LUBBOCK, Texas – The Northwestern State men's basketball team's first road trip of the 2024-25 season is a long one.
 
The Demons' sojourn to west Texas for Friday's 8 p.m. ESPN+ matchup with Texas Tech pales in comparison to the roads back to competition traveled by several of the Northwestern players. It is the first of a three-game swing for the Demons, who travel to Oklahoma on Nov. 11 before capping the trip at Rice on Nov. 16.
 
A 96-55 win against Dallas Christian on Monday night in Prather Coliseum featured the return to action for five Demons who missed most of or all of the 2023-24 season. The quintet of returning players – JT Warren, Micah Thomas, Addison Patterson, Love Bettis and Mitch Williams --combined for 46 points in the victory.
 
None of the five have had a longer road back than Patterson, who originally signed with Northwestern for the 2023-24 season before an offseason injury cost him the entire season.
 
"It's been a long year and some change coming back from injury," Patterson said. "It's been a long road back to Division I basketball, so it feels good to be back. I feel comfortable out there. I've got my game back. I feel like we've got a really good squad this year, so I'm excited to show everybody what we're working with."
 
Patterson, a 6-foot-7, 200-pound guard/forward from Missassauga, Ontario, Canada, will be back in a familiar spot Friday night.
 
The first-year Demon began his career at Oregon, playing high-major competition on a nightly basis, but he is far from the only first-year Northwestern player who is familiar with such opponents.
 
"The goal in recruiting was to have a balance of guys who played Division I games, not just came from Division I but played significant minutes, and some guys who impacted junior college in winning ways," second-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. "That's what we have with Addison, Micah, Love and Lado (Laku) along with JT Warren and Jerald (Colonel), Willie (Williams) and Landyn (Jumawan). We wanted to get guys from winning programs, and I think we're trending that way."
 
The Demons (1-0) and Red Raiders (1-0) each won their season openers in similar fashion with Texas Tech dispatching Bethune-Cookman 94-61 behind a stellar shooting performance from Kerwin Walton, who knocked down seven 3-pointers.
 
Unlike their season opener, Friday's matchup comes with the Demons playing the role of the smaller-school visitor.
 
"Just two polar opposite teams we played from Monday to Friday," Cabrera said. "This is what we signed up for – to play against the best and compete and play the best teams that will help us prepare for conference in December, January and February."
 
Much like the Demons, the Red Raiders feature a second-year head coach, Grant McCasland, who has ties to a couple of members of the Northwestern staff.
 
"I got a chance to meet Grant when he was at Arkansas State," Cabrera said. "One of my friends, Jareem Dowling, was an assistant coach for him. Our associate head coach, Anthony Figueroa, his brother, Devin Carter, played for Grant at Arkansas State and was their leading scorer his senior year. Our other assistant, TJ Cox, was a (graduate assistant) for Grant McCasland. I've always followed his career. I'm not surprised he is where he is and the success he's had."