NATCHITOCHES – A young Northwestern State basketball team, shaken by an 0-3 start including lopsided defeats at Texas and SMU, gets a big boost Friday as senior guard Jalan West returns to action for the first time in two seasons when the Demons host Rice Friday at 6:30 in Prather Coliseum.
 
The Demons, the nation's fourth-youngest team with six true freshmen among their 12-man playing rotation, will play for the fourth time in seven days. West will play in an official game for the first time since the opening contest of the 2015-16 season, when he sustained the first of two knee injuries in as many years.
 
In his last full season, 2014-15, West led the NCAA with 7.7 assists per game and ranked 15^th in the country by scoring 20.0 per game. He has been able to compete with the 2017-18 Demons in preseason scrimmages and a Nov. 6 exhibition win at Grambling (92-85), in which he scored 20 points and had six assists.
 
"Jalan's importance is he makes everybody else on the floor better. He knows how to help people maximize who they are," said 19^th-year head coach Mike McConathy. "We don't want Jalan to carry the load for the team. We want him to lift up the rest of the players, and we'll get better game to game. He has that gift."
 
The Owls (0-2) won 23 games and reached a postseason tournament in a breakthrough season last year. They defeated the Demons 100-93 on their homecourt last Dec. 20.
 
"Rice has some talented shooters. They are very efficient, doing a great job of execution in their offense," said McConathy. "We had an exciting, fast-paced game with them in Houston last December and I'd expect this one will be along the same lines, and hopefully we're there in the thick of it at the end."
 
NSU is getting 10.3 points per game from senior swingman Iziahiah Sweeney and freshman guard Czar Perry. The Demons are making only 36.5 percent of their shots and have committed 60 turnovers to just 24 by Texas, LeTourneau and SMU.
 
"We're awful fragile. We haven't responded well against two tremendously talented major college teams. We're bruised, but we're not broken," said McConathy.
 
"Our freshmen have got to understand we've already played well against a very good basketball team, UT Arlington, that's not a Power 5 big school, but they did beat a Big 12 Conference team (99-84 over Oklahoma) in an exhibition game. They made a lot of plays against UTA and we held our own. You've got to believe in yourselves before you can be very effective.
 
"It's a process. I've been doing this for 19 years and it's at times difficult on the players, and the fans," he said. "It's about preparing your entire team for January, February and March. We could cut our rotation to six players and probably be much more competitive, but we used 12 guys in the first half in each of our first three games and will continue that approach because we have to develop our team, and especially these first-year players, for the most important part of our season."
 
The game will be broadcast on 97.5 KDBH FM in Natchitoches with the audio available free at NSUDemons.com, and a pay-per-view webstream also available on the website.
 
NSU goes to UL Monroe next Tuesday, then visits Colorado State next Friday to wrap up a stretch of six games in the season's first 14 days.