Feb. 6, 2008
Complete Release in PDF Format 
Riding a season-best four-game winning streak, Lamar travels to Nicholls State for a Southland battle at Stopher Gym. The Cardinals bring the four-game streak with them, but also have won two-straight road contests. The game is the only league contest on the schedule for Thursday.
Lamar-Nicholls State Series History
This will be the 22nd meeting between Lamar and Nicholls State with the Cardinals holding an 18-3 all-time series advantage. Lamar is 12-0 in games played in Beaumont, 5-3 in Thibodaux and 1-0 on a neutral court. The teams split their two meetings a year ago, with each holding serve at home. Lamar won the early meeting, 89-82, on Feb. 1 in Beaumont, before Nicholls State made 15 first-half 3-pointers to jump out to a 60-47 halftime lead and hold on for a 105-90 victory. Lamar has won eight of the last 10 meetings. Since returning to the SLC, Lamar is 11-3 vs. Nicholls State.
Scouting Nicholls State
Nicholls State enters the game having dropped its last six games (after upsetting SFA 58-57 in ot in the season-opener), including a tough 98-96 double-overtime game with UCA on Saturday. The Colonels played the sixth-toughest non-conference schedule in the country with contests against Florida State, Tulane, Cal, LSU, New Orleans, Alabama, then-No. 1 North Carolina, Minnesota and UNLV.
Junior Ryan Bathie leads a balanced scoring attack with 13.0 ppg (16.1 in SLC play), 3.7 rpg and 2.3 apg. Junior Anatoly Bose and freshman Dominic Friend are each pulling down 4.2 rpg, while junior Justin Payne is handing-out a team-best 2.3 apg.
As a team, Nicholls State averages 65 ppg on 40.9 percent shooting while allowing 73 ppg overall and 75.4 in SLC games. They rank third in the league in conference games in steals (9.71 per game) and turnover margin (+3.29).
Hopkins Turning Up The Heat
Senior G Darren Hopkins has turned up his production since league play began six games ago. After 13 non-conference games he was averaging 7.9 points on 32 percent shooting (just 28 percent from outside) and 3.5 rebounds, but in the last six games his numbers have escalated to 13.7 ppg on 45 percent shooting (42 percent from outside) and 6.0 boards
Balanced Scoring Has Been The Key
Through six conference games, Lamar has five players averaging double figures in scoring with the first and fifth scoring options separated by just 2.5 points per game. In fact, six different players have led the team in scoring over the course of the first six games.
Best shooters in the league?
Lamar Sanders ranks second in FG Pct at 64.3 pct, Currye Todd is first in 3-Point FG Pct at 48.3 pct and Kenny Dawkins is first in FT Pct. at 88.3 pct. No school has had two players lead the league in FG and FT shooting in the same season, let alone all three categories.
Offensive Rebounding Pleasing To Coach Roc
Head coach Steve Roccaforte has always wanted his players to play hard for 40 minutes. He is starting to get that response on the glass. In the last four games, Lamar is averaging 41.5 rpg and has attacked the offensive glass to the tune of 14, 20, 20 and 19 which has resulted in an average of 16.5 second-chance points per game. The Cardinals rank third in the SLC in offensive rebounds at 14.11.
Lamar In The NCAA Rankings
Lamar enters the Nicholls State contest ranked in the top 60 in the NCAA in three categories: scoring offense-14th, assists per game-23rd and steals per game-25th. Additionally, Kenny Dawkins ranks 16th in free throw percentage at 88.3 pct and 91st in assists per game at 4.5.
