LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Northwestern State men's basketball team's second road trip of the season will be of a much shorter duration than its first.
 
The Demons head to Little Rock on Saturday for a 7 p.m. tipoff that will mark the first meeting between the teams in more than 15 years. The game, which will air on ESPN+, also marks one of just two one-game road trips for Northwestern this season.
 
"Road trips bring bonding," said fourth-year head coach Rick Cabrera, whose team opened the season with a three-game road trip from Nov. 2-7. "Our team is pretty close, so we're excited for it. In a perfect world, you'd love to play at home, but this game is a bill-paying game. It's a game we can win, and that's what we're preparing to do."
 
The Demons (1-3) enter the first matchup with the Trojans (0-3) since Nov. 29, 2011. with the momentum built from their first victory of the season, a 77-49 win against Millsaps on Tuesday.
 
After a slow start, the Demons steadied themselves down the stretch, pulling away from the Majors in the final 10 minutes. The Northwestern defense sparked the run, forcing MIllsaps to miss 15 straight shots before a second-chance layup at the final buzzer.
 
"Teams are going to have to be really, really hot or attack the offensive glass and use their size to really beat us," Cabrera said. "Our guys are going to play hard defensively. That's going to be our staple. Once we get some of our more offensive guys back, we'll start to put up some more points.
 
"I know what it takes to win at this level on a per-game basis. I know what it takes to win this league, and it's defense first. That will always be our staple as long as I'm the coach here."
 
After holding Millsaps to under 27 percent shooting, the Demons' next task is to defend without fouling.
 
Little Rock averages 73.3 points per game – seventh in the United Athletic Conference – but the Trojans are one of the best free-throw shooting teams in the country, converting 81 percent of their trips to the line – 17^th-best in the country.
 
"They're a very talented team," Cabrera said. "They have some really good transfers who can really, really score the basketball. They've had a tough schedule. They played a team in our league (Southeastern Louisiana) who was just as hot as them and went in there and beat them. Then they played VCU and New Mexico, two really good teams. (Coach Travis Ford) is going to have those guys fired up.
 
"They're hungry for a win just like we are, because it's the next game. We're preparing for a very tight game."
 
The Demons were without three rotational players for the win against Millsaps, but there have been benefits for Northwestern, which has yet to play a game with a full roster this season.
 
"As a head coach, it's not where you want to be, but injuries are part of sports," Cabrera said. "When you have very important guys out, that's not excuses, that's a fact. It also brings other guys along – a guy like Doyle Brown. We brought him here because he has a knack for scoring, but now he's getting more minutes. He's playing comfortable. The freshmen, Antoine and Armon (Almuttar), they're very comfortable."