JACKSON, Miss. – Northwestern State faces one of the more talented teams in the Southeastern Conference Thursday night when the Demons put a three-game win streak on the line in a 7 p.m. contest against No. 18 Mississippi State.

The game will be played at Mississippi Coliseum, not on the MSU campus in Starkville, where the Demons won 76-75 in overtime early in the 2005-06 season in the last meeting between the schools in basketball.

The Bulldogs are 11-1 with impressive wins over Texas A&M (69-60), Arizona (67-57) and West Virginia (75-62) included in their 10 straight victories since a 68-58 loss at home to Akron on Nov. 9.

The Demons (7-5) have stepped up their offensive performance in the last four games, hitting 48 percent overall, including 41 percent on 3-pointers, after making only 39 percent overall and just 27 percent on 3-pointers in the first eight outings. Their free throw aim has improved in the last three games, when NSU has dropped in 66 percent after making only 58 percent beforehand.

The game provides a matchup of two of the nation's top 30 rebounders. Mississippi State's 6-11 junior Arnett Moultrie is averaging 17.1 points and 11.4 rebounds while NSU's 6-7 senior William Mosley  averages 9.2 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.0 blocks per game.

Mississippi State also has 6-10, 285-pound junior Renardo Sidney, averaging 10.3 points and 4.9 rebounds. The Bulldogs get a team-best 18 points per game, along with 4.1 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.3 steals, from senior guard Dee Bost, while 6-8 freshman guad Rodney Hood contributes 12.5 points and 5.2 rebounds.

Northwestern is led in scoring by junior guard Shamir Davis with a 13.2 scoring average, while junior forward James Hulbin is scoring 10.3 per game and senior guard Louis Ellis is at 10.2 per contest.
Ellis is averaging 13.8 points in the last four games while Hulbin is scoring 12.6 points in the last six outings.

The Demon Sports Network radio broadcast can be heard on 100.7 KZBL FM in Natchitoches, 99.9 KTEZ FM in Many and 92.1 KSYR FM in Shreveport, along with nsudemons.com on the web.