CONWAY, Ark. – Northwestern State will take on a familiar opponent in more ways than one when it closes its non-conference schedule on Wednesday afternoon against Central Arkansas.
 
Not only are the Demons (4-6) and Sugar Bears (6-5) former Southland Conference opponents, the two come in with similarities in both their defensive prowess and ability to rebound the basketball.
 
When the two tip off on Wednesday afternoon at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN+ it will come down to who wants it more, namely on the glass.
 
"Both of us our telling our teams the same thing going into this one," head coach Anna Nimz said. "Don't turn the ball over and win the rebounding battle. That's going to give you the best shot at winning every single time. So, I think it's going to come down to who is a little more physical and a little more dialed in, and who's going to be a little bit tougher as well."
 
Central Arkansas currently leads the Atlantic Sun in with 41.3 rebounds per game, have pulled double-digit offensive boards in all but three games this year and lost the rebounding battle just twice in 11 games.
 
Prior to Sunday's game at LSU, the Demons were atop the Southland in rebounding with more than 40 per game thanks to a stretch of five straight 40-rebound games, tied for the longest streak since 2011-12. In just nine games this season, NSU matched it's total 40-rebound games of six from a season ago.
 
Not only do the teams share the ability to control the ball off the miss, they are forcing teams to miss with solid regularity as two of the top defensive teams in their respective conferences.
 
UCA leads the ASUN in field goal percentage defense and scoring on the season, holding opponents to 59.1 points per game. NSU ranks sixth in the Southland in scoring defense at 62.9 per game, but against non-Power 5 opponents this year that number dips to 52.8 allowed per game.
 
The similarities even extend to individual players as both UCA and NSU have their league's top 3-point shooter who are nearly averaging the exact same point per game totals this year.
 
Sharna Ayres currently leads the SLC in four different 3-point shooting categories making 2.5 triples per game at a 33 percent rate and scoring 11.4 points per game. UCA's Jade Upshaw leads the ASUN in percentage at .414, has made one fewer total 3s than Ayres, and averaging 11.3 point per game.
 
Where UCA has the slight edge on the Demons is in the offensive production with four players averaging double figures on the season, three of them at 11.0 or better with field goal percentages over 30 percent for the season.
 
"They're a collective, across the board really good team," Nimz said. "They have some impactful kids that are playing well and playing well together like a unified group. It's going to be an incredible matchup for us. We're going to have to be very detail oriented. But as always if we can go in and compete at a high level for 40 minutes that's going to give us our best chance of coming away with one."
 
The two teams have not met since UCA left the Southland following the 2020-21 season. Nimz earned her first win as a Division I head coach the last time the two played each other in the 20-21 regular season finale in Natchitoches.