NATCHITOCHES – Early-season road trips have become a November staple for second-year Northwestern State men's basketball head coach Rick Cabrera.
 
The second such trip in as many years for Cabrera's Demons was nowhere near as long as the 33-day gap a season ago, but it does not eliminate the appreciation Northwestern has as it returns to Prather Coliseum to face John Melvin University at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday on ESPN+.
 
The Demons (1-3) are playing their first home game in 15 days since a season-opening 96-55 victory against Dallas Christian. The Crusaders faced John Melvin on Monday.
 
"This is something we're excited about," Cabrera said. "One, we get to sleep in our own beds. Two, we get to practice on our own court. I'm a little exhausted from sleeping in hotel beds. It's so great to be home. The focus in scheduling this year was to have a balance of home and away games. We have that with some good teams coming in."
 
While coming home to a familiar arena, the Demons have no familiarity with the Millers, who are 3-3 heading into Monday night's game at Dallas Christian.
 
John Melvin, a member of the United States Collegiate Athletic Association, is in its second year as a program. After a six-win first season, first-year coach Romel Bryant's team has collected half of that total through six games thanks to an infusion of talent from Chicago.
 
Six of the 20 Millers players come from the Chicagoland area.
 
"That was surprising to see," Cabrera said. "That city has produced a lot of good talent. It will be interesting."
 
The Demons will host their second non-Division I opponent of the season in as many games, carrying a 14-game win streak against such opponents into the contest. Northwestern will play one more non-Division I team – Southern-New Orleans – in balancing out a schedule that features five Power Four conference teams.
 
"We tend not to try to take anybody lightly, but just like the power schools pay us to play, it's a cycle that we have to do," Cabrera said. "One thing we have to focus on is getting better from our last game. We have a quote we use in practice, 'You get better, or you get beat.' You never know how a team like John Melvin – they've scored a lot of points – how they're going to come out. You have to be focused and not take anybody lightly."
 
The focus on improvement will be heightened following Saturday's 77-75 overtime loss at Rice.
 
The Demons were one stop away from closing out the first win in program history against the Owls but could not secure it.
 
"It's so hard, because that was a game – and I talked to coach (Rob) Lanier and gave his team a ton of credit – I feel like we should have won," Cabrera said. "We didn't get the stops necessary to win it, but our guys played hard and competed, and I was very proud of it. I don't like moral victories just because it's a higher-level (team). We have a very talented team capable of winning a lot of games. It's going to take a couple of days to get by me, but you can't rewind time. You have to get better and learn from it."