After the drubbing the men’s basketball team experienced in Gainesville, Fla., on Wednesday, they should be ready to return the favor.
Too bad for Nicholls State.
The No. 24 Spartans follow their 74-70 loss to No. 4 Florida with what seems to be as unbalanced a matchup as you can get.
The strong home atmosphere and a Southland Conference team like NSU (1-4) could be exactly what the green and white need to get their confidence back to equilibrium.
NSU head coach Rickey Broussard said he looks forward to the matchup with MSU as a teaching experience for his team and to prepare for tournament hopes in the spring.
“I’m looking forward to playing MSU,” Broussard said. “Naturally with the reputation MSU has we play these games for NCAA Tournament play. We play the likes of UNLV, Mississippi State and SEC schools.”
A lower-tier NCAA team can never be overlooked - just ask the 2000 National Championship version of the Spartans who lost to Midwestern Collegiate Conference’s Wright State, 53-49 on Dec. 28, 1999.
And the Colonels said they are excited to play the second Big Ten opponent in the school’s history.
“It’s a really big experience to play against Michigan State,” Nicholls State senior forward Reggie Williams said. “It’s a chance of a lifetime.”
Like MSU’s last opponent, the Colonels use a pressing defense, but don’t expect it to be as hectic as Florida’s. Broussard said with so many of his players coming out of high school without experience in playing man-to-man defense, it has been hard to run a pesky style of pressure.
“Over the years we’ve been a pressing team,” Broussard said. “We’ve been a pressing team this year.”
MSU has had trouble with pressure defenses all year and Sunday will be good for the Spartans to work out the kinks of their pressure offense.
Freshman Ronnie Price is the Colonels’ biggest scoring threat, averaging 13.6 points per game through the NSU’s four contests.
“(Price) is somewhat of a surprise,” Broussard said of his long-range bomber. “I thought he could shoot well, and he has shot pretty well (this season).”
With an MSU win Sunday the Spartan’s win streak at the Breslin Center would extend to 49.
The MSU coaching staff and players were unavailable for comment Thursday afternoon.
