THIBODAUX, La. - The Nicholls State University men's basketball team will carry its five-game winning streak to the Pacific Northwest as the Colonels are set to take on No. 13 Gonzaga for the first time in school history.

The game is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 18 with tipoff set for 8 p.m. central. The matchup will be streamed on ESPN+.

Nicholls (7-4) won its fifth straight game last Tuesday with a 110-66 victory over SUNO in the 2024 home finale. The winning streak started with victories against Mississippi College and Louisiana before the Colonels secured league wins over Southeastern and New Orleans.

The Colonels are 2-2 on the road this season with wins at Northern Kentucky and Louisiana. Nicholls fell in its opener at New Mexico and was defeated in its lone ranked matchup of the season at No. 17 Cincinnati.

Nicholls is aiming for its first win over a nationally-ranked team. Second-year head Tevon Saddler is 0-3 in games vs. the Top 25 with setbacks to Mississippi State and Baylor last season. The Colonels did secure a major nonconference victory a year ago with a win at LSU for Saddler's first career victory. 

Byron Ireland heads a trio of Colonels scoring in double-figure with 13.2 points per game, followed by Robert Brown III (11.4 ppg) and Jamal West Jr. (10.4). Brown is coming off a 28-point performance against SUNO, which matched his career high.

The Nicholls defense boasts a top-40 ranking in the NCAA in both field goal percentage (.389/33rd) and three-point percentage (.271/13th), but Gonzaga shoots 49 percent overall and ranks seventh in the NCAA in scoring at 88.3 points.

The Zags (7-3) are looking to snap a two-game skid after falling to nationally-ranked UConn on Saturday. Khalif Battle had 21 points in the loss and leads the team at 14.2 ppg. Ryan Nembhard added 16 points and is one of the nation's assists leader at 10.3 per game.

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Nicholls will have another week off before heading back out to the Pacific Northwest to face Seattle on Dec. 30.