Terrebonne property donated after split Council vote
July 4, 2018
5 predictions for the next season
July 4, 2018
When Nicholls received a commitment from transfer student Roddy Peters, former Colonels coach Richie Riley made a bold prediction.
“There’s still a lot of work to do,” Riley said last summer. There’s a long way to go. But he has a chance to leave here as one of the best individual players to wear a Nicholls jersey in a long, long time. He’s that type of player. He has a chance to be on that level.”
Flash forward 12 months into the present and it sure looks like Riley’s bold proclamation has come true.
Peters had an amazing 2017-18 season for Nicholls — helping lead the Colonels to a 20-win season and a Regular Season Southland Conference Championship
After bringing home a slew of postseason awards, Peters took the next step in his career this past week, earning a spot on the Summer League squad for the New Orleans Pelicans where he will compete to earn either a spot on the team’s main roster or more likely, a spot in the G-League.
Peters, 6-foot-4-inches and 195 pounds, is a Washington D.C. native. He joins 14 other players on a squad which will compete in the Vegas Summer League in early July.
“I am so happy for (Roddy Peters),” Nicholls men’s basketball coach Austin Claunch said on Twitter this week when news leaked that Peters was on the summer league roster. “Sacrificed so much over the last two years, took a chance, trusted the process and now, he’s getting what he earned. … Big things coming his way.”
Peters has had one amazing 12-month stretch to get himself to this point.
A five-star recruit out of Suitland High School, Peters originally signed with Maryland where he started 10 games as a true freshman in the 2013-14 season, averaging 4.1 points, 2.1 assists and 1.3 rebounds per game. Peters also earned ACC Rookie of the Week honors as a Terrapin, while scoring 14 points in his first conference game.
But instead of a four-year career at Maryland, fate had other plans for Peters.
He sat out the 2014-15 season, then transferred to South Florida where he played in 2015-16. As a junior with the Bulls, Peters played 10 games and averaged 9.8 points and 3.5 assists per game before suffering an injury.
Peters had a career-high 17 points against Savannah State — one of five games he scored 10 or more points for the Bulls.
After the injury, Peters transferred to Nicholls — just weeks after Riley was introduced as the team’s coach. He was heavily recruited there by Claunch, who developed a close relationship with him during his time in Thibodaux.
Per NCAA rules, Peters had to sit out the 2016-17 season, but he returned in 2017-18 and established himself as one of the top players in the Southland Conference.
Peters won Southland Conference Newcomer of the Year in 2018, averaging 19.7 points per game, while shooting 51.5 percent from the field. He also averaged 4.2 assists per game.
The transfer student was a model of consistency for the Colonels, scoring 10 or more points in all but 3 games, including 17 games with 20+ points. He also ranked second in the Nicholls single-season record book for free throws made (160), sixth in total points for a season (629) and eighth in made field goals (229).
And now, he can add a spot on the New Orleans Pelicans’ Summer League Team to his list of accolades.
The team held a mini-camp this past week at the Ochsner Sports Performance Center in Metairie, before departing for Vegas for their multi-game tour.
Peters joins several prominent players on the team, including former draft picks like Cheick Diallo and Frank Jackson and also current overseas players like Chasson Randle, Shavon Shields, Marvin Jones, Garlon Green and others.
NICHOLLS UNVEILS 2018 VOLLEYBALL SCHEDULE
The Nicholls State University volleyball team unveiled its 2018 volleyball schedule this week, which will feature 8 matches in the friendly confines of Stopher Gym.
New-coach Jay Van Vark released the team’s slate, which will feature four non-conference road tournaments before the challenging Southland slate.
The Colonels begin on Aug. 24 at the North Texas Invitational. They also play the Sawyer Camillo Memorial Volleyball Classic (UL-Lafayette), the Texas A&M Invitational and the Bowling Green State University Invitational.
The team opens league play on Sept. 20 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and the first home match is on Sept. 27 against Southeastern Louisiana.
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