By Jason Pugh, Northwestern State Associate Athletic Director for External Relations; featured photo by Chris Reich, NSU Photographic Services
LAKE CHARLES – What a difference 12 months makes.
A year ago, the Northwestern State men’s basketball team entered the Southland Conference Tournament on the heels of its longest losing streak in league play.
As the 2025 SLC Tournament begins, the fourth-seeded Demons enter the Legacy Center riding the wave of a season-long, four-game win streak.
“I can’t deny that going in with four straight wins is a good feeling, but at the end of the day, you start to ask yourself, ‘Does it really matter when the ball is thrown up by the referee?’” second-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. “The game of basketball is determined through preparation, how you’re going to attack the other team’s defense, et cetera. I feel confident in my players. I know I have some guys who can go in there and do something special.”
The potential for a special run through the conference tournament begins Monday afternoon at 5 p.m. on the McNeese campus where the Demons are 1-2 in the previous two SLC tournaments.
The No. 4 seed Demons will face the winner of Sunday afternoon’s matchup of fifth-seeded Texas A&M-Corpus Christi and No. 8 seed Houston Christian.
Northwestern swept two games from HCU, including a 61-56 win March 1 in Natchitoches. Meanwhile, the Demons faced the Islanders once, falling to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, 73-64, in a Jan. 13 road game.
“Throughout the season, you get better, matchups change, people play better or are not playing,” junior guard Landyn Jumawan said. “We’ll go back to the drawing board and watch film. At the end of the day, we’re going to be us. We’re going to play defense, pick up for 94 feet, play with toughness, play with grit and play hard.”
That defense has been a staple for Northwestern, which ranked third in the Southland in scoring defense (66.4 points per game) and field-goal percentage (41.1) in league play.
While the Demons allowed 73 points in the loss at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, they responded by holding eight of their final 13 conference opponents to 65 or fewer points per game.
Meanwhile, Northwestern’s offense awakened in the second half of conference play. After a five-game stretch where the Demons did not crack the 60-point mark, Northwestern averaged 69.8 points per game in their season-ending, four-game win streak.
“Everyone knows who we are and what they can do best,” said junior guard Micah Thomas, the Demons’ second-leading scorer (12.1 ppg) and top 3-point shooter (57 made 3s). “Coach is putting us in the best situations to allow us to showcase who we are and what we can do.”
Down the stretch, Thomas and his fellow backcourt mates have driven the Demons toward their four-game win streak.
Along with fellow transfer guards Love Bettis and Jon Sanders II, Thomas has given Cabrera and his staff the impact he hoped for in the recruiting process.
“They’ve been great for us throughout the season,” Cabrera said. “In the recruiting process for Love and Jon, who didn’t have good years at their previous schools. We told them we need to bring them in for their experience and winning hunger. They’d won at their previous spots, but they got a taste of winning this year. This is what we put all the marbles in the bag for – to win the Southland Conference Tournament – and here we are.”