San Antonio, Texas – After winning back-to-back games for the first time this season, the Nicholls State University men's basketball team will look to build on their recent success as they face the league's top scoring team, Incarnate Word, at 7 p.m. in San Antonio.
The Colonels (7-13, 4-6 SLC) have proved to be one of the stingiest defenses in the Southland through their first ten conference matchups. Nicholls has held opponents to just 65.8 points in conference play. Over the last three games an already stout Colonel defense has become even tougher, holding Incarnate Word to 16.4 points under its season average, New Orleans to 15.6 points under its season average and McNeese to 9.7 points under its season average. Saturday's victory over McNeese State marked the first time that Nicholls won back-to-back games in 345 days.
The Cardinals (13-6, 5-4 SLC) are coming off of a 78-72 win over Lamar on Saturday, after falling 71-70, against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
Incarnate Word owns the all-time series against Nicholls 2-0, including a 69-58 victory just over a week ago on Jan.31 in Thibodaux. In that most recent meeting, the Cardinals shot a blazing 56.3 percent from the floor and 40 percent from beyond the arc, while the Colonels shot just 38.3 percent from the floor and 31.3 percent from three-point range. Despite poor shooting, Nicholls finished with more points in the paint (34-26), more second chance points (9-2), more bench points (27-4), more assists (18-10), more rebounds (31-26) more steals (6-5) and more blocks (3-2) than Incarnate Word.
Despite their offensive prowess, the Cardinals have had their share of struggles on the defensive end and the Colonels will look to capitalize in San Antonio. To do so the Colonels must bring their best on defense and find a way to put the ball in the net. Nicholls has struggled offensively this season, but has shown sporadic flashes of brilliance. The Colonels will need to find consistent scoring over their remaining games to make a strong push for seeding in the Southland Conference Tournament.
Amin Torres leads Nicholls in scoring with 10.8 points per game.
Sam McBeath paces the squad with 6.3 rebounds per contest and
Richie Lewis averages a team-high 2.3 assists per game.
Liam Thomas averages 1.8 blocks, and leads the team in field goal percentage, at 59.8 percent.
Denzel Livingston is second in the conference in scoring, averaging 21.9 points per game and leads the Cardinals in assists with 3.3 per contest. Kyle Hittle averages a team-leading 6.4 rebounds per game and is first in the Southland in three-point shooting percentage (45.5 percent).
Nicholls will face Incarnate Word on Tuesday before returning home to take on Southeastern La. at 3:30 p.m. on Valentine's Day in Stopher Gym. Both games will be broadcast live on KQKI 95.3 FM.
Visit geauxcolonels.com for live stats and the most up-to-date information on Nicholls men's basketball.
