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THIBODAUX, La. - The IUPUI basketball team will make its first-ever appearance in the Sears BracketBuster event when it heads to Nicholls State on Saturday (Feb. 18) for a 4:30 p.m. Eastern tip. The contest can be heard in Indianapolis on WNDE 1260 AM and worldwide via WNDE.com or the free iHeartRadio app available on smartphones. Scott McCauley (pxp) will call the action from courtside inside Stopher Gym (3,800) on the NSU campus.
Saturday's will be the third-ever meeting between the two schools with Nicholls State having won games in 1976 and 1981.
Both teams enter play hot with IUPUI (12-16) having won four of its past five games and Nicholls State having won three of its past four outings. The Jaguars are coming off their most emphatic Summit League win of the year, having pasted South Dakota 88-70 in the Jungle on Wednesday. All three seniors were clutch in their final home games as
Christian Siakam led the way with 17 points on 8-of-11 shooting and a game-high nine boards.
Alex Young chipped in 16 points, five assists and four steals and
Stephen Thomas had 14 points on 4-of-5 from three and five assists in 30 minutes work.
IUPUI blazed out to a 17-point first half lead and never let the visiting Coyotes closer than 14 the rest of the night. The lead extended to 23 early in the second half as the Jaguars rode better than 60 percent shooting in both halves. Junior
Sean Esposito chipped in 15 points off the bench and both
Lyonell Gaines and
Ian Chiles tallied eight each.
Young continues to rank among the nation's elite in scoring average at better than 20 points per game and upped his career total to a nation's best 2,214. The 6-foot-6 lefty hit double-digits for the 18th straight time and 107th time in his IUPUI career on Wednesday night. The win, coupled with IPFW and UMKC losses, helped IUPUI clinch a spot in the upcoming Summit League Tournament.
Nicholls State (8-16) beat Lamar last weekend to improve to 5-4 this year inside Stopher Gym. The only blemish against the Colonels in the past four games was a 62-58 overtime setback at Stephen F. Austin on Feb. 8. The Colonels top eight scorers are all underclassmen, led by 6-foot-5 freshman Trevon Lewis. The rookie forward comes in netting 13.4 points and a team-high 6.0 rebounds per game while shooting 51.4 percent from the floor. He also leads the team in blocks (16), free throws made (64) and attempted (100). Sophomore guard Dantrell Thomas also comes in averaging double-figures at 10.8 points per game and has made better than 40 percent of his three-point attempts.
As part of the BracketBuster agreement, Nicholls State will make a return trip to Indianapolis next season on a mutually agreed upon date. Thibodaux, is located about 70 miles west of New Orleans along the banks of Bayou Lafourche. The small city is more than 300 miles southeast of Shreveport, home of former Summit League member Centenary College.
The 10th annual Sears BracketBusters will feature 13 nationally televised games – on either ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU or ESPN3. The pool consists of 142 teams from 16 conferences and is the largest Sears BracketBusters pool in the event’s history. For more information, go to
www.espnbracketbusters.com.
