THIBODAUX, La. – For the first time since Nov. 26, the Nicholls State University men's basketball team returns to Stopher Gym to open up Southland Conference play against the Central Arkansas Bears at 7:30 p.m. Thursday night.
 
After spending the entire month of December on the road, Nicholls will have its next two games at home beginning with the Bears on Thursday, before welcoming in Southland newcomer Oral Roberts on Saturday afternoon. The Colonels will play three games in a span of five days, as the team will head to Lake Charles on Tuesday to face the McNeese Cowboys.
 
The squad is hoping for some good fortune returning to the place where the team has earned its only win of the season in the 92-79 home win over UNO back in November, looking to snap a seven-game losing streak which is the longest since the 2009-10 season. The Colonels went winless in a month for the first time since that same season, as the 2009 team opened up the year with eight consecutive road or neutral-site game losses before winning their first home game of the season that year.
 
Although Nicholls was unable to pull out any victories in December, the team still showed flashes of brilliance in putting scares into Utah State and, most recently, Nebraska on Dec. 29. The Colonels shot over 50 percent in the second half and cut a 19-point deficit to just four points twice in the final minutes before the Cornhuskers made ten consecutive free throws to put the game away in the end.
 
The return of Dantrell Thomas to the lineup has given the Colonels an added weapon offensively, as he, Fred Hunter and T.J. Carpenter are all averaging double figure scoring on the season, the first time the Colonels have had three players in double figures since the 2008-09 season. Thomas has scored in double figures in all four games he's played in, along with leading the team in assists in the past three.
 
Another key area for the Colonels has been the play of the bench as of late, getting production from Jeremy Smith and Amin Torres.
 
Smith led the team in the first half of the Nebraska game with eight points, hitting two 3-pointers in a game for the first time in his career. Smith has scored eight points in back-to-back games and in three total games so far. Averaging nine points per game, Torres has four double-digit scoring games this season, being a force off the bench in the second half of games. Torres has hit at least four or more shots in a game four times this season, with consecutive double figure scoring outputs.
 
Central Arkansas comes into the game on Thursday at 5-5 overall on the season after defeating Central Baptist College on Monday. The Bears are averaging 80.3 points per game and is led by Jarvis Garner, who scored 38 points against CBC, and his 15.9 points per game average.
 
The Colonels are 7-6 all-time against UCA, with the first meeting dating back to the 1962 season before the Bears officially joined the league in the 2006-07 year. After losing the first four games of the series, Nicholls has won four of the last five and seven of the last nine.
 
 
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