THIBODAUX, La. – The Nicholls State University men's basketball team will open the 2013-14 portion of the home schedule on Tuesday night, hosting former conference rival UTSA at 6:30 p.m. in Stopher Gym in Thibodaux.
 
The game will close out a series began by the former BracketBuster event that was stopped after last season, which pitted two mid-major teams against each other heading into the final weeks of the season and required a return trip to be played within two years of that first meeting. This is the first of two of those closing series, with the other coming in December against IUPUI in Indianapolis.
 
Nicholls is coming off of a tough loss to nationally-ranked Memphis, 98-59, on Saturday afternoon at the FedEx Forum, as the Colonels dropped to 0-4 on the season for the first time since 2009. It's only the third time since 1996 that any Nicholls team has begun the season with four consecutive losses, as the team has lost its last six dating back to last season.
 
The speed and size of Memphis was too much for the Colonels to contend with, as they went into the halftime break trailing 51-29 and allowed the Tigers to score 47 more points in the second half as they shot 53 percent in the game and got 52 points in the paint and 21 fast break points. It was the Colonels' fifth loss to a ranked opponent in the last five seasons.
 
Jeremy Smith was the lone bright spot for the team against the Tigers, scoring in double figures for the second consecutive game with 16 points on 6-of-11 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 at the free throw line. He was the only player to get over the double-digit hump, as the next closest players were Dantrell Thomas, Amin Torres and Luke Doyle with seven each. Liam Thomas grabbed a season and game-high nine rebounds on the day, finishing with just two points.
 
The Tigers were the latest team to get Nicholls into a high number of fouls in the contest on Saturday, as Memphis shot 50 total free throws during the game and made 31 of them, while Nicholls on the other hand took 17 and made just nine. On the season, Nicholls is shooting less than 60 percent from the stripe which is the third time in team history they've had a percentage that low. Teams are making on average 32 free throws a game.
 
UTSA comes into the game on Tuesday 1-4 on the season, earning their first victory of the year against Southland member Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Saturday 87-76. The Roadrunners are in their first season as members of Conference USA, one season removed from joining the Western Athletic Conference after leaving the Southland.
 
The Roadrunners return six letterwinners and two starters from last year's team that struggled to a 10-22 season and 3-14 mark in WAC play. However, the team is led by Keon Lewis, who this season is one of two players averaging double figures for the Roadrunners with 16.4 points per game. Lewis scored 30 against the Islanders in the win, which was a season high.
 
UTSA defeated Nicholls last season in San Antonio 76-58, as the Roadrunners have won 16 of the last 20 meetings against the Colonels dating back to their Southland days, with the last Nicholls win coming in 2011 in a 54-52 home win over the Roadrunners.
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
TV: None
Radio: KLRZ 100.3 FM, KLEB 1600 AM
Broadcast Team: Mike Wagenheim (play-by-play)
Live Stats: www.GeauxColonels.com