THIBODAUX, La. _ If form holds true, Saturday's battle between the University of Central Arkansas Bears and the Nicholls Colonels will be fought from long range.

The Bears (9-9, 3-2) enter the Southland Conference matchup as the top three-point shooting team in the league, hitting 37.8 percent of its three-point shots this season. The second-place Colonels (10-8, 4-1) are a close second at 36.2 percent. UCA senior guard Jordan Howard leads the SLC in three-pointers made with 63, and set the conference's career mark two games ago and now has 336 for his career. Nicholls' Lafayette Rutledge is second in the conference with 55 threes, while Jahvaughn Powell is eighth (37).

A year ago, the Bears and Colonels put on two amazing three-point shooting exhibitions in their split of the season series in games played six days apart. In the first meeting at the Farris Center in Conway, the teams combined to make 35 three-pointers. UCA finished 17 of 28 for 60.7 percent while Nicholls went 18 of 48 for 37.5 percent and actually attempted more three-pointers than two-point shots. 

Howard was 8 of 9 from beyond the arc and Derreck Brooks was 6 of 8 for the Bears. Rutledge made nine threes but put up 22, while Powell was 5 of 8. UCA won that game 106-83, getting 33 points from Howard and 29 from Brooks.

In the rematch at NSU's Stopher Gymnasium, a 96-89 overtime win for the Colonels, the home team went 14 of 31 (45.2) while UCA was 12 of 33 (36.4). Howard and Brooks both made five threes, while Stevie Repichowski went 6 of 9 and four other Colonels made at least two threes for Nicholls. 

In the two games, the teams combined to make 61 three-pointers and attempt a whopping 140. 

The Bears are coming off a 92-76 win over Incarnate Word at home Wednesday night, a game in which they had double-figure threes for the ninth time this season. UCA finished 13 of 27, with five players making multiple three-pointers. Howard finished 4 of 9, while junior Thatch Unruh was 3 of 7 and Hayden Koval, DeAndre Jones and Aaron Weidenaar all made two each. UCA's defense held UIW to just 4 of 22 (18.2 percent) from beyond the arc.

That will be tougher task against the Colonels, who made just 4 of 11 in Wednesday's 85-80 home win over McNeese State, a victory that pushed their record to 4-1 in league play and in a two-way tie for second place behind unbeaten Southeastern Louisiana (4-0). Nicholls is making a league-bet 8.9 threes per game, tied with UCA. The next closest team is Lamar at 7.7 per game.

Rutledge, a 6-foot senior from Gautier, Miss., is almost solely a three-point shooter, with 138 total field goal attempts and 132 of those from beyond the arc. Powell also falls in that category with 146 total and 100 three-point attempts, as does Repichoskwi (42-38). 

UCA's Howard is a much more versatile scorer, having more than twice as many total field goal attempts (332) as three-point attempts (156). The Bears also spread their threes around more, with five players with at least 15 three-pointers. Unruh has 25, Koval and Jones have 21 each and Mathieu Kamba has 15 and is shooting 44.1 percent from the arc.

Howard is ranked fifth in the nation in points per game (24.8), third in total points (447) and fifth in three-pointers made (63). He is second in career scoring at UCA with 2,091 points, just 66 points behind UCA Hall of Famer Clifton Bush in 20 fewer games, and is also second in career free throws (443), just 26 behind Wally Love in 10 less games.

Statistically, the Bears defend the three-point line better than the Colonels. UCA's opponents are shooting 36.4 percent (eighth in the SLC) compared to Nicholls' opponents at 36.6 percent (11th). 

Both teams fare equally well at the free-throw line as they enter tied at No. 2 in the SLC, shooting 71.3 percent. Howard, coming off a 15-for-17 performance against UIW, leads the league at 86.8 percent. Nicholls' leader is Tevon Saddler at 79.4 percent.

Nicholls leads the overall series 13-9, all since UCA joined the SLC in 2006-07, but the Bears have won two of the past four games, including a 94-83 win in Thibodaux in 2016.

Tip-off is set for approximately 3:00 following the UCA-Nicholls women's game which starts at 1 p.m. at Stopher Gym. Catch the action on The Bear 91.3 and at ucasports.com/KUCA with Justin Acri.

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