ALEXANDRIA – Departures from conventional major college coaching approaches are not uncommon for Mike McConathy, but even in his 16^th season Northwestern State, McConathy and his Demons will take an unprecedented trip Thursday.
 
NSU (1-1) plays a 7 p.m. game at a first-year NAIA program, nearby LSU Alexandria, in the Generals' 1,000-seat gymnasium. And the Demons are paying the tab.
 
Coming off a 75-64 homecourt victory Monday night over Lyon College, the Demons began a busy stretch with four games in eight days. Thursday's game precedes a demanding road trip for a Sunday afternoon game at No. 19 Oklahoma and a contest at Texas Tech two nights later.
 
"We needed another game between (last Friday's visit to Texas A&M) and the Oklahoma game. They're a quality opponent, (although) a first-year program. Larry Codaro is starting the program and we've known him for many years. Bob Austin, one of our former graduate assistants and a former assistant coach for our women's program, is the women's head coach there. We like and respect them," said McConathy.
 
"So we asked (Codero) if we could come to their place and play. It seemed like the best thing to do to get a game in, because we couldn't use our facility that night due to the Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament (with eight qualifying teams holding practice sessions prior to Friday's tourney launch) being in our arena. It was the easiest thing to do, the closest game we could play that night, and we felt like it was the thing to do.
 
"We have a tremendous number of graduates in that area, and we've had a good reaction down there," said McConathy. "Technically it's a guarantee game for us, when we're actually paying them to play us, but we felt we had to get a game in before going to Oklahoma.
 
"It's no small task for us at LSUA," said McConathy. "They are well coached, they have good players and they nearly won the other day at (fellow Southland Conference member) Lamar. We need to be better than we have been in our first two games."
 
The Generals are 1-0 after a home 83-55 win over Dillard and an exhibition 78-75 defeat at Lamar. Thursday's game will count as an exhibition for LSU-A.
 
The Demons are led by the last two Southland Conference Freshmen of the Year.
 
Sophomore Zeek Woodley tops the scoring chart so far with a 15-point average and is grabbing 5.5 rebounds per game. He's made 55 percent of his shots after ranking fourth nationally last season at 61.7 percent.
 
Junior point guard Jalan West is averaging 14 points, 7.5 assists, 3.0 steals, and has made 11 of his last 12 free throws after a 1-4 start at A&M.
 
Senior center Marvin Frazier is averaging 12 points and 5 rebounds while sophomore swingman Tra'von Joseph is coming off a double-double against Lyon (10 points, 10 rebounds) and is averaging 9.5 points and 8.5 rebounds.

Radio coverage of Thursday's contest is on the Demon Sports Network, flagshipped by 100.7 KZBL-FM in Natchitoches and including KWLA 103.1 FM in Leesville and Shreveport affliates SportsTalk 100.7 FM and SuperTalk1340 AM. Internet audio is available at NSUDemons.com and SuperTalk1340.com free of charge.
 
NSU will not be back home playing at Prather Coliseum until Nov. 29. Monday's victory was the 400^th in the 50-year history of the facility.