HATTIESBURG, Mississippi – The Northwestern State men's basketball team will see one drought end and one seemingly never-ending trip continue Saturday afternoon inside Reed Green Coliseum.
 
The Demons play their sixth straight game away from home in a place they have not visited in more than 30 years when Northwestern State squares off with Southern Miss at 1 p.m. The game will air on ESPN+.
 
"This has been adventurous," first-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. "Our guys are growing and getting better every game. Our record, obviously, does not show that, but I've seen a lot of growth in these guys being together and competing. It's all about growth right now. We stay high energy and positive in practice and try to coach them up."
 
The Demons (1-7) and Golden Eagles (4-4) met for the first time in 32 seasons a year ago in Prather Coliseum, tangling in a classic that saw the Demons hand Southern Miss its first loss of the 2022-23 season on DeMarcus Sharp's buzzer-beating jump shot.
 
There are plenty of new faces on the Northwestern State roster, but the Golden Eagles return three starters from that game, including leading scorer Austin Crowley, who averages 16.6 points per game. Crowley is one of three Golden Eagles who average at least 14 points per game, joining Victor Hart (15.3) and Donovan Ivory (14.0).
 
"They're talented," Cabrera said. "They started out a little rough, but they came back and won on the road at Milwaukee and UAB. They can score the basketball. They return some guys from that team last year, one who was the leading scorer. To me, Victor Hart is the most improved player, maybe in the entire country. He averaged like four points a game last year and is close to 16 a game this year. They have a great ability to score, but we see some holes in their game I think we can take advantage of."
 
One hole for the Demons in the non-conference portion of their schedule has been the ability to play a complete game.
 
"It's about having that mental strength," junior guard Jamison Epps said. "We talk about it every day even outside of practice. We just have mental lapses. It's like coach (Cabrera) says, 'The other team isn't beating us. We're beating ourselves.' There's always a couple-minute stretch where we just go blank. We try to play too free and go against the grain of what we do and what works. It's really hard to dig out of a hole when you're down 10.
 
"We've got to be more mentally focused. We've put together some great halves, but we come out and we're mentally lost. If we can get over that mental challenge, we'll put that whole 40 together, and it will be a show."