The Hoyas (5-0) beat Nicholls State (1-3) by a score of 90 to 48 on 12/2/00. Freshman Gerald Riley paced the 15 Hoyas who saw action in the contest with 15 points. Anthony Perry came off the bench to contribute 13 points on 5 of 6 shooting from the field and 3 for 3 from beyond the arc. Demetrius Hunter added 12 tallies while Mike Sweetney led all rebounders with 11 boards. Kevin Braswell only saw 17 minutes of action but had six assists and three steals with zero turnovers.
The Hoyas jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. At intermission the difference was 26, 47-21. In the second stanza the Hoyas hit 7 treys in 7 tries and led by as many as 51, (80-29, 10:47) but the Colonels were able to reduce the deficit to 42 by the close of regulation, (90-48).
For the game the Hoyas shot a blistering 56.9% from the field and 72.7% (8-11) from beyond the arc. Coach Esherick quipped, "Many times I've gotten strange looks when I've talked about what a good shooting team we are. A few more games like today's and I think I'll stop getting those looks."
The Hoyas also held the opposition to 27.7% from the field. Although the defense seemed very effective Coach Esherick pointed out, "We still have work to do. I'm happier with a 5-0 start than I would be if we were 2-3, but there is always room for improvement. Nicholls State got 19 offensive boards in spite of our height advantage. That's something we have to work on. Nobody has ever won the NCAA Tournament in November or December. We have to keep working and keep improving and I intend to see that we do that."
