KATY, Texas – The confidence of the sixth-seeded Nicholls State University men's basketball team is at an all-time high as they head to the Merrill Center in Katy, Texas for a first-round Southland Conference Tournament battle against No. 7 New Orleans at 7:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
 
The Colonels (10-8, 7-11 SLC) ended the regular-season on a three-game winning streak, scoring more points and shooting a much higher percentage than their overall averages for the year. Sophomore forward Ja'Dante' Frye was named the SLC Player of the Week on Sunday and junior guard T.J. Carpenter received All-Southland Honorable Mention on Monday, further strengthening the team's confidence heading into the postseason.
 
The Privateers (10-17, 6-12 SLC) are coming off of an 88-78 loss to Northwestern State on Feb. 7 in Natchitoches, and have dropped two of their last three contests.
 
The Colonels will be making their seventh consecutive Southland Tournament appearance and 14^th overall. Nicholls has a postseason record of 8-12, with titles in the 1995 and 1998 seasons. The Colonels earned their most recent tournament victory against Southeastern Louisiana with a 71-64 win on March 12 last year.
 
New Orleans owns the all-time series against Nicholls 14-7, but the Colonels swept both meetings this year during the regular-season.
 
Nicholls took a 67-55 victory in the first matchup against the Privateers at the Colonels' annual Stuff Stopher game on Feb 2 in Thibodaux. Nicholls used a complete team effort in the win with six players scoring eight or more points. Travis Julien led the way with career-highs in both points (12) and rebounds (six).
 
On March 2 the Colonels outlasted New Orleans on their home floor in The Big Easy, earning an 89-79 overtime victory behind Carpenter's career-high 28 points. Ja'Dante' Frye took over in the extra period, scoring eight of his career-high 23 points in overtime. Liam Thomas had a major impact on both ends, scoring a career-high 15 points and adding 11 rebounds in the win. Richie Lewis tied a career-high with six assists and added two steals to lead the Nicholls.
 
Over the 2014-15 season, Carpenter and Frye have paced the Colonels offensively, averaging 11 and 10.7 points respectively. Sam McBeath leads the squad with a 6.5 rebounding average and Lewis tosses 2.7 assists per contest.
 
Christavious Gill spearheads the Privateer offense with 12.6 points per game. Kevin Hill grabs a team-leading 6.7 boards per contest, while Nate Frye, cousin of Ja'Dante' Frye, averages 2.7 assists.
 
Nicholls will face New Orleans on Wednesday, with the winner set to face No. 3 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday.
 
Both Wednesday and Thursday's matchups will be broadcast live for free on the Southland Conference Digital Network, including Southland.org/watch and the league's mobile and tablet apps. The semifinals will be available solely on ESPN3, while the championship game will be carried exclusively by ESPN2 and WatchESPN.
 
The winner of the tournament will receive the Southland's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament. The selection show is Sunday, March 15 at 5 p.m. on CBS.
 
Tickets to the 2015 Southland Conference Basketball tournament are available through Tickermaster and at the Merrell Center box office Tuesday at 10 a.m. For complete information about the tournament, visit Southland.org/katy.
 
Visit geauxcolonels.com for live stats and the most up-to-date information on Nicholls men's basketball.