LAFAYETTE – For the first time in 26 years, Northwestern State and Louisiana-Lafayette collide on the basketball court Wednesday night at 7 in the Cajundome with the Demons hoping to regain their stride as a challenging stretch of early-season contests continues.

NSU (2-2) has dropped its last two outings at LSU (88-74) and to Louisiana-Monroe (84-80 in overtime) after rolling past Auburn 111-92. UL-Lafayette (4-2) has won its last two, beating Oakland (84-75) and winning at Coastal Carolina 73-69 over the weekend.

The Demons, this year's Southland Conference favorite, will host intersectional foe Niagara Saturday afternoon at 3 in Prather Coliseum in a rematch of last February's nationally-televised BracketBusters contest. Niagara played in the NIT last year while Northwestern reached the NCAA Tournament.

Following that outing, NSU goes to nationally-ranked Memphis on Dec. 7 and visits old rival Louisiana Tech, the Conference USA favorite, on Dec. 11. Trips to nationally-ranked Baylor and UTEP are on the horizon before Christmas.

"We always try to challenge ourselves with our out-of- conference schedule, and we've certainly done that this season," said 15^th-year Northwestern coach Mike McConathy, the state's winningest career college mentor. "We had many great battles with Bob Marlin-coached teams when he was at Sam Houston State in the Southland Conference, and he's done a wonderful job with the program at UL-Lafayette. They have two truly outstanding players and a very, very good team.

"We're very excited about the opportunity to compete against them once again," he said. "It's good for Louisiana basketball at all levels to have these in-state matchups and it will be good for our team. Hopefully we can do the things we are capable of and give ourselves a chance to come home in a mood to fully enjoy Thanksgiving."

The Demons, who wasted an 18-point second-half lead against ULM last Thursday, lead the nation in turnovers forced (21 per game) and are the third fastest-paced team in the country behind BYU and Memphis. NSU is averaging 89.2 points per game but allowing 85 per contest, and getting beaten 54-44 on the boards.

Four Demons average double-digit scoring: sophomore point guard Jalan West (18 points, 4.5 rebounds, 5 assists, 2.5 steals), freshman guard Zikiteran "Zeek" Woodley (14.8 points, 64 percent shooting, 5.5 rebounds), senior forward DeQuan Hicks (14.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3 steals) and senior guard Brison White (13.8 points).

The Ragin' Cajuns have the 1-2 punch of Elfrid Payton (22.5 points per game on 48 percent aim, 6.0 rebounds, 5.5 assists, 3.0 steals) and Shawn Long (20.3 ppg, 11 rebounds, 58 percent shooting, 3.0 blocks per game) and are scoring 80 points per game. Their other two wins have been season-opening blowouts of Louisiana College and McNeese State, while their losses came at Arkansas and Baylor.

The game will be broadcast on the Demon Sports Network with flagship station 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches, 99.9 FM KTEZ in Many and 92.1 KSYR FM in Shreveport.