DALLAS – The Northwestern State basketball team is already about to tip off for the third time Wednesday night at 7 at SMU in a game carried on ESPN3, but veteran Demons coach Mike McConathy is craving the days between games to develop his young squad.

Only four teams – Duke, Kentucky, Pitt and Mount St. Mary's – have more freshmen than the six on McConathy's roster. Add in two junior college transfers on the Demons' squad, and there are only five teams among the 351 in Division I basketball more youth-oriented.

So opening the season with four games in the first seven days, a stretch that wraps up Friday night at home against Rice in Prather Coliseum, was less an ideal scenario than a necessity, he said. NSU will play six times in 14 days by the end of next week.

"It's how the dominos tumbled out in the scheduling process, factoring in the Thanksgiving holiday, travel, and opportunities to play the opponents we have," said McConathy. "For our system, it's fine. We have a deep rotation so nobody should be too leg-weary. But most of the guys who are playing are first-year players, nearly all true freshmen, so it can be something of a mind-blowing experience.

"My wife's analogy on this is, 'if someone's never been to Disney World and you tell them about it, still when they get there they're amazed. It's even more fantastic than they imagined.' Well, until they experienced lining up against a Texas team that was as long and fast as any I've ever seen, other than maybe Oklahoma's Final Four team, no matter what we said or did in practice, there was some shock and awe."

After a 105-59 loss in last Friday's season opener, NSU (0-2) traveled home Saturday, did not practice and was poor defensively Sunday afternoon in a 99-84 loss to LeTourneau. Having the first practice sessions since last Thursday has been very beneficial preparing for SMU (2-0), he said.

"Just playing, you don't have time to correct what you did so poorly at Texas, which was giving up transition baskets, and the points they score on turnovers. You do that better, you contest shots and rebound the basketball, you've got a chance to win any game you play," said McConathy. "We failed to do that Sunday and we paid a price against a very good team that won 22 games last year and has most of those players back. They did what well-coached teams do and took great advantage.

"In our situation, you've got bruised egos, frustration, and it can be tough to bounce back. But give our young men credit, they came to work Monday morning with open minds and a great desire, and we've made progress heading into SMU," said McConathy. "We've got good talent. We've got good kids. We'll be facing one of the country's more successful programs in the last 2-3 seasons and it's a great challenge, but we will compete."

The Mustangs have beaten Maryland-Baltimore Country (78-67) and UL Monroe (83-65) in their first two games since ending a 30-5 American Athletic Conference championship season.

"They have big guards, and they move the ball extremely well. They're not particularly big inside, but very skilled and well coached," said McConathy.

The Demons have already had six players score in double figures once, but nobody has done it in consecutive games. Freshman guard Czar Perry has come closest and leads with a 12.0 average, while senior swingman Iziahiah Sweeney is at 11.0 and freshman center Larry Owens is at 10.0. Sweeney and junior center Ishmael Lane are the top rebounders at 6.5 per game.

NSU will play for the third and last time without senior point guard Jalan West, who returns to action for the first time in two seasons Friday night at 6:30 against Rice in Prather Coliseum.

Wednesday's contest will be broadcast on the Demon Sports Network, flagshipped by 100.7 KZBL FM in Natchitoches and including a free stream on NSUDemons.com.