NATCHITOCHES – A season that many expect to extend deep into March tips off Friday night in Prather Coliseum as the Northwestern State basketball team, coming off an NCAA Tournament trip and 23 wins last season, opens the 2013-14 campaign against LeTourneau.

The 7:30 contest follows a 5:30 women's game between NSU and Southern Arkansas. The games will be carried on the flagship station of the Demon Sports Network, 100.7 FM KZBL in Natchitoches, with the women's broadcast joined in progress at 6. Audio and video will be streamed on the NSUDemons.com website, with the audio free.

The Demons, with three starters and 12 letterwinners back after a 23-9 season, are the consensus picks to win the Southland Conference title and return to the NCAA Tournament. But Mike McConathy, beginning his 15th season as the NSU coach and his first as the winningest men's coach in Louisiana collegiate history, is not looking down the schedule.

"It's this team's first game. LeTourneau is very well coached and has good players, and we have to go to work and take care of our business Friday night to walk away winners," he said. "Hearing all those nice things said and seeing them written about us has been wonderful but it's also a challenge. We have to realize that means nothing when the ball goes up, and for 40 minutes or more, it's who plays best, who works harder. Our focus has to be being the best we can be, and if we have that, then I'll take our result game after game."

The Demons will use their usual ensemble cast with McConathy hoping to work out of two five-man rotations with other players fitting in along the way, but admits sophomore point guard Jalan West is likely to get the most playing time.

"Jalan brings the ability to run our show unlike anybody else, and we also can move him off the point and benefit from his ability at the shooting guard position while letting other players develop at point," said McConathy. "He gives us that comfort level being out there so he will probably be the one who is getting the most minutes."

West, a 5-10 sophomore, and 6-7 senior forward DeQuan Hicks were Preseason All-Southland Conference selections after making big impacts in their Demon debuts last year. Hicks led NSU with averages of 14 points and 5.8 rebounds while shooting 58 percent from the field, and was the Southland Newcomer of the Year. West (10.2 ppg, 5.3 assists, 2.4 steals pg, 83.6% FTs) was the league's Freshman of the Year and ranked 11th nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio (plus 2.75), 17th in steals and 55th in assists.

The return of Hicks, West and explosive 6-foot guard Brison White (8.0 pg, two 20-point games), along with proven veterans Patrick Robinson, Marvin Frazier, Gary Stewart and Tyler Washington, bodes well for the Demons.

Robinson (3.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg) has been a versatile defender able to guard on the perimeter and down low. Frazier (4.9, 4.1, 41 blocks) manned the post last year, showing more offensive punch late in the season. Stewart (5.4, 2.8), the Southland's Basketball Student-Athlete of the Year in 2012-13, and Washington (redshirted last season) are heady players who defend aggressively and bomb in 3-pointers. More good shooters from distance are sophomores Dadrian Harris and Matt Killian.

The Demons will get help from a pair of freshmen, three-time Louisiana Class C Player of the Year Zeke Woodley (6-2) and 6-1 Delaware prep standout Sabri Thompson. Both are swing guards and Woodley can be very effective inside.

LeTourneau, a Division III program in Longview, Texas, with an 11-15 record last year, will count the game as an exhibition. The YellowJackets will be led by preseason American Southwest Conference selections Justin Jones and Ladaria Brown. Jones averaged 13.4 points and 7.6 rebounds last year and shot 52 percent, while Brown scored 12.1 points and sank 37 percent of his 3-pointers.