colonel, to finish with ten in a new career-high 38 minutes of action.
 
The Colonels hope to have its full allotment of players back for the game against Tulane, as Nicholls hopes to avenge its 46-point, 96-50 loss to the Green Wave last season. After beating Tulane for the first time in 17 tries in Thibodaux in 2010, Nicholls struggled in New Orleans last season as the Green Wave attacked the team's youth by pressing and out-running the Colonels.
 
Tulane is 6-2 on the season under third-year coach Ed Conroy. Conroy is 33-35 at the helm of the Green Wave, leading the team to one of their best starts in 17 years last season by bursting out to a 12-2 record.
 
All six of Tulane's wins have come at home, while the losses have come on the road to Georgia Tech and Nebraska. The Green Wave is outscoring teams by a little over eight points per game, scoring 65.8 points per game. Tulane lives at the free throw line this season, with 18.6 free throws made per game so far this season.
 
Josh Davis is the team's leading scorer, hitting 50 percent of his shots, averaging 18.6 points per game and 11.1 rebounds. Ricky Tarrant and Jordan Callahan are also scoring in double figures through eight games for the Green Wave, as Tulane has used the same starting lineup for every game.
 
Live coverage of the game on the Colonel Sports Radio Network will begin at 6:45 p.m. with the pregame show.
 
 
TV: None
Radio: 100.3 FM KLRZ (Larose, La.); 1600 AM KLEB (Golden Meadow, La.)
Broadcast Team: Mike Wagenheim (play-by-play)
Colonels on the Internet: www.klrzfm.com
Live Stats: www.tulanegreenwave.com