NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State men's basketball team will hit the halfway mark of its regular season at halftime of Saturday's Southland Conference game against Nicholls.
 
That fact begs the age-old question of when does a freshman unofficially lose his tag as a freshman?
 
As the Demons (8-7, 0-2) prepare to host the longtime state rival Colonels (7-7, 2-0) at 3:30 p.m. (ESPN+) inside Prather Coliseum, NSU has seen two freshmen challenge that query.
 
Wing Jalen Hampton has been the most productive of the pair, averaging 7.4 points and a team-leading 6.5 rebounds per game after a 12-point, five-rebound performance at McNeese on Thursday.
 
"Jalen has been phenomenal," first-year head coach Corey Gipson said. "He's averaging seven points and six rebounds while shooting 60 percent from the field. There's not much more we can ask from him in terms of consistency.
 
"There is more we can ask of him on the defensive side of the ball. He can become a better defensive rebounder, and he can become a better on-ball defender. There are things he can continue to grow in, but Jalen Hampton has been a consistent part of the program."
 
A St. Louis University City High School product, Hampton has scored in double figures in four of his past six games and six of the past nine. In that same span, he has grabbed at least four rebounds in every game.
 
Gipson has praised Hampton's innate ability to grab offensive rebounds – he ranks third in the Southland and 22^nd nationally with 3.47 offensive rebounds per game – seemingly since the start of the season, but Hampton has worked to round out his game.
 
"I don't feel like a freshman anymore," Hampton said. "I'm working on elevating and getting better. My ball handling and passing is where I feel like I've improved a lot."
 
Hampton has averaged nearly an assist per game, handing out a career-high three assists twice this season – at Central Arkansas on Nov. 26 and against Stephen F. Austin on Dec. 1.
 
It was against UCA that Hampton's offensive rebounding first showed itself as the 6-foot-7 Hampton snared seven offensive boards among his 15 total rebounds in an overtime win against the Bears.
 
Hampton added 10 rebounds in an 84-82 win against then-unbeaten Southern Miss on Dec. 4, missing his first career double-double by two points.
 
Less than 24 hours after his 15-rebound game against UCA, Hampton made his first career start against Bethune-Cookman, and he responded by scoring a career-high 13 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
 
Hampton's quick assimilation on the court was a byproduct of the Demons' offseason program.
 
"I feel very comfortable playing with them, and I think our chemistry has improved in the first 14 games," Hampton said. "It has a lot to do with the summer. We built a brotherhood and got our chemistry going."
 
Williams has made his impact as well in his first season at the Division I level.
 
A product of Montgomery, Alabama, Williams started the first eight games of the season and made an instant impact in his first career Division I game, handing out six assists, snaring four rebounds and collecting four steals against then-No. 24/25 Texas Tech.
 
Like Hampton, Williams has made strides in his game, including those that don't show up on a stat sheet.
 
"Greedy is really starting to hone in on becoming a more consistent rebounder, a more tenacious defender, a guy that brings a level of nasty to the game," Gipson said. "In regard to what we ask of our freshmen is to bring more nasty. The scoring column and things like that, it's not important as a freshman. You have to grow into your role in a program, but you have to be content in your role when you enter a program."