Southland Conference Champions 2004-05, 05-06 SLC Tournament Champions 2001, 2006, 2013 Southland Conference East Division Champions 2007 NCAA Tournament (2-3): 2001 (1-1), 2006 (1-1), 2013 (0-1) Doug Ireland, Sports Information Director • Office: 318-357-6467 • Cell: 318-471-2086 • [email protected] NSUDemons.com • @NSUDemonsMBB • Press Row: 318-357-4544 Game Northwestern State (3-17, 0-9) vs. UNO (11-10, 8-2) Wednesday, Jan. 31• 7 p.m. • Storyline: Demons begin second half of conference season 21 New Orleans • Lakefront Arena (8,785) 2017-18 SCHEDULE Series Notes: The Demons trail the series 6-5 after UNO’s 73-67 victory a week ago in Natchitoches. The series is 45 years old. Three games have been decided at November the buzzer in the previous two seasons. UNO coach Mark Slessinger was on the 10 at Texas (Longhorn Network) L 105-59 Demon bench for 11 seasons until 2011. NSU assistant Bill Lewit was on the UNO 12 ^LETOURNEAU L 99-84 staff from 2009-11. 15 at SMU (ESPN3) L 81-35 17 RICE L 87-65 21 at UL Monroe W 76-61 Listen: Demon Sports Network - Patrick Netherton, Play-by-play 24 ^ at Colorado St. (Mountain West Network) L 72-60 KZBL 100.7 FM 29 LYON W 67-56 Streamed on NSUDemons.com/Showcase December 9 # Louisiana College W 88-58 Watch: UNOPrivateers.com http://ow.ly/LQgh30hS3OE 16 % LSU-Shreveport L 85-84 19 at Oklahoma (Fox Sports Oklahoma) L 105-68 Finally the schedule tilts favorably for NSU, with home games in February 20 at Utah (Pac-12 Network) L 84-62 Tonight’s visit to UNO is the sixth road game in the first 10 Southland outings for 28 * at Nicholls L 87-46 Northwestern State. Eleven of the Demons’ first 18 games were away from home, 30 * at McNeese L 72-63 January including 5 of the first 7 Southland contests. 3 * at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi L 67-65 6 * STEPHEN F. AUSTIN (Eleven Sports) L 64-56 February looks better. Five of seven games are in Prather Coliseum, including the 13 * ABILENE CHRISTIAN L 69-58 next two and three of the next four. 17 * at Sam Houston State (ESPN3) L 75-52 20 * at Southeastern Louisiana L 85-58 The Southland slate has been stout for the young, short-handed Demons 24 * UNO L 73-67 Yes, Northwestern State is winless in the Southland, but that’s partly attributed to 27 * CENTRAL ARKANSAS L 95-78 playing all of the Southland’s top teams. The Demons have played only one foe 31 * UNO 7:00 with a losing conference record, A&M-CC. NSU has played the top six teams in the February league standings, while playing only one of the bottom three. 3 * MCNEESE (ESPN3) 3:30 7 * LAMAR 6:30 The composite Southland record of teams NSU has faced in its first 9 conference 10 * at Stephen F. Austin (ESPN3) 6:00 games is 51-28 (.645) while the teams the Demons have yet to play are 6-20. They 14 * HOUSTON BAPTIST 6:30 play those three — Lamar, UIW and HBU — only once. 21 * at UIW 7:00 24 * SOUTHEASTERN LOUISIANA 6:00 28 * NICHOLLS 6:00 May be something cooking here The Demons shot 47.5% from the floor last week, 45% vs. UNO and a conference- March season best 50% against UCA. They had their best shooting half of the season, 60% 3 * at Central Arkansas 5:00 (12-20), in the first half vs. the Privateers. Saturday they came close to that in the 7-10 SLC Tournament (Katy, Tex.) TBD second half vs. UCA, hitting 57% (17-30) and making only 4 turnovers while out- *Southland Conference games scoring UCA 48-41. The 48-point half was NSU’s best in league play. It’s more than ^ Jamaica Classic Montego Bay MTE # Alexandria Classic, Rapids Coliseum PRONUNCIATION GUIDE % Shreveport Bossier Holiday Classic Cameron LAZARE - LUH-zahr Jacob SPIELBAUER - SPEEL-bow-er All times Central Bill LEWIT - Lou-it IZIAHIAH Sweeney - EEZ-eye-uh Mike MCCONATHY - McCON-uh-thee NATCHITOCHES, La. - NACK-a-dish Home games in bold MALIK METOYER - MUH-leek Muh-TWY-uhr BOSSIER City, La. - BO-zuhr CZAR Perry— ZAR PRATHER Coliseum - PRAY-thur SLC Champions ‘05, ‘06 SLC East Division Champions ‘07 SLC Tournament Champions ‘01, ‘06, ‘13 NCAA Tournament ‘01, ‘06, ‘13 DEMON QUICK FACTS they scored in their conference debut on Dec. 28. Name: Northwestern State University Founded: 1884 as Louisiana Normal School Accuracy at the line has improved in last 5g Location: Natchitoches, Louisiana NSU shot a Southland season-best 71.4% (15-21) on free throws against UNO. The De- Enrollment: 10,578 Nickname: Demons mons were making only 48% at the FT line in their first 4 conference games, but Conference: Southland stemmed the tide with a 59% (17-29) outing vs. Abilene Christian. Starting then, NSU is All-Time W/L: 1,413-1,145 (.553), 72-115 (63%) on the line in its last 5 games. 103rd season, 104th year Colors: Purple & White with Orange trim Nice bounce-back by Ishmael Lane Arena: Prather Coliseum (3,400) Junior Ishmael Lane was averaging 21 points and 15 rebounds in his previous two games Head Coach: Mike McConathy Alma Mater: Louisiana Tech (1977) before a collision early last Saturday at SLU hindered his contributions greatly. He played Record: 283-293 (.492, 19th season) only 17 minutes, scoring 4 points and not getting a rebound. Career Record: 635-452 (.584, 35th season) Starters R/L: 3/2 He bounced back nicely, averaging 21 points, 7 rebounds and 2.5 blocks last week in 2 Lettermen R/L: 7/8 games. He posted team-best totals of 14 points, 7 rebounds and 4 blocks against UNO in Newcomers: 8 (6 freshmen) Website: NSUDemons.com 32 minutes. The rebounds and blocks were game highs. Then Saturday against UCA, Lane Twitter: @NSUDemonsMBB scored 28 points, 26 after halftime, and had 6 rebounds. He sank 11 of 16 shots from the floor, including a 3. DEMONS ON THE AIRWAVES Northwestern State basketball games can be heard His 17-rebound performance against ACU is the best by any conference player in a live on the Demon Sports Network. The network Southland game this season. Lane posted back to back 20-point games for the first time includes flagship station KZBL-FM (100.7) in in his career. He is also on track to join the Demons’ 1,000 Point Club as the 31st mem- Natchitoches along with KWLA FM (103.1) in ber next month. He has 910 points now after his season-high 28 vs. UCA. Anacoco. Patrick Netherton has been the Demons’ play by play man for 14 seasons. Insufficient shooting aim hampering Demons NSUDEMONS.COM AND NSU has made just 57% of its free throws in Southland games, only 39.5% from the floor @NSUDEMONSMBB and just 28% on 3s. Those are figures stemming from a short-handed roster, devoid of NSU’s official athletic website is the players expected to provide perimeter scoring and reliable aim at the line, instead NSUDemons.com. Updated statistics, game notes, dependent on the fifth-youngest roster in college basketball. player bios, schedules, and features are listed. Follow @NSUDemonsMBB on Twitter for in-game notes. Turnovers rising after solid 3-game stretch ON THE INTERNET The Demons were torched for 42 points off 26 turnovers in the 12/28 Thibodaux rout, AUDIO - All of NSU’s games can be heard on the but suffered only 8 turnovers at McNeese and a moderate 13 at A&M-CC. SFA led the internet, free of charge, by logging onto nation in turnovers forced (23 pg) but NSU had just 15, better than all but one of SFA’s NSUDemons.com/Showcase. foes. VIDEO - All of NSU’s home games and many road games can be seen on the internet, at a charge, by NSU has 78 turnovers (21/19/21/17/16, 18.8 pg) in its last five games after only 36 logging onto NSUDemons.com/Watch. $6.95 - 24 (8/13/15, 12 pg) in the previous three outings. hour, $10.95 - monthly, $79.95 - yearly access. Demons redefining their identity, but have been close to 3 Southland wins INTERVIEW POLICY During the week, player interviews should be set After getting blown out at Nicholls, in their first game without Jalan West, suffering the up through SID Doug Ireland at least one day in largest loss for the program in 31 years of Southland Conference competition, North- advance to minimize demands on the student- western had chances to win its next two on the road. At A&M-Corpus Christi, NSU was athletes’ busy schedule. Brief face-to-face post- beaten by a jumper with 0.3 second left. Against SFA, 48% FT aim was a key factor in a practice interviews may be conducted if time permits, game that was 56-53 with 3:37 left. SFA’s final 8-point margin was its largest. but academic and travel responsibilities could preclude those opportunities. The Demon basketball program is very committed to being accessible to the Young NSU got much younger, losing two pivotal producers, around Christmas media and we will make every effort to accommodate The Demons have the fifth-youngest roster in the country, with six freshmen, but recent your needs. Please work with us and plan in advance personnel losses have exacerbated the situation. Unrelated personal issues resulted in whenever possible to facilitate the best possible NSU’s two senior guards, Jalan West and Devonte Hall, leaving the team.