HATTIESBURG, Mississippi – The Northwestern State women's basketball team will wear its visiting colors Tuesday night in Reed Green Coliseum, but it will feel a lot like home for head coach Jordan Dupuy.
 
When Dupuy's Lady Demons tip off against Southern Miss at 6 p.m. Tuesday, it will mark a return to a place that remains a special part of the third-year NSU coach's life.
 
Tuesday's game can be heard on 97.5 FM KDBH in Natchitoches and through streaming audio on www.NSUDemons.com and through the new Northwestern State Athletics app, available for download through the Apple Store and Google Play. Tony Taglavore, in his 11^th season, will handle the play-by-play call of the game.
 
"It was very influential in my career, very influential in my off-the-court life," said Dupuy, a two-time Southern Miss grad who spent a decade coaching men's and women's basketball with the Golden Eagles. "Everybody I've met there is considered family or friends. There will be so many people in the stands that I got to see every night when we played.
 
"It's going to be different being on the other end of the court coaching and going to a different locker room."
 
For Dupuy, he said switching ends of the court will be the only thing out of the ordinary for him as the Lady Demons (3-2) aim for their first three-game win streak since starting the 2016-17 season 3-0.
 
"The game means a lot to me, but if I treat it any differently than the other 28 games we play, our players will do the same," Dupuy said. "There's such a comfortable feeling in Hattiesburg that I'm not going to do anything out of my normal routine. I tried to do the same thing last year. We're going to prepare the same way, and I'm going to coach the same way."
 
A year ago, the Golden Eagles (4-2) built a 27-point, third-quarter lead that Northwestern State whittled to seven in the fourth quarter before Southern Miss pulled back away for a 71-59 victory.
 
While Northwestern State enters with a bit of momentum after two straight wins, the Golden Eagles saw their brief two-game win streak halted by Sam Houston State, 65-61, on Saturday.
 
 "The issue is I'd rather play them after a (USM) victory and not after a loss," Dupuy said. "I know how intense their practices are going to be and how intense their film sessions are going to be. They'll be ready to play Tuesday."
 
Dupuy isn't the only person on the Northwestern State travel roster with ties to Mississippi.
 
Junior guard Kira Bonner is a Vossburg, Mississippi, native who played her junior college basketball at Jones County Junior College, which is located 23 miles northeast of Hattiesburg.
 
Bonner enters her homecoming game second on the team in scoring (11.4 ppg) and has given the Lady Demons a deadeye 3-point shooter, connecting on 8 of her 15 long-range tries (53.3 percent).
 
"She's going to have a lot of people there," Dupuy said. "What we have to talk to her about is not pressing, not doing more than what we ask of her. She's been a huge spark for us off the bench. Her numbers say she should be in the starting lineup, but we need people to come off the bench and make a huge impact. Kira's at the point where she likes to see the flow of the game first and know what she needs to do when she goes in. She immediately scores the ball and creates havoc on defense for us."
 
Much like he said he would do himself, Dupuy said he will tell Bonner not to deviate from her normal routine or style of play.
 
"I'm not treating it differently than any other night," Dupuy said. "It's still a business trip."