MCNEESE GAME NOTES
LSU GAME NOTES

BATON ROUGE – McNeese will carry the nation's top shot blocking team in the nation along with Austin Lewis, the No. 1 shot blocker in the country, into Saturday's 7 p.m. men's basketball game against LSU at the Maravich Center.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and will be broadcast on SEC Network Plus that can be found by going to SECNetwork.com. The game will also be carried on the McNeese Radio Network on Cajun Radio 1290 AM in Lake Charles.
 
The Cowboys (2-1) have won two straight games and are coming off an 85-70 win over Jarvis Christian on Nov. 21. McNeese is averaging 87.5 points scored in the streak and is taking care of the ball as well with 10 less turnovers than its opponents in those contests.
 
Lewis, a junior from Houston, ranks No. 1 in the nation in total blocked shots (20) and blocks per game (6.7) while the Cowboys as a team, are averaging 9.0 swats a contest. Lewis broke a 42-year old school record with 11 blocked shots against Louisiana College on Nov. 18 and followed that up with a seven swat game versus Jarvis Christian.
 
Senior forward Desharick Guidry will enter Saturday's game as the team leader in scoring (17.0 ppg) and rebounding (9.3 rpg) while also knocking in a team-best 52.5 percent of his shots from the floor. The all-conference player is coming off a 24-point outing against JC, has recorded back-to-back double-double games, and has scored double digits all three games on the season.
 
Sophomore point guard Jamaya Burr is third in the league with 5.7 assists per game and has a 17/6 assist to turnover ratio. He's averaging 9.3 points per game and scored a career-high 14 points against JC in the last outing.
 
Rounding out the starting five for the Cowboys will be senior guard Kevin Hardy, who is averaging 7.3 points and 6.7 rebounds per game and is fourth in the league with 2.7 steals per contest. Senior guard Keelan Garrett is throwing in 9.3 points per game and has scored in double-figures in back-to-back outings.
 
LSU is 3-2 on the season and 2-0 at home. The Tigers are coming off a 64-61 loss to Clemson at the Paradise Jam in St. Thomas, Virgin Islands.
 
The Tigers have four players averaging double-figures on the season, led by sophomore forward Jordan Mickey's 17.9 ppg along with a team-high 10.0 rpg mark. Sophomore forward Jarell Martin is knocking in 14.6 ppg while junior guard Keith Hornsby is at 13.6 ppg and junior guard Josh Gray, a Lake Charles native, is averaging 10.2 points.
 
Saturday's game will be the 23^rd meeting in the all-time series with LSU winning every outing. The Tigers won last year's game by a 79-52 score after the Tigers opened up a close game with a 19-3 run in the final 4:36 of the first half to run away with the game.
 
The Cowboys will return home on Wednesday when they host Southern-New Orleans in the second half of a doubleheader with the Cowgirls, who play Wiley College, beginning at 6 p.m.