NATCHITOCHES – Four of the country's most dynamic college basketball players will be in the spotlight Tuesday night as longtime neighborhood rivals Northwestern State and Louisiana Tech tangle in a 6:30 contest at the Demons' venerable Prather Coliseum.
 
The Demons are 3-3, with the defeats at the hands of Texas A&M, No. 18 Oklahoma and Texas Tech, while the Bulldogs bring in a  5-1 record, with the lone loss at Temple. Since the old rivals, whose series dates back to the first year of basketball at Louisiana Tech in 1925, renewed an annual series five years ago, the home team has won each time, with the Demons hoping to hold serve in the 50^th year of basketball in 3,400-seat Prather Coliseum.
 
Demons' standouts Jalan West and Zeek Woodley will lead their squad against the Bulldogs, whose top players include Kenneth "Speedy" Smith and Michale Kyser.
 
Tuesday night's game will be broadcast on the Demon Sports Network, flagshipped by 100.7 KZBL FM in Natchitoches and including SportsTalk 100.7 FM and SuperTalk 1340 AM KRMD in Shreveport, and KWLA 103.1 FM in Many/Leesville. Free audio is available at NSUDemons.com and SuperTalk1340.com.
 
West and his point guard counterpart, Smith, rank among the NCAA's best active players in career and current season assists and steals statistics.  
 
West is second in the NCAA this season in assists (8.8) and steals (3.67) per game, and stands second on the career steals per game list with a 2.54 average while he's third in career assists average (6.01) in 69 games early in his junior season. Smith, a senior, is 14^th in assists this season (6.7 average) and is 2^nd among all active players with 631 career assists, a 5.74 average that ranks eighth among active players.  His 194 steals in 110 career games is eighth in the country while his 1.76 average sits 27^th.
 
Both ballhandlers have strong assist to turnover ratios. West is 81^st nationally at plus 2.65 per game, just ahead of Smith's plus 2.5 ratio that ranks 88^th in the country.
 
Woodley, the Demons' sophomore 6-2 swingman, is the nation's No. 5 scorer with his 22.5 average and is 27^th in shooting aim at 63.4 after finishing fourth in the country last year with a 61.7 percent accuracy rate while winning Southland Conference Freshman of the Year honors.
 
Kyser, the Bulldogs' senior center, leads the country in career blocked shots with 281, with a career average of 2.58 that is 10^th among active players. His season's average of 3.3 rejections stands 13^th in the NCAA's 2014-15 rankings.
 
The game should be fast paced. NSU averages 75.2 per game, 68^th in the country, while Louisiana Tech is at 74.8 per game, 74^th. The Bulldogs stand 65^th in team shooting at 45.8 percent and are also 22^nd in blocked shots per game with 6.2.
 
Demons' senior center Marvin Frazier is posting career-best averages of 11 points and 7 rebounds.
 
Bulldogs senior guard Raheem Appleby has a 16.5 scoring average to lead his team while 6-8 forward Erik McGree is adding 13.2 per game and guard Alex Hamilton contributes an 11.3 average. Kyser's 6.5 rebounding norm tops Louisiana Tech.
 
West is scoring 11.7 points per game, well back of his 19.4 scoring average last year. Despite averaging five free throws per game in his career, the 5-10 junior had only two attempts at Texas Tech and Oklahoma combined. He needs 15 points to reach 1,000 in his career, becoming the 29^th Demon to do so since basketball began in 1912-13 at NSU.
 
The game will be the only outing of the week for the Demons, who play next Tuesday night at Louisiana-Monroe. Their next homecourt appearance will be Saturday, Dec. 20 in an afternoon matchup against Louisiana-Lafayette.