Mark Pope was so distraught after Kentucky lost 84-70 to Georgetown in their second exhibition game that he resembled Coach Herb Brooks in the movie “Miracle,” after Team USA lost 10-3 to the Soviet Union
in a friendly prior to the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid.
That’s how much he cares about this team, this program, and this University. He played for Kentucky. He lives for Kentucky Basketball. To him, that game against Georgetown counted.
Tuesday night, the games actually start counting for the Wildcats. The Wildcats open the season against the Nicholls Colonels. Nicholls is coming off a 20-13 season, during which they finished 13-7 in the Southland Conference and earned the No. 3 seed in the Conference Tournament.
This year’s Nicholls team will look a lot different. Their top six scorers from last year are not returning.
Let’s take a look at the Colonels and my keys to the game ahead of Tuesday night’s matchup.
Players to Watch on Nicholls
1. No. 3: Jaylen Searles — 6-8, 195 lbs. Gr. Guard, Everett, Wash.; Utah Tech Transfer
Searles is Nicholls’s leading returning scorer from a season ago, averaging 6.5 points per game in 21.3 minutes played per game. He started the final 12 games of Nicholls’s season, and he scored in double figures 11 times last season. In addition, Searles was third on the team in rebounds at 4.5 per game.
Prior to his first season at Nicholls, Searles played at Utah Tech, Southeastern (Iowa) Community College, and Central Wyoming College. At Utah Tech, Searles was fourth on the team in scoring, averaging 10.1 points per game while ranking second on the team with 146 total rebounds.
2. No. 1: Trae English — 6-0, 175 lbs. R-Sr. Guard, Baltimore; McNeese Transfer
English started each of Nicholls’s final 10 games, averaging 6.1 points on the season and scoring in double figures seven times. In addition, English ranked eighth in the Southland with 85 assists, leading Nicholls with 2.6 per game.
Prior to Nicholls, English played three seasons at McNeese. His best season was 2023-2024, during which he averaged 10.8 points and 3.6 assists per game.
3. No. 5: Sincere Malone — 6-8, 210 lbs. Sr. Forward, Chicago; Eastern Illinois Transfer
Malone started in 16 games last season, including each of the 14 games of the Colonels’ season. He averaged 5.6 points per game, including notching a double-double in a win at Stephen F. Austin.
Prior to Nicholls, Malone spent three seasons at Eastern Illinois. In 2022-2023, Malone led the Ohio Valley Conference in steals with 62, a total that ranked No. 22 in the country.
Head Coach: Tevon Saddler
Eventually, the country will know Tevon Saddler’s name, and it should right now. The 30-year-old Saddler is a rising head coach who is already making his mark at his alma mater with back-to-back 20-win seasons. It’s the first time Nicholls has had consecutive 20-win seasons in program history.
Saddler was the youngest active head coach when he was hired on April 20, 2023. In his first season, Saddler was a finalist for the Joe B. Hall National Coach of the Year (given to the top first-year head coach).
The season before he was hired at Nicholls, Saddler was the director of player personnel at Maryland, helping the Terrapins to 22 wins and a First-Round win in the NCAA Tournament. He was also an assistant at McNeese for one season, following three seasons as the director of basketball operations at Nicholls. Saddler’s first coaching job was as a graduate assistant at Southern Alabama.
Saddler played for UNC Greensboro and Nicholls, earning Southern Conference Freshman of the Year at UNCG. He was All-Conference at both schools.
Prior to this season, Nicholl extended Saddler’s contract through 2030.
Keys to the Game
1. Getting out in transition
This Wildcats team is much better athletically than last year’s team. Getting out in transition will show that and put a ton of pressure on the Colonels’ defense. Nicholls’s team this season is vastly different, with 10 new players. Putting pressure on them defensively will really test their cohesiveness early.
2. Offensive efficiency
This is a key coming over from the Georgetown game. Taking good shots and making the high-percentage shots will put pressure on any team. Tuesday night is a good night to start building the offensive efficiency, especially for a team that may not be as good at three-point shooting and scoring as last year’s team. They’ll score, but being efficient will increase their offensive production.
3. On-ball defense
Kentucky didn’t do a great job of putting pressure on the ball against the Hoyas, which led to a lot of easy buckets and three-point makes. Pressuring the ball will make it hard for Nicholls, and any team, to move the ball.
4. Avoid the chaos
Last season, Nicholls averaged 11.3 assists and 10.6 turnovers per game. That’s Jekyll and Hyde at its finest. Opponents, though, averaged 12.1 assists and 12.5 turnovers per game. These stats suggest that Nicholls can cause chaos on both ends of the floor. Don’t get caught up in that if you’re the Wildcats.
Score Prediction: Wildcats 93, Colonels 60
Kentucky is the far-and-away better team, but this is a good opponent to play in the season-opener. The Wildcats, however, should win this game comfortably without fans sweating too much.
