THIBODAUX, La. - The back-to-back Southland Conference regular season champion Nicholls State University men's basketball team begins its title defense with a matchup against rival Southeastern Thursday night on Broussard Court at Stopher Gymnasium. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will air on ESPN+.

Nicholls has compiled a 4-5 overall record so far this season, going 3-0 at home, 1-1 on a neutral court, and 0-4 on the road. En route to the league title last year, the Colonels posted a 11-1 record in Stopher but the lone loss was against Southeastern. Nicholls finished the campaign with an 11-3 mark in conference to claim its second-straight outright title. 

The Colonels are coming off an 85-65 win over Rust College on Sunday, led by a career-high 31 points by Caleb Huffman. The standout guard moved into the Top 5 of the Southland in scoring at 15.2 points per game after averaging 26.5 last week on a staggering 66.7 percent from the field. In the near upset at Texas Tech, Huffman poured in 22 points on 9 of 15 from the field. 

Latrell Jones is just ahead of Huffman at 15.8 points per game, placing him third in the conference in scoring. Jones has scored in double figures in seven games this season and has 20-plus points in three of the last four. 

The Lions come to Thibodaux with a 5-5 overall record. Like the Colonels, SLU has three wins against non D1 opponents in addition to victories against Campbell and Wyoming. Nicholls also played Wyoming but came up short in a 79-68 setback. 

SLU has a trio of scorers averaging double figures, led by Boogie Anderson at 11.8 points per game. Christian Agnew ranks second on the team at 10.8 and Roscoe Eastmond follows with 10.1.

Southeastern has won the last three matchups against the Colonels after dropping five straight in the series. SLU picked up a win in the Southland Tip-Off Event last season in Katy before going on to sweep the season series.

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