NATCHITOCHES – At 2 p.m. Saturday, Northwestern State's Olympic lineage adds another layer – this one of the international flavor.
 
Former Demon basketball standout Nikos Chougkaz and Greece open Group A play against Canada, giving Northwestern State its fourth Olympian in school history – its first in basketball.
 
Chougkaz played one season at Northwestern State in 2019-20, averaging 9.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game for the Demons, who saw their season cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic that hit following NSU's first-round victory against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in the Southland Conference Tournament.
 
Chougkaz scored in double figures 15 times and had six double-figure rebounding games, finishing second on the team in rebounding. He produced four of his five double-doubles in a five-game stretch from Jan. 25-Feb. 8.
 
A 6-foot-10 forward from Athens, Greece, Chougkaz has played professionally in his home country since the 2020-21 season, seeing time with Panionios, Ionikos Nikaias, Panathinaikos and Peristeri.  He recently signed with Andorra in Liga ACB, the top professional league in Spain.
 
Chougkaz joins track and field triple jump standouts LaMark Carter (2000) and Kenta Bell (2004, 2008) and gymnast Richard Lloyd (1968) as Demon Olympians.