Nicholls carries No. 1 seed into Southland Conference Tournament

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor
Posted 3/9/22

The Merrell Center will play host to the tournament, which starts Wednesday and will go through Saturday, with the champion taking an automatic bye into the NCAA Tournament.

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Nicholls carries No. 1 seed into Southland Conference Tournament

Posted

By Tyler Tyre, Sports Editor

For the second straight season, Nicholls will carry the No. 1 seed heading into the Southland Conference tournament when it comes to Katy this week.

The Merrell Center will play host to the tournament, which starts Wednesday and will go through Saturday, with the champion taking an automatic bye into the NCAA Tournament.

The Colonels finished the regular season with a 21-10 record while going 11-3 in Southland Conference play. They’re led by Ty Gordon, who averages over 21 points a game while shooting 46% from the field and 36% from three-point range. Along with Gordon, Devante Carter and La’Trell Jones both average double-digit points while Manny Littles leads the team in rebounds with 7.9 per game.

Southeastern Lousisiana, which won the pre-season conference tournament, will be the No. 2 seed. The Lions, finished the regular season with an 18-3 record and 10-4 record in Southland play.

Nicholls was without Ty Gordon in the final of the pre-season tournament, and Southeastern took advantage, as the Lions came out 77-72 winners. The Lions are led on offense by Gus Okafor, who leads the team with 15.2 points per game, Jalyn Hinton, Keon Clergeot and Joe Kasperzyk also all average double digit points for the team.

Hinton leads the team in rebounding and blocked shots while Kasperzy, leads the team ins teals per game.

Both Nicholls and Southeastern will get a bye straight to the semifinals of the tournament while the third and fourth seeds, The University of New Orleans and Texas A&M Corpus Christi, will get a bye into the second of the competition, while Houston Baptist will take on UIW and Northwestern State will take on McNeese in the first round.

Abilene Christian had won the previous two tournaments, before leaving for the Western Athletic Conference this past year.

New Orleans, which is the third seed in the tournament, finished 17-12 in the regular season, and went 10-4 in conference play just as Southeastern, the Privateers have a player who averages 20 points per game in Derek St. Hillaire, and Hellaire is a threat defensively as well, having the second most steals on the team. Troy Green is a threat as well, averaging 16.1 points per game, but those are the only two double digit scorers on the team.

Texas A&M Corpus Christi clinched the fourth seed by having a 20-11 record overall this season and going 7-7 in conference play this year. Like New Orleans, A&M Corpus Christi has two players averaging double-digits. Isaac Mushila leads the team in scoring, averaging 14.1 points per game, while Trevian Tennyson averages 12.5 points per game. Mushila also is a force in the paint, averaging 9.5 rebounds and while shooting over 56% from the field.

HBU, Northwestern, McNeese and UIW all struggled in conference play, with HBU going 6-8, Northwestern going 5-9, McNeese going 4-10 and UIW going 3-11 in the Southland conference this year.

All games Wednesday-Friday will be broadcast on ESPN plus, while the championship game will be broadcast on ESPN 2.

Following is the full Southland Conference Men’s Tournament seeding and schedule

MEN’S SEEDS

No. 1 – Nicholls (21-10, 11-3 SLC)

No. 2 – Southeastern (18-13, 10-4 SLC)

No. 3 – New Orleans (17-12, 10-4 SLC)

No. 4 – Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (20-11, 7-7 SLC)

No. 5 – HBU (10-17, 6-8 SLC)

No. 6 – Northwestern State (9-22, 5-9 SLC)

No. 7 – McNeese (10-21, 4-10 SLC)

No. 8 – UIW (7-24, 3-11 SLC)

MEN'S TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE

First Round – Wednesday, March 9, 2022
5:00 PM - Game 1 - No. 5 HBU vs. No. 8 UIW (ESPN+)
7:30 PM - Game 2 - No. 6 Northwestern State vs. No. 7 McNeese (ESPN+)

Second Round – Thursday, March 10, 2022
5:00 PM - Game 3 - No. 4 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi vs. Game 1 Winner (ESPN+)
7:30 PM - Game 4 - No. 3 New Orleans vs. Game 2 Winner (ESPN+)

Semifinals – Friday, March 11, 2022
5:00 PM - Game 5 - No. 1 Nicholls vs. Game 3 Winner (ESPN+)
7:30 PM - Game 6 - No. 2 Southeastern vs. Game 4 Winner (ESPN+)

Championship – Saturday, March 12, 2022
8:30 PM - Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 6 (ESPN2)

Katy ISD, Merrell Center, Southland Conference, McNeese, Nicholls, basketball, college, NCAA