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CONWAY, Ark. _ The University of Central Arkansas Bears will look to recapture the mindset they had in winning their first two Southland Conference games back in early January when they host the Northwestern State Demons on Saturday afternoon at the Farris Center.

UCA (3-12, 2-5) opened the conference slate with victories over McNeese on the road and New Orleans at home, but have struggled since. The Bears are coming off a 69-57 loss to Southeastern Louisiana last Wednesday night in Hammond, La. UCA had the game tied with 3:30 to play but went cold down the stretch.

In the five SLC losses, that coincide with the loss of senior point guard DeAndre Jones to injury, the Bears have struggled offensively, particularly from three-point range. UCA has shot just  28.8 percent from three-point range and 43.4 percent overall since the win over UNO. Prior to that, UCA shot 38 percent from beyond the arc. Jones was the Bears' top three-point shooter prior to his season-ending knee injury at 52.5 percent and is still tied for the team lead with 21 threes, alongside sophomore Jaxson Baker.

Still, the Bears are shooting better on the year than the Demons (4-14, 3-4), who enter Saturday's game off two consecutive victories. NSU is shooting 41.5 percent overall and 31.9 percent from three-point range. 

The Demons also opened SLC play with two losses, but have managed a 3-2 mark since then. Their last outing was an 81-73 victory over New Orleans on Wednesday at home at Prather Coliseum. The Demons shot 51.6 from the field but still struggled from the perimeter, hitting just 3 of 13 from three-point range. NSU outscored UNO 47-36 in the second half to overcome a three-point halftime deficit.

UCA, which trails 23-8 in the overall series but has won six of the past nine meetings, beat the Demons in Natchitoches, La., last year but lost the home game at the Farris Center. The Demons beat the Bears 100-85 in the regular-season finale on March 7. UCA grabbed a 79-71 win in the first matchup, despite NSU connecting on 13 three-pointers. The Bears got 18 points from Eddy Kayouloud and 15 from Rylan Bergersen and outscored the Demons 52-28 in the second half.

UCA went 20 of 31 at the free-throw line compared to 4 of 9 for the Demons.

The second matchup was the opposite, at least at the foul line. NSU went 26 of 30 (86.7 percent) while UCA was 12 of 15. Both teams were hot from the perimeter as NSU made 14 three-pointers and UCA connected 11 times. Bergersen led all scorers with 25 points while Jairus Roberson had 23 for the Demons.

NSU is in a three-way tie for sixth in the SLC standings, one game ahead of UCA.

The game will tip-off at 4 p.m. following the UCA-NSU women's game. It will be carried live on The Bear 91.3 and streamed on ucasports.com.