VANCOUVER, B.C. – Coach Mike McConathy takes his Northwestern State basketball team into international competition Sunday night as the Demons land in Canada for a six-day stay and begin the first of four exhibition games.
The Demons will play Sunday night at 7 PST against Quest University. They get the next day off from competition, then play Vancouver Island University on Tuesday at 6 PST, and face Victoria Select on Wednesday and Thursday in a pair of 5 p.m. contests before returning home next Friday.
“You really don't know from one night to the next what the competition level will be, but my guess is it will test us, especially without having everyone on our team out there,” said McConathy. “I'm not terribly worried about our record at the end of the week. The important factor is the experience – on the basketball court, sure, but also the opportunity to visit another country, a somewhat different culture, and to learn and grow from that and pick up some lifelong memories.”
 
The Demons will have a 14-player roster for the trip. They will be without one veteran, junior guard Tyler Washington, who is recovering from offseason knee surgery. Three newcomers – junior forward DeQuan Hicks, junior guard Brison White and freshman forward Brandon Williams – will not travel since they have not established academic residency at NSU.

Newcomer Dadrian Harris will travel but likely unable to play with a concussion suffered two days into practice.
 
“This has been a very good experience for our team, being able to get this much practice in at this point of the year,” said McConathy, beginning his 14^th season as NSU's coach. “The guys have done a really nice job and I see a lot of potential in this group. We've gotten a lot out of this being able to be fully immersed in developing our team during 10 days of practice.
 
“(Redshirt freshman guard) Jalan West has looked very, very good. He's everything we thought he would be. He has great ability to be a ball stopper and spearhead our defense. He passes it well, shoots it well, and he'll be a really good free throw shooter and get to the line a lot,” said McConathy, who also spotlighted some returning players.
 
“Marvin Frazier has looked pretty good and O.J. Evans has had his moments. Gary Stewart has been sharp lately. Of course, Shamir Davis has been solid like a returning all-conference point guard should be, no surprise there,” he said.
 
Although the full 2012-13 team hasn't formed quite yet, watching the 10 days of workouts has McConathy thinking ahead.
 
“We'll need to do a better job than ever before of adjusting our offense to fit our personnel. A lot of it will depend on getting DeQuan and Brandon out there on the court and seeing how they fit what we've been doing and might need to do,” he said.
 
It's the second international trip for Demon basketball under McConathy's leadership, and was made possible by outside funds donated to the program. The  Demons made a 2007 Labor Day weekend tour of the Bahamas.