HUNTSVILLE – A week off in between games couldn't have come at a better time for the McNeese Cowboy basketball team. That time away from the court is hopefully enough to forget about the current three-game skid – all Southland Conference games.
McNeese (6-8, 0-3 SLC) will look to get back into the win column here against one of the league's hottest teams when it faces Sam Houston State (12-4, 4-0) at 4:30 on Saturday in SHSU's Johnson Coliseum.
The Cowboys dropped a 71-61 game at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi in their last outing seven days ago. McNeese has yet to win a game in the new calendar year but playing at Sam Houston could be the medicine it needs to remedy the ailment. The Cowboys are 2-1 here in the last three games with the loss coming last season in a controversial ending after McNeese rallied from a 24-point second half deficit to cut the gap to 1 point with 2.6 seconds to play.
That's when McNeese sent SHSU's Paul Baxter to the line who missed both free throws. The second miss, however, became lodged between the rim and backboard, and after one official awarded McNeese the ball, which would've given the Cowboys a shot to win, the others came together and after a brief meeting, the ball was given back to Sam Houston, who went on to win the game 86-81.
McNeese players remember that game well and know they let one get away.
Now those same players, minus a few, will be back in the same arena looking for a chance to snap a losing streak and to get the team back on track with a lot of the conference season left to play. And in return, the Cowboys are hoping to put an end to two winning streaks by the Bearkats – seven straight wins and an 8-0 mark at home.
To do so, the Cowboys will need to do a better job shooting the basketball, not only from the floor but also at the free throw line where the Cowboys are making just 61 percent in the three league games.
There's very little doubt McNeese will continue to get the production it gets from
Desharick Guidry (17.4 points, 11.7 rebounds) and
Kevin Hardy (11.4 ppg, 7.1 rpg). Senior
Keelan Garrett is starting to shoot the ball well and is averaging 10.8 ppg. After that, the Cowboys are needing the point guard play of
Jamaya Burr to return to his pre-conference status.
In the 11 non-conference games, Burr dished out 56 assists to 20 turnovers. In the three league games, he's handed out just 7 assists but has turned it over 12 times.
The Cowboys also need to get more out of big man
Austin Lewis who is second in the league with 2.8 blocked shots per game. Lewis has found himself in foul trouble early in all three conference games, which takes him out of his gameplan. He'll need to keep away from that on Saturday in order to match up with Bearkat center Michael Holyfield (9.0 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 2.9 bpg).
Holyfield is one of four starters that returned from an SHSU team that finished 24-11 last season.
The others are Kaheem Ransom (10.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg), Jabari Peters (9.0 ppg, 5.1 rpg), and Paul Baxter (8.3 ppg, 3.1 rpg). Also in the lineup is expected to be DeMarcus Gatlin (11.3 ppg, 5.5 rpg), a starter two years ago who missed last season due to an injury.
Following Saturday's game, the Cowboys will return home on Tuesday at 7 against Abilene Christian before hitting the road at Northwestern State (Jan. 24) and Incarnate Word (Jan. 26).
