THIBODAUX, La. – After snapping a long conference losing skid earlier this week, the Nicholls State University men's basketball team heads to San Antonio on Saturday afternoon to take on an old nemesis in the UTSA Roadrunners at 2 p.m. at the Convocation Center in Texas.
 
The game is a non-conference tilt that was selected as a part of the Ramada Worldwide Bracketbusters event which begins tonight and tomorrow as all ten Southland Conference teams are participating. This is the final year of the event, as Nicholls will travel this year after hosting IUPUI in last year's event, with the Colonels returning that trip next season, giving the Roadrunners a year-and-a-half to make the return trip to Thibodaux.
 
Nicholls will take a bit of momentum into Saturday's game after snapping a five-game Southland losing streak on Tuesday, defeating the Lamar Cardinals 74-63 at the Montagne Center in Beaumont. The victory over the Cardinals in Beaumont was only the eighth win over Lamar in team history, while it also being the second time Nicholls has ever won in the Montagne Center.
 
The Colonels played ten players in the game on Tuesday, getting solid production as a team in the win as Nicholls had 18 assists on 26 made baskets which are a team high this season. The team also caught fire from behind the 3-point line for the first time in handful of games, hitting nine during the contest with a 56-percent clip from behind the arc.
 
After missing the last two games to rest his still-strained shoulder, T.J. Carpenter came off of the bench and scored a team-high 17 points and six rebounds to lead the team in both categories for the fifth time this season. Carpenter was deadly from long-range, hitting four 3-pointers in the contest, giving him his eighth game this season with at least three in a contest.
 
Carpenter was one of three players scoring in double figures on the night, as Fred Hunter scored 15 which snapped his streak of 20-point games at five, but did give him his sixth-straight game with double-digits. Hunter also reach another milestone this season a week after playing in his 100^th game, earning his 100^th start which is second all-time to Colonel great Reggie Jackson. He is only the second player ever to eclipse 100 starts in a career, and is six shy of tying Jackson for the all-time mark.
 
Against the Roadrunners on Saturday, Nicholls will be taking on a team it once called a conference foe just last season, with many of those same players returning this year for added intrigue. UTSA left the Southland after over 20 years as a member, joining the Western Athletic Conference this season before leaving to enter Conference USA next year.
 
UTSA is 6-19 on the year and 2-12 in the WAC, with two common opponents in Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and Utah State. The Roadrunners and Colonels have both defeated the Islanders this season, with both losing to the Aggies during the year. This will only be the third non-conference game for UTSA at home in the Convocation Center, holding a 1-1 mark in games in San Antonio. UTSA does boast the league leader in points in Kannon Burrage who averages 17.6 points per game, with three players in the top ten in scoring.
 
The Roadrunners won the only meeting between the two teams last year 91-50, and have won 15 of the last 17 meetings against Nicholls in holding a 26-18 advantage in all-time contests.
 
The radio broadcast of the game will begin with the Colonel Countdown pregame show, beginning 15 minutes prior to the start of the contest.
 
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
TV: None
Radio: 100.3 FM KLRZ (Larose, La); 1600 KLEB (Golden Meadow, La.)
Broadcast Team: Mike Wagenheim (play-by-play)
Colonels on the Internet: www.klrzfm.com
Live Stats: www.goutsa.com