Riley announces inaugural signees

We now know the first two signees of the Richie Riley Era of Nicholls State University men’s basketball.

The new Colonels coach announced this week that he’d received signed National Letters of Intent from junior college guards Lafayette Rutledge and Dazhonetae Bennett – a pair of players who will be eligible to compete for the Colonels in the 2016-17 season.

Rutledge played last season for Southwest Mississippi Community College, while Bennett was a contributor for Indian Hills Community College.

Both players will come to Thibodaux as juniors with two years of eligibility left in their careers.

Riley said each will be able to help the Colonels in their ongoing quest to reach the upper echelon of the Southland Conference. The coach said the goal of the team’s recruiting efforts are to get more athletic to fit a more up-tempo system in the coming years.

“We will be aggressive in our recruiting, and we want to get athletic players who fit the style of basketball we want to play,” Riley said during his introductory press conference. “We want quality student athletes, and we think we can work to convince players that Nicholls State University is an excellent place to play college basketball.”

With Rutledge and Bennett, the Colonels are getting a pair of guards who can both score the ball in a variety of ways.

Rutledge lands in Thibodaux after proving to be a standout combo guard at Southwest Mississippi Community College.

Last season, the 6-foot guard averaged 13.8 points per game, while shooting 47.6 percent from the field. Arguably Rutledge’s biggest asset is his ability to score from deep. The new Colonel shot 42.8 percent from behind the 3-point line – a mark that would be near the top of the Southland Conference if it can be replicated at Nicholls.

Rutledge is also an 84.8 percent free throw shooter so far in his college career and was an All-State player as a prep player at Gautier High School in Pascagoula, Mississippi.

“Lafayette is a high-level shooter,” Riley said. “He has a quick trigger with deep range. I love that he can not only catch and shoot, but also create space to make shots off the dribble.”

But in addition to being a dominant scorer, Rutledge will also bring a strong academic pedigree to Nicholls.

The new Colonels guard was a model student with Southwest Mississippi and was named to the college’s Academic Hall of Fame.

That asset, above anything else, is what attracted Rutledge to Riley, according to the coach.

“Lafayette is the true definition of being a student-athlete,” Riley said. “He will be a tremendous ambassador for our program.”

When Bennett is at his best, he can score the ball, too.

Bennett was a former top-notch high school recruit out of Dayton, Ohio, who’s had a couple college homes during his career.

Bennett started his collegiate career with Missouri State-West Plains where he a First-Team All-Conference performer who averaged 12.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game with the Grizzlies.

The 6-foot, 3-inch guard shot 40.8 percent from the field and 33.5 percent from the 3-point line during that season.

After shining for West Plains, Bennett transferred to Indian Hills – a high-level JUCO that plays in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference.

Bennett averaged 6.3 points and 2.4 rebounds per game for that program, shooting 40 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from behind the arc.

In conference play, Bennett got hot and upped those percentages to 48.9 percent from the field and 44.1 percent from deep.

Riley said Indian Hills is known for producing top-tier talents and he expects Bennett will be ready to make an early impact in Thibodaux.

“Tae is a guy that scores on all three levels,” Riley said. “When you can do that, it makes you a dynamic offensive player. He has the ability to create his own shot off the bounce and that’s important in our style of play. His athleticism will impact the game – both offensively and defensively.”

The Colonels have scholarships available, which means that it’s possible that Riley can sign other players before the start of the 2016-17 season.

ESPN LISTS RILEY’S COACHING STAFF

It appears as though Riley also completed his coaching staff this week, as well.

ESPN.com college basketball reporter Jeff Goodman tweeted this week that Riley had hired UT-Martin assistant John Aiken and Clemson assistants Marlon Terry and Austin Claunch to round out his staff during his inaugural season with the team.

The announcement means that all of outgoing coach J.P. Piper’s assistant coaches will be departing the program next season.

When it was announced that Piper would not be back in 2016, athletic officials said that the program’s assistant coaches were still temporarily employed, pending meetings with Riley.

NEW ZEALAND FORWARD LEAVES COLONELS PROGRAM

The Colonels also lost a player this week – a redshirt freshman forward who never played a minute of basketball in the Nicholls basketball program.

Sources close to the Nicholls basketball program confirmed this week that forward Jackson Stent has announced that he will transfer from Nicholls – ending a career in Thibodaux that never even really started.

A 6-foot, 8-inch New Zealander, Stent redshirted last season after being recruited to the program by Piper.

The source did not indicate whether Stent had picked a future school.

Recruiting website VerbalCommits.com has Stent listed in its transfer rankings, labeling him as a two-star prospect who has not yet decided on a future home. •

Richie Riley