CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas – From their twin Southland Conference records to similar statistical profiles, there are plenty of similarities between the Northwestern State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's basketball teams.
 
Two of the deeper offensive squads in the Southland meet inside the American Bank Center at 7 p.m. Monday on ESPN+.
 
The Demons (7-8, 4-1) and Islanders (11-6, 4-1) are two of the three teams that sit a game behind league-leading McNeese through the first quarter of conference play.
 
"Corpus Christ is a very good team – one that is capable of winning the league," second-year head coach Rick Cabrera said. "They are very similar to us. They have great size, great guard play. They have depth. After I compliment another team, I always say we have the same thing as well. One thing they have is experience. They have, I think, four starters and a couple of guys off the bench from a 21-win team last year that finished second in the league."
 
Monday's meeting marks the lone time in the regular season for Northwestern and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi to meet. It also will pit the top two teams in terms of bench scoring in the league against one another.
 
The Islanders rank second nationally in bench points per game at 39.2 while the Demons are second in the conference in that category, getting 31.2 points per game from their bench.
 
Northwestern's point total from its reserves accounts for 45.2 percent of its production while Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's non-starters produce 43.7 percent of its league-leading 82.7 points per game.
 
The Islanders lead the conference in scoring margin across all games at 13.8 points per game. Like the Demons, they enter Monday's game coming off a tight home victory.
 
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi held off UTRGV, 79-74, while Northwestern defeated East Texas A&M, 75-67.
 
"Conference basketball is a war, no matter what anyone's record is," Cabrera said. "Everyone is competitive in this league. That's what we expect Monday night."
 
The Demons know that as well as anyone.
 
At 4-1, Northwestern is off to its best five-game Southland start since 2012-13. The Demons' four conference victories have come by a total of 17 points. Included in that total was a 2-0 road trip with wins at UIW (72-70) and HCU (64-57) in December.
 
"It's going to be a battle, but there's nothing about being on the road that is a problem for us," Cabrera said. "It just means a little more because it is conference. Our first two conference games were on the road, and we took care of business."
 
The back-and-forth nature of conference games has built the Demons into a team that can take a punch and deliver one right back.
 
That much was evident in Saturday's game against East Texas A&M when the Lions cut an 18-point, second-half lead to six points on three different occasions. Each time, Northwestern had an answer to cap their three-game Southland homestand on a positive note.
 
"It's going to be a battle, and it's hard to win on the road," said junior guard Micah Thomas, who delivered a career-high 25 points in Saturday's win. "Every Southland game is going to be a fight. We have to be ready to fight and stay together when times get tough."