Nicholls State Colonels (9-6, 3-1 Southland) at McNeese Cowboys (10-5, 4-0 Southland)
Lake Charles, Louisiana; Saturday, 5 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: McNeese faces Nicholls State after DJ Richards scored 20 points in McNeese’s 92-69 win over the Northwestern State Demons.
The Cowboys are 5-1 in home games. McNeese averages 10.4 turnovers per game and is 10-3 when it has fewer turnovers than its opponents.
The Colonels are 3-1 against Southland opponents. Nicholls State is seventh in the Southland with 12.7 assists per game led by Byron Ireland averaging 3.3.
McNeese makes 48.8% of its shots from the field this season, which is 7.9 percentage points higher than Nicholls State has allowed to its opponents (40.9%). Nicholls State averages 7.3 made 3-pointers per game this season, 1.0 fewer made shot on average than the 8.3 per game McNeese gives up.
The matchup Saturday is the first meeting of the season for the two teams in conference play.
TOP PERFORMERS: Richards averages 2.1 made 3-pointers per game for the Cowboys, scoring 8.2 points while shooting 38.1% from beyond the arc.
Ireland is scoring 13.8 points per game and averaging 3.5 rebounds for the Colonels.
LAST 10 GAMES: Cowboys: 7-3, averaging 77.1 points, 31.6 rebounds, 14.0 assists, 9.0 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 50.2% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 63.3 points per game.
Colonels: 7-3, averaging 76.1 points, 32.3 rebounds, 11.7 assists, 9.3 steals and 4.6 blocks per game while shooting 45.5% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 68.0 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.
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