THIBODAUX – As Northwestern State ends a stretch of five road contests in six games, things will not get easier for the Demons.
 
After falling to Southland Conference-leading McNeese despite a strong second half on Saturday, Northwestern squares off with the hottest team in the league, Nicholls, inside Stopher Gymnasium. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. on ESPN+.
 
"Coach (Tevon) Saddler's got his team playing as well as anybody in the league," second-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. "They're playing really well. He does a phenomenal job of coaching those guys."
 
The Demons (10-13, 7-6) nearly erased a 10-point halftime deficit Saturday against McNeese, cutting the Cowboys' lead to four points before a late McNeese flurry handed Northwestern its third loss in four games.
 
Northwestern hit 52.4 percent of its shots in the second half against the conference's top field goal percentage defense, giving the Demons a sense of confidence heading into the second meeting of the season with the Colonels (15-9, 9-4), whose four-game win streak is the longest active stretch in the conference.
 
Included in that run for Nicholls is a 71-63 victory against McNeese on Feb. 1 in Thibodaux.
 
While the Colonels enter with momentum, the Demons have a chance to secure their first season sweep of Nicholls since the 2016-17 season. Northwestern won the first meeting between the teams, 68-66, on Jan. 4 in Natchitoches.
 
"It's great to beat any league team here," Cabrera said. "It doesn't matter if they're a good team or a lower-end team. The victory here was very good, very satisfying because it was another league game. This one's even bigger. They're playing well and hopefully we'll continue playing really good basketball on Monday."
 
Northwestern enters Monday's game in eighth place in the conference with seven games to play. The top eight teams in the conference reach next month's Southland Conference Tournament in Lake Charles.
 
The Demons are two games ahead of ninth-place UTRGV and are two games away from a trio of teams that are tied for second and in line for a double bye in the conference tournament.
 
"I'm sure it's happened before, but I can't remember in all the leagues I've been in how balanced this league is," Cabrera said. "At some point, there is going to be separation. It's just a matter of when. You have to make sure your team still loves to play basketball in February. It's a long season. When you're dealing with these guys, you have to focus on taking one game at a time, and that's what we're going to do."