Dec. 17, 2007

THIBODAUX, La. - The Colonels tough non-conference schedule will continue against AP and ESPN Coaches Poll No.1 North Carolina on Wednesday in Chapel Hill, N.C. The game will be televised by ESPNU with tip-off at 8 p.m. CST, and played on tape-delay in Australia.

The tape-delay broadcasts in Australia will be at 10 p.m. and 4 a.m. Sydney, Aus. time on ESPN Australia. During the game, interviews with sophomore Michael Czepil and junior Ryan Bathie will air at commercial breaks. The interviews, which were done before the Colonels played at St. Mary's earlier this season, are a minute long, and will only air on ESPN Australia. Czepil, who leads the conference in free throw percentage with a .960 mark, currently leads the team in scoring with an 11.6 ppg average and is followed by Bathie with an 11.5 showing per game. Of the 33 Australian players in NCAA Basketball, five of them play for Nicholls.

The Colonels (4-7) head to North Carolina riding a two-game win streak with victories over Louisiana-Monroe (78-65) and Lipscomb (72-60) this past week. Nicholls win over Louisiana-Monroe marked the first time in six seasons that the Colonels had beaten the Warhawks, and their victory over Lipscomb was the first time in four tries that Nicholls had defeated the Bison. The consecutive wins also marked the first time since the 2005-06 season that Nicholls had won back-to-back non-conference contests.

The No.1 Tar Heels (9-0) are playing their first home game since Nov. 20 against South Carolina State. North Carolina has had only two games decided by less then 10 points this season, and boast an average margin of victory of 21.0 points in all nine of their contests. The Colonels game against the Tar Heels will mark the first time in school history that Nicholls has squared off against a team ranked No.1 in the nation, and the first time that a Southland Conference team has played a No.1 standing squad in non-conference action since Dec. 30, 2004 when Northwestern State lost 69-51 at No.1 Illinois. Texas-San Antonio played No.1 Stanford in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in 2004, and lost 71-45.

Making strides in the record books is senior Adonis Gray with 1,043 career points, which currently ranks 20th in Nicholls all-time ledger. Gray needs just 13 points to surpass Dale Melancon (1966-70) for the 19th spot on the prestigious list.

The game can be heard on 105.9 FM KBZE, the flagship station for Nicholls Athletics, and also on 640 AM KTIB. Brennan Matherne will have all the play-by-play action starting with pre-game at 7:45 p.m. The game can also be heard live on the internet at www.kbze.com, and followed live statistically on the internet as well by clicking on the GameTracker link. To access GameTracker, go to the men's basketball home page, click on the schedule/results icon, and scroll down to Nicholls game against North Carolina. The link will be under the game in the right column.

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