DALLAS – Northwestern State nearly delivered a knockout punch to Tulsa on Wednesday, and the Demons will take another swing at an American Athletic Conference member on Monday at SMU (1-1).

The Demons (1-2) led the Golden Hurricane with four minutes left before Tulsa finished strong in a 82-75 NSU loss.

The 7 p.m. contest will stream on ESPN+ and air on The Demon Sports Network (94.9 FM The River) and on nsudemons.com with Patrick Netherton.

The trip wraps up four games in the first seven days of the season as NSU is tied for the second-most active team in the season's first week. Only Coppin State (five games in seven days) has played more contests.

"The only negative thing about playing that many games in that time span is that you don't have practice time," said NSU coach Mike McConathy, who led the Demons to their win of the season Saturday in 91-62 fashion against Champion Christian. "The players would rather play than practice, but we're at that stage where we need some practice time to clean up things we're seeing in the games."

The Demons are making their fourth visit to SMU in the past five seasons. NSU has lost in each of those meetings and in the seven all-time meetings, but the Demons did battle to an 11-point loss in 2018-19 behind 24 points from Ishmael Lane.

Freshman center Kendal Coleman is a similar type post, and he's scored at least 19 points in all three games this season, including his first double-double of the season against Champion Christian (19 points and 11 rebounds).

Coleman has led the way against Power 6 teams by setting career highs of 19 points (Oklahoma) and 22 points (Tulsa) to open the season.

Coleman's 60 combined points is the most for an NSU player in the season's first three games since 2015-16 when the Demons' all-time leading scorer Zeek Woodley dropped 85 points on Ole Miss, LSU-Alexandria and ULM.

Coleman has been efficient from the field against higher-level opponents, shooting a combined 19-of-27.

Monday's game marks the fourth in the first seven days of the season, including the third out-of-state road game.

Senior guard LaTerrance Reed said he's enjoyed playing in a lot of games to start the season, adding that there's no substation for on-floor action.

"It's fun for me because I feel like I've been here for 30 years, and it's my last year, so I want to play as many games as possible," Reed said. "It's good for (the six newcomers) to understand what Division I college basketball is about, like what we do on the road and at home.

"But we can never get enough practice time or playing time, and the best experience is playing live. With all the different transfers and guys we have in, we can get out and play together."

Reed scored 12 against Champion Christian after combining for just four points in the first two games as NSU saw a return of its balanced scoring attack with six players scoring at least eight points.

Sophomore guard Jovan Zelenbaba was a beneficiary Saturday, scoring eight points on 3-of-4 shooting after being held scoreless on 0-of-8 shooting in the first two games.

SMU will be facing its second Southland Conference opponent after the Mustangs disposed of McNeese in an 86-62 win. The Cowboys hung around early in the second half, cutting SMU's lead to five before the Mustangs jetted to a 20-point edge before the 10-minute mark.

The Mustangs couldn't solve Oregon in Friday's 86-63 loss in which the Ducks shot 63 percent in the first half while SMU limped to a 38 percent shooting effort overall.

SMU's Kendric Davis is the leading scorer despite shooting just 30 percent from the field. He makes up for it at the free-throw line, making 13-of-14.

NSU will see a familiar face on the Mustang bench in Sam Houston transfer Zach Nutall, the Southland Conference Player of the Year from 2020-21 (19 points and six rebounds).

The Demons have two Texans on the roster, one from the DFW area in freshman Jackson Waggoner (Grapevine, Texas).