NATCHITOCHES – If the Northwestern State men's basketball team is to pick up its first set of back-to-back wins in the 2023-24 season, it will do so at an earlier time than expected.
 
Coming off arguably their best overall performance of the season – one that resulted in a 97-71 victory Saturday against UIW – the Demons will face Houston Christian at 2 p.m. Monday inside Prather Coliseum. The start time was moved up from 6:30 p.m. because of expected wintry weather in the area. Monday's game will air on ESPN+.
 
Northwestern State (3-13, 1-2 Southland) will face an HCU team that, in some ways, is a mirror image of the Demons. Both teams picked up their first conference wins and third overall wins of the season Saturday. The Demons pummeled UIW while the Huskies (3-11, 1-2) went on the road and defeated Texas A&M-Commerce, 69-65.
 
For the recent similarities, there are a couple of areas where the teams differ – nowhere more than on the bench.
 
While Rick Cabrera will coach his 17^th game at the helm of Northwestern State on Monday, HCU's Ron Cottrell is in his 32^nd season at the helm of the Huskies, having coached 1,023 games at HCU.
 
"I'm sure when Ron's done there, they're going to name the court or the gym after him," Cabrera said. "His team is very balanced. I don't look at their record. They've been in some very close games. The Nicholls game went to overtime. They were up three with 3 seconds to go. They lost to UTSA by two and were in it at FIU. They have some really big guys at the four and the five. Pretty good guards. These conference games are going to be dogfights."

Northwestern State found its share of balance in Saturday's win.
 
For the second time this season – and the first time against a Division I opponent – the Demons had five players reach double figures in scoring, four of whom notched career highs in that category.
 
NSU also found balance on the boards with six players grabbing at least four rebounds, including a game-high seven from guard Chase Forte, who also set career highs in points (18) and assists (7). Those numbers, along with a defense that held UIW to 40.4 percent shooting from the field, backed up one of Cabrera's tenets of winning.
 
"If you defend and rebound, you'll always give yourself a chance," Cabrera said.
 
Getting home has been a salve for the Demon defense, which has limited McNeese and UIW to a combined 40.2 percent from the field and a 32.6 percent mark from 3-point range. That defense fueled Saturday's win and kept the Demons within striking distance of McNeese this past Monday, which in turn has built on a teamwide confidence that has stayed high despite NSU's tough start to the season.
 
"We just kept each other mentally tough," said Jimel Lane, whose 20 points against UIW were a career and game high. "If someone made a mistake, we patted them on the back and tell them, 'Get it back next time.' That next-play mentality can help us be a championship team in this conference."