LAKE CHARLES – What a difference 12 months makes.
A year ago, the Northwestern State men’s basketball team entered the Southland Conference Tournament on the heels of its longest losing streak in league play.
Now the fourth-seeded Demons head into the tournament riding the wave of a season-best four-game win streak that earned them a first-round bye and a day off Sunday.
“I can’t deny that going in with four straight wins is a good feeling, but at the end of the day, you start to ask yourself, ‘Does it really matter when the ball is thrown up by the referee?’” second-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. “The game of basketball is determined through preparation, how you’re going to attack the other team’s defense, et cetera. I feel confident in my players. I know I have some guys who can go in there and do something special.”
The potential for a special run through the conference tournament begins this afternoon at 5 in the Legacy Center on Joe Dumars Court at McNeese.
The No. 4 seed Demons will face fifth-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, which eliminated No. 8 seed Houston Christian Sunday evening.
Northwestern faced the Islanders once, falling to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 73-64, on the road in a Jan. 13 game.
“Throughout the season, you get better, matchups change, people play better or are not playing,” junior guard Landyn Jumawan said. “We’ll go back to the drawing board and watch film. At the end of the day, we’re going to be us. We’re going to play defense, pick up for 94 feet, play with toughness, play with grit and play hard.”
That has been a staple for NSU, which ranked third in the Southland in scoring defense (66.4 points per game) and field-goal percentage defense (41.1) in league play.
After the Demons allowed 73 points in the loss at Corpus Christi, they responded by holding eight of their final 13 conference opponents to 65 or fewer points per game.
Meanwhile, Northwestern’s offense awakened late. After a five-game stretch where the Demons did not crack the 60-point mark, Northwestern averaged 69.8 points per game in their season-ending, four-game win streak.
“Everyone knows who we are and what they can do best,” said junior guard Micah Thomas, the Demons’ second-leading scorer (12.1 ppg) and top 3-point shooter (57 made 3s). “Coach is putting us in the best situations to allow us to showcase who we are and what we can do.”
A win today sends NSU into the semifinal round against top-seeded McNeese Tuesday at 5. Coverage of all SLC Tournament games can be seen on ESPN+.
ALL-SLC HONORS: Senior forward Addison Patterson and junior forward Jerald Colonel earned spots on the All-SLC teams chosen by the league coaches.
Patterson, a 6-foot-7 native of Canada, was named second team on the 10-player All-Southland Conference roster. Colonel was selected to the league’s five-man All-Defensive Team.
The Demons’ leading scorer at 13.3 points per game, Patterson also leads the team with 40 steals while ranking in the top 15 in the league in free throw percentage (6th, 74.5), assists (7th, 3.1 per game), steals (7th, 1.4), assist-to-turnover ratio (7th, 1.2), scoring (11th) and rebounding (15th, 5.4).
A Georgia native, Colonel finished the season with a conference-leading 64 total blocks while also leading the league in blocks per game (2.3). Entering the Southland Conference Tournament, Colonel ranks 15th nationally in blocks per game and 17th in blocks per game.
In addition to his shot-blocking prowess, Colonel ranked 13th in the Southland in rebounds per game (5.6) and was 15th in defensive rebounds per game (3.7).