As the bright lights of Stopher Gym fall on the red and brown hardwood floor, the Colonels basketball team approaches the end of another practice day preparing for division foe Lamar on Thursday. With a minute remaining in practice, forward James Dixon takes a steal the length of the court, and shoots a jumper, only to have it bounce around the rim and eventually come out.

But that miss must have been far from his mind afterwards, because as he and the rest of the team were coming off the court, he couldn’t help but crack a smile.

To his team, Dixon is the variable that provides either a boost to team moral or a spark when the Colonels need it.

“He has such a contagious personality that the team feeds on,” head coach J.P. Piper said. “Getting to know him as a person has been one of the best experiences I’ve had in coaching.”

As a senior, Dixon is averaging 7.8 points per game and is third on the team in rebounds with 4.4 per game. However, the one number that shows up first on the stat sheet is 12, the number of games that he’s played in, nine games short of the 21 total games the Colonels have played this season.

Ruled academically ineligible for the first nine games of the season after passing only one of his two summer classes, Dixon had to do something that he has never done before: watch basketball instead of playing it.

“It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do,” Dixon said. “I’ve never had to sit out games because of school, and I used that to keep me focused on getting back out there.”

To Dixon’s credit, his mind was elsewhere, mainly, Alachua, Fla.

Alachua, about 15 miles from Gainesville, is Dixon’s hometown and where his mother Sheryl still resides. Over the summer he learned that his mother had been diagnosed with a stomach tumor that gave her only a 50 percent chance of living.

He originally was not supposed to learn of his mother’s illness, in the hopes he wouldn’t lose his focus on finishing school and getting a degree.

“When I found out, I talked to coach, and told him what I was going through,” he said. “I did my best to stay focused, but it was hard at times.”

Knowing his mom would need surgery that could save her life, Dixon flew home to be with his family. The procedure was successful.

With his mother’s renewed vigor for life following her surgery, Dixon made a promise to her. He assured her that she would see him in a Nicholls cap and gown.

“Once I knew everything was going to be all right, I made a promise to her that I would graduate from college,” he said. “Even if she wouldn’t have made it, I still wanted to finish because I knew that’s what she wanted me to do.”

After he returned to Thibodaux, Dixon said the coaching staff and his teammates gave him so much support it made him work even harder to be a better player.

Although sitting out nine games would keep most players down, Dixon believed the time spent watching the games would prove beneficial to him in the end.

“I always believe things happen for a reason, and who’s to say that I wouldn’t have broken my ankle in those nine games and not be playing for the rest of the season,” Dixon said. “I always try to look at every situation in life in a positive way.”

Basketball has always meant a lot to Dixon, and it showed in a three game stretch where his high intensity play off the bench had him averaging 13 points during those games, which included an overtime win at home over Texas Arlington and another home victory over Texas State.

“At my junior college, things were a lot slower, and when I came here, I didn’t know if I’d be able to adjust to life here,” he said. “I was frustrated at first, but I’m definitely glad I came here.”

Beyond Nicholls, Dixon said he hopes he can play basketball overseas until he can coach underprivileged kids that are like he was at a young age.

“There was once a time when people told me that I wouldn’t get a degree, and I made it my mission to show them that I could,” he said. “I hope to teach kids like me that they can also do anything if they work for it.”

Dixon said he also hopes he can give back to his mother for all the work she has done for him and his three siblings growing up so that she will want for nothing.

At the end of the practice day, Dixon walks down the street with textbooks in hand, finishing a road that in the end could prove to be the only gift he would need to give to his mother.