NATCHITOCHES – Northwestern State may be out of the picture for a regular season Southland Conference title, but the Demons can still affect the title race.

Two days after falling to second-place Nicholls (19-9, 9-2 SLC), the Demons (8-21, 4-8 SLC) welcome league leader New Orleans (16-10, 9-2 SLC) to Prather Coliseum on Saturday for a 3 p.m. matchup after the women's game.

Fans not able to attend can listen to Patrick Netherton on 95.9 FM, nsudemons.com or the NSU app. A video stream is also available on nsudemons.com.

"We've got to stay focused and positive, and I do think we'll see a bounce back effort Saturday," said NSU coach Mike McConathy. "We're continue to encourage our guys while identifying things we can do better.

"We talk about committing each day and doing everything we can to be successful."

The Demons catch a UNO squad that fell into a first-place tie after an 84-79 loss at Southeastern on Thursday.

NSU is coming off an 80-62 loss to Nicholls, but a glance at the box score wouldn't suggest the 18-point margin of defeat.

The Demons weathered Nicholls' pressure defense with just 11 turnovers, and although the Colonels used its transition offense to build a 19-5 edge in fastbreak points, NSU balanced that with a 21-8 advantage in second-chance points.

The Colonels make a living at the free-throw line, but NSU (12-19) bested Nicholls (9-15) at the stripe.

The one glaring number is that the Demons shot a conference-low 33 percent from the field and 4-24 from 3-point range (17 percent). Nicholls didn't set the nets on fire (44 percent), but 30 points from Ty Gordon helped Nicholls power through some of their offensive struggles.

NSU created open looks, but only Kendal Coleman (19 points on 9-16 shooting) and Jovan Zelenbaba (eight points on 3-6 shooting) shot above 50 percent. The rest of the Demons were below 25 percent combined, including 3-20 from the point guard group that had been averaging 26 points in the last 17 games.

UNO, a team who relies on its penetration, also gets a boost from the free-throw line. The Privateers made 22 free throws in both wins against NSU, but the Demons have significantly closed the free-throw gap since the beginning of league play.

The Demons defense will tangle with the league's leading scorer Derek St. Hilaire for the third time this season.

St. Hilaire has scored 31 and 29 points in the previous two games this season, UNO wins of 80-79 in the SLC Tip-Off event and an 85-77 victory at Lakefront Arena in which NSU nearly erased a 14-point, second-half deficit.

"St. Hilaire isn't as big as Gordon, but he's more bouncy and can do certain things at the rim," McConathy said of the guard who's averaging 20.6 points per game this season. "It's another tough matchup."

Gordon joined St. Hilaire and HBU's Darius Lee as players who have scored 30 or more points against NSU this season.

But NSU has its own stud in Kendal Coleman, who has 14 double doubles in his last 19 games and 15 overall this season, which ranks in the top 10 nationally.

The second-year freshman is averaging 15.6 points and 9.7 rebounds per game after logging 19 points and 13 rebounds against Nicholls.

Against New Orleans, Coleman has had two of best games of the season, producing 20 points and 12 rebounds in the first meeting and 19 points and a career-high 15 rebounds in the second matchup.

"Kendal is a snatcher, meaning he doesn't wait for the ball to come to him," McConathy said. "He goes and gets it and has a great instinct for the ball.

"The best thing about him is that he is such a respectful kid from a great family that comes in to work extra outside of practice. He is a joy to coach, and he has the ability to put a program on his back."

NSU, who is sitting in a sixth-place tie with McNeese (4-8 SLC), still has a mathematical shot at the No. 4 seed and a first-round bye.

The Demons would need to beat UNO and Southeastern to finish with six league wins and hope to tie Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and/or HBU and win a tiebreaker.

NSU split with both the Islanders and Huskies, but the Demons would need to finish ahead of McNeese, who swept the season series.

To be in that running, McConathy would need to beat former assistant Mark Slessinger, who is in his 11^th season at UNO and recently became the program's all-time win's leader.

Slessinger holds a slight 9-7 edge in the series with two wins this season, and NSU is 3-4 in Natchitoches against UNO as the Privateers have won two of the last three meetings in Prather Coliseum.

All eight teams make the SLC Tournament this season, the last time the tournament will be held in Katy, Texas.

The men's tournament starts March 9 with seeds 5-8 playing on opening night.

Only digital tickets will be sold for the tournament, and fans can purchase those tickets through etix.com.

Fans should use NSU's code (NWST22) so the department gets credit for the sale. All tickets are general admission and are $20, which admits a fan into a session (two games).