NATCHITOCHES – The Northwestern State men's basketball team will have another chance to hit a reset button of sorts Monday night.
 
The Demons host McNeese at 6:30 p.m. in Northwestern State's Southland Conference home opener, which also marks the Demons' first home game of the 2024 calendar year.
 
The game will air on ESPN+ as the Demons look to bounce back from a conference-opening loss at Lamar on Saturday night.
 
Northwestern State (2-12, 0-1) will try to do so in a place where they are more than familiar with practicing but less so when it comes to game action. The Demons played just four non-conference home games, the second-fewest among Southland teams.
 
"Home games are the ones you have to get," junior guard Braelon Bush said. "The road games may not go your way at all because of home-court advantage. Once you play at home, you have to get them. I feel like we can once we lock in and everyone gets on the same page."
 
In Saturday's loss at Lamar, 10 Demons saw action with nine making their first appearance in a Southland Conference game. The lone exception was Bush, who began his career at McNeese in 2020-21.
 
Included in Bush's lone season at McNeese was an 11-assist game in Prather Coliseum in a 69-66 Demon victory Feb. 13, 2021.
 
Through his first 14 games as a Demon, Bush leads Northwestern State with 49 assists, averaging 3.5 per game. Monday's game will be the first time Bush will play against his former school.
 
"It's going to be kind of weird, because everyone knows I went to McNeese," Bush said. "I'm going to treat them like any other team. I'm not going to worry about what's happened in the past. I'm more worried about what's going on in my future, which is try to get a win and go on to the next game."
 
The history between the Cowboys (12-2, 1-0) and Demons is as even as any in Northwestern State men's basketball history. Among the 138 meetings – fifth-most for a single opponent in NSU program history – the teams have each won 69, making it the most even series for the Demons. The next closest .500 series for Northwestern State is against former Southland Conference rival Texas State, having split 50 meetings with the Bobcats.
 
The Cowboys are playing their second straight road game to open Southland play, having rallied from a double-figure, second-half deficit to defeat Texas A&M-Commerce, 73-67, on Saturday afternoon.
 
The first of two regular-season matchups between the in-state foes features its share of the top individual performers in the Southland Conference.
 
Northwestern State guard Cliff Davis has been one of the top marksmen in the league, pacing the conference in made 3-pointers (52), 3-point attempts (). McNeese's Christian Shumate leads the Southland in rebounding (9.3 per game) while teammate Omar Cooper is tops in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio (5.18) and TCU transfer Shahada Wells leads the Southland in steals per game (2.46) and ranks second in the league in scoring (19.8 ppg).
 
"McNeese is a very talented team," first-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. "They can win a lot of conferences that are higher than the Southland, but one thing about conference basketball is it's a different animal. Anyone can get anyone on any given day, and that's how we're approaching it. We have good players. I'm a firm believer in that. We have to continue to stay together and handle adversity. Anything can happen – especially at home. That's why teams throughout the country win the higher percentage of games at home."