Nicholls State at Sam Houston State, 6:00 PM Eastern, espn+
The Under the Radar Game of the Day turns its attention to the Southland Conference today for a huge battle between two of the four teams with only one conference loss on the season, Nicholls State (7-1 in conference, 10-5 overall) and Sam Houston State (7-1 in conference, 13-6 overall). Both trail Stephen F Austin (8-1) by half a game and lead Abilene Christian (6-1) by the same margin entering play today.
Nicholls has arguably been the biggest surprise in SLC play so far this season, although they did lose their only matchup so far against the other three conference leaders, an 84-81 home loss of Sam Houston back on January 2. Ty Gordon leads the way for the Colonels with 15.1 points per game, while teammate Najee Garvin is averaging 13 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Kevin Johnson was the leading scorer the last time these two teams met, having dropped 17 points in the 3 point loss. The Colonels have won all 8 games they have played since that time, and will be looking to make it 9 in a row this evening.
The Bearkats of Sam Houston State are coming off of their first conference loss of the season, having fallen 78-68 to rival Stephen F Austin last weekend. Zach Nutall (19.6 points per game) and Demarkus Lampley (15.6) are the key to the team’s offense. Lampley led all scorers last time these two teams met with 27 points, including hitting an impressive 7 of 10 3-pointers. Another effort like that will almost certainly spell disaster for the Colonels and keep Sam Houston State primed for a run at the Southland regular season title.