INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Nicholls State University men's basketball team continues is cross-country road trip on Wednesday night, taking on the IUPUI Jaguars at 6:30 p.m. CST in "The Jungle" in Indianapolis.
 
The contest is part of a men's and women's basketball doubleheader beginning at 5 p.m., as the Jaguar women take on Northern Kentucky, with the start of the men's game beginning 30 minutes after the conclusion of the first contest. Live coverage will begin 15 minutes prior to the start of the game with the Colonel Countdown, leading up to tip off against the Jaguars.
 
After spending the last few days on the West Coast, the Colonels now head east to close out a home and home series with IUPUI, which started in 2012 when the Jaguars came to Thibodaux for a matchup in the now defunct BracketBusters event. This is the fourth meeting in team history between the two sides, as Nicholls earned the first two wins in the series before IUPUI snapped the streak with an 84-80 win over the Colonels.
 
Nicholls is coming off of a tough, 77-48 loss at the hands of the San Francisco Dons last Saturday night, falling to 2-5 on the season and 0-5 in road contests. The loss snapped a two-game winning streak for the Colonels, as the 48 points against USF was the lowest for the team so far this season.
 
In a game that started out pretty slowly offensively, San Francisco turned on the jets and pulled away from the Colonels after holding Nicholls scoreless for eight minutes in the first half and seven minutes in the second, holding the team to just a 32 percent shooting clip in War Memorial Gym. Nicholls scored just 17 first-half points, being held to season lows in field goal percentage, field goals made with 17, assists with nine, one block and three 3-pointers.
 
The only two players to score in double figures on the night were the usual staples of Jeremy Smith and Dantrell Thomas. Thomas led the team with 13 points on 5 of 9 shooting, but fouled out for the second time this season after finishing as the team's leading scoring for the fourth time this season.
 
Smith scored 12 points after going 6 for 8 at the free throw line and has scored in double figures in each of the last five games, which is the longest active streak this season for any player.
 
The lone bright spot off the bench was Sam McBeath, who played in his second game since returning from injury in the offseason. The redshirt sophomore scored six points, while grabbing five rebounds in 18 minutes as he continues to make headway after missing most of last season.
 
Although the Colonels as a whole tied their season high at the free throw line going 11 for 15, the Colonels still committed 27 fouls and the Dons were nearly automatic at the charity stripe going 23 for 24. Nicholls is 1-5 when committing 27 or more fouls in a contest, as USF was the latest team to convert as least 20 or more free throws in a game this season.
 
On Wednesday night, Nicholls takes on an IUPUI team that is 4-8 on the season after getting handed their worst defeat of the year in an 86-50 loss to Marquette four days ago. The Jaguars lost seven of their first eight games of the season to start the year, but regrouped to win three of their last four.
 
The Jaguars return two starters from last year's team that went 6-26 and finished with a 1-15 record in the Summit League. Ian Chiles is the team's leading scorer, averaging 18.5 points per game with 12 starts under his belt.
 
Links to live stats, audio and video of the contest on Wednesday night can be found on the front page of GeauxColonels.com.
 
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
TV: None
Radio: KLRZ 100.3 FM, KLEB 1600 AM
Broadcast Team: Mike Wagenheim (play-by-play)
Live Stats: www.IUPUIJags.com