INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – The Nicholls men's basketball team closes out the non-conference portion of the schedule on Friday night, taking on the Indiana Hoosiers in historic Assembly Hall at 6 p.m. CT in Bloomington.
 
The game will be aired live on the Big Ten Network and BTN2Go, with Dave Revsine and Stephen Bardo providing play-by-play and color commentary. The Colonel Countdown pregame radio show begins 15 minutes prior to the start of the contest on the flagship station for Nicholls, KLRZ 100.3 FM and KLEB 1600 AM.
 
After a grueling two months, the Colonels have reached the finish line for the non-conference portion of the schedule and will not only finish that part of the 2013-14 slate, but put a close on a three-game stretch that will have the team travel over 5,000 miles and two time zones before beginning Southland play in two weeks.
 
Nicholls got some much needed confidence on Wednesday after a tough outing last weekend in San Francisco, defeating the IUPUI Jaguars in The Jungle, 62-56 to open the two-game swing in Indiana. The game marked the final in a series between the two teams, avenging the loss to the Jaguars in 2012 back in Thibodaux.
 
In a game that featured nearly a dozen lead changes, the Colonels took over for good late when it got a key 10-1 run in the final few minutes of the contest to pull away from the Jaguars and hold on for the victory. Although the offense got hot at the right time, the Nicholls defense put together one of its best stretches of the season in holding IUPUI scoreless for over four minutes and keeping the Jaguars fruitless from behind the 3-point line as they went 0-12.
 
Nicholls finished with five blocks in the game which is a team season high, while outrebounding an opponent for the second time this season.
 
Rivaling a similar performance from earlier in the season, T.J. Carpenter hit some clutch 3-pointers down the stretch to push Nicholls to the victory, scoring all 14 of his team-high points in the second half. The sophomore missed all four shots he took in the first period, regrouping in a big way to score 12 of Nicholls' 22 points in the final nine minutes, connecting on four 3-pointers.
 
The game would not have been as close if not for the hustle of Jeremy Smith in the first half, as he scored 11 of his 12 points in the first 20 minutes to help give Nicholls a two point lead at the halftime break. Smith is hitting over 51 percent of his shots from the field to lead the team, and has scored in double figures in the last six games.
 
Dantrell Thomas nearly led the team in scoring for the fifth time this season, finishing second on the team with 13 points against IUPUI. Leading the squad with his 14.1 points per game average, Thomas has been stellar from the free throw line making 8 of his last 10 free throws, including going a perfect 4 for 4 against the Jaguars.
 
After having to watch most of last season and part of this season, Sam McBeath has been steadily making an impact just three games in as he flirted with a double-double on Wednesday, tying the individual season high of nine rebounds. Although it's a short sample size, McBeath currently leads the team in rebounding pulling down an average of 5.7 per game.
 
The Colonels will have the tall task of taking on an Indiana team that is perfect at home in the confines of Assembly Hall with a 7-0 record. The Hoosiers enter the contest with an 8-3 record on the season, as all three losses have come on the road, most recently to Notre Dame in the Crossroads Classic.
 
This is the second all-time meeting against Indiana, as the Hoosiers defeated Nicholls back in 2005, 99-65.
 
Links to live stats, audio and video of the contest on Friday night can be found on the front page of GeauxColonels.com.
 
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
TV: Big Ten Network
Broadcast Team: Dave Revsine (play-by-play), Stephen Bardo (analyst)
Radio: KLRZ 100.3 FM, KLEB 1600 AM
Broadcast Team: Mike Wagenheim (play-by-play)
Live Stats: www.IUHoosiers.com