THIBODAUX, La. - Coming off a nail-biting overtime victory, the Nicholls State University men's basketball team will play its first Southland Conference game in front of its home crowd as the Colonels welcome rival Southeastern to Broussard Court at Stopher Gymnasium for a Monday night matchup. Tipoff is scheduled for 6:30 p.m.
Both Nicholls (6-8, 1-0 SLC) and Southeastern (6-8, 1-0 SLC) came away victorious in their SLC openers on Saturday, setting up Monday's lone league battle between 1-0 squads. The Colonels will be looking to duplicate last season's 2-0 start, which included an 88-73 victory over the Lions to begin Southland play.
Playing in their first SLC game under head coach
Tevon Saddler, Nicholls had to overcome some early cold shooting to erase a 15-point second half deficit at HCU.
Diante Smith's late three-pointer sent the game into overtime and the Red and Gray went on to improve to 2-0 this season in overtime games with a 98-94 victory.
The duo of Smith and
Jamal West Jr. combined for 46 points in their SLC debuts. In fact, 80 of the 98 points came from Colonels who were playing in their first Southland game as
Robert Brown III scored 16,
Byron Ireland had 14 and
Oumar Koureissi added four off the bench.
Smith and West have emerged as one of the top scoring duos in the Southand as they are one of just two sets of teammates who rank in the top 10 in points per game. West is third at 17 points per contest while Smith ranks eighth at 14.5. Without Smith's two games where he played limited minutes due to an injury, his average would be third best at 17.3 ppg.
Precise free throw shooting also helped the Colonels leave Houston with the victory. The team made 26 of 32 at the line which was its fourth highest percentage of the season (.813). Nicholls ranks third in the SLC at 73.1 percent.
Southeastern's 73-68 victory at New Orleans did not need overtime but saw SLU pull away after being tied at 67 in the final two minutes. The Lions received a career high 19 points by 6-foot-11 Brody Rowbury to knock off the Privateers.
Rowbury is third on the team in scoring at 8.4 points while Roger McFarlane (13.7) and Nick Caldwell (12.9) lead the way.
Nicholls and Southeastern have had two common opponents -- LSU and Louisiana Tech. The Colonels won at LSU, 68-66, and were defeated by LA Tech, 68-55. The Lions played LSU close before falling 73-66 and had a tough day against the Bulldogs in an 89-60 loss.
The Colonels have won seven of the last 10 meetings against SLU, including both matchups last season. In addition to the league-opening victory, Nicholls secured an 88-77 win in Hammond in the last meeting.
