Thibodaux, La. – The Nicholls men's basketball team opens a stretch of three games in six days on Thursday night, welcoming Southland Conference newcomer Houston Baptist to Stopher Gym with tip-off scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in Thibodaux.
 
The contest against the Huskies will begin 30 minutes after the completion of the women's game against HBU which begins at 5:30 p.m. in Thibodaux, as fans can purchase their tickets online at NichollsTickets.com for $7. For fans unable to make the game, live stats and video will be provided at GeauxColonels.com and the Nicholls Athletics mobile apps, with the game being aired on the all-new ESPN 100.3 FM and KLEB 1600 AM.
 
Nicholls returns home to the friendly confines of Stopher Gym this week hoping to keep its unblemished, 4-0 home mark intact, while also looking to remove the taste of a bitter loss to the Sam Houston State Bearkats last Saturday night that snapped the team's three-game winning streak against league competition. The Colonels are now 6-7 on the year and 3-1 in the Southland, in a four-way tie for second place behind undefeated Stephen F. Austin, along with Sam Houston, McNeese State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, the Colonels' opponent on Saturday.
 
In the 88-61 loss to the Bearkats on Saturday night in Huntsville, Nicholls fell to 2-7 in games on the road this year, as SHSU shot over 57 percent from the floor, including drilling 18 shots in the second half alone, to pull away from the Colonels in Johnson Coliseum. Nicholls played well early, jumping out to a big run, but was unable to sustain that momentum late into the first half and went into the break trailing 42-31. Nicholls is 0-7 this year when trailing at halftime, as opposed to being a perfect 6-0 when taking the lead at the break.
 
Still, the Colonels ended the week with a split in their first conference road tests, defeating Lamar in Beaumont last Thursday, led by Dantrell Thomas who averaged 14.5 points per game shooting 50 percent from the field, with five rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal. Thomas is 69^th in the nation in field goal percentage, making 53.3 percent of his shots from the field. Nicholls had four players average double figure points during the week, as Jeremy Smith, Shane Rillieux and Sam McBeath all averaged 10 points for the week.
 
Carpenter leads Nicholls in 3-pointers made with 26 on the season, while Luke Doyle is second on the list with 10. Doyle was big off of the bench for Nicholls against Sam Houston State, tying his season high of eight points, accounting for eight of the team's 16 bench points.
 
After toiling in the Great West Conference, the Huskies became full members of the Southland over the summer, and currently enter the week 4-12 overall and 1-3 against league competition. In the GWC last season, HBU was 14-17 overall and played just eight conference games due to teams in the conference stretching as far as New Jersey and Utah. The Huskies were 3-5 in the conference during their final season.
 
Hungry for their first win, HBU got it in a big way on Saturday night, getting a shot with .7 seconds remaining to defeat Northwestern State 98-97 in Sharp Gym in Houston. That win snapped a seven-game losing streak for the Huskies, as they will come to Thibodaux Looking for their first league road win. The Huskies have three players averaging double figures in points, led by Rob Lewis' 11.8 points per game. Tyler Russell, who hit the game-winner against the Demons, is second with 10.5, while Cody Joyce is averaging 10.3. Joyce is the only player to average double-digits in league play, however, scoring 11 points a game.
 
Nicholls and Houston Baptist met on the hardwood for the first time in over 20 years at the Beryl Shipley Classic tournament in Lafayette, but little did each team know that it was a preview of what was to come as the Huskies accepted an invitation to join the Southland Conference just two days later, reigniting a rivalry that began in the late 60's. The Colonels have won the last two meetings against the Huskies, with a 78-77 win in February of 1987 and 80-70 win in 2011. However, the Huskies own the series advantage 10-8, winning four straight games from 1984-86.
 
 
GAMEDAY INFORMATION
TV: None
Radio: ESPN 100.3 FM, KLEB 1600 AM
Broadcast Team: Mike Wagenheim (play-by-play)
Live Stats: www.GeauxColonels.com