BEAUMONT, Texas – The Lamar University men's basketball team heads to Nicholls State Saturday looking to salvage the final game of its current road swing. The game against the Colonels is the final stop on the Cardinals current three-game road swing. Having dropped consecutive decisions, the trip appeared to be off to a great start leading by 15 points at Abilene Christian before the Wildcats rallied to win on a half-court shot. LU got out to a great start at Sam Houston State Thursday leading by nine in the first half, and trailing by only a point at halftime, but the Bearkats went on a 13-0 run to start the second half and never looked back.
The Cardinals are now in the position of trying to reclaim some of their moxie, which led to a six wins during a seven-game stretch prior to their two recent setbacks. The two losses have dropped LU from second to a four-way tie for fifth in the Southland standings, just a game up on three teams in the loss column.
The Colonels are one of the four teams tied with Big Red for fifth place in the league race. Nicholls enters the weekend contest just a game over .500 (10-9) overall, and looking to turn around a bad stretch as well. Although Nicholls is coming off a three-point victory over Abilene Christian Thursday evening it was Nicholls' first win in its last four games. The Colonels had won four straight prior to its current run.
Picked to finish last in both preseason polls, the Colonels – much like LU – have been one of the surprises of the basketball season. The Colonels sent shockwaves through the league when they opened the season with a six-point victory at Boston College, and jumped out to a 2-0 start in league play before falling on hard times.
The Colonels will be playing Saturday's game without the services of leading scorer Deandre Harris. Averaging better than 18 points per contest, and nearly 20 in Southland games, Harris was dismissed from the team.
The Colonels are surrendering better than 78 points per contest this season, which should play into LU's hands Saturday. Big Red leads the Southland in scoring offense (79.1 ppg) and scoring margin (+8.0), and Nicholls has struggled at times defensively surrendering a league worst .473 field goal percentage to its opponents.
One the of the better free throw shooting teams in the Southland, the Colonels will look to gain an advantage in the low post where they lead the league in blocked shots (6.4 bpg). A size disadvantage is nothing new for the Cardinals this season. It is something the coaching staff has schemed for almost on a nightly basis.
Saturday's game is slated to tip off at 3:30 p.m. from Stopher Gym, but will be the second game of a scheduled doubleheader with the LU women. If the women's game against Nicholls runs long, the men's contest will start approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the women's game. The game can be heard live on Newstalk 560 KLVI.
-LU CARDINALS-
