HOUSTON – McNeese will be looking to chalk up its first Southland Conference win on Tuesday night when it visits Houston Baptist at 7 p.m. in Sharp Gym.
The game will be broadcast live on the McNeese Radio Network (1470 and 1290 AM and
www.cajunradio.com).
The Cowboys (2-9, 0-1 SLC) are coming off a 29-point, 86-57 loss at Stephen F. Austin, the three-time defending league champion and this year's preseason favorite, in last Saturday's league opener.
McNeese will have to come ready to play, however, as the Huskies (6-7, 1-0) are coming off an impressive 99-73 win at Northwestern State and will be looking to stay perfect at home (5-0).
"They're coming off a big win at NSU on the road so they have a lot of confidence heading back home," said McNeese head coach
Dave Simmons. "The key to us is we have to play as well as we can play. We did a lot of teaching these last two days in practice and I thought they went well.
"We're still trying to find those 1 or 2 guys that can put us over the hump."
McNeese played well against SFA for the first 17 minutes, but after cutting the margin to five points with 3:18 to play in the first half, the Lumberjacks rolled off nine straight points to end the half, then caught fire in the second half, missing just 13 of their 33 shot attempts. And because of that, the Cowboys managed to grab just six rebounds in the half including one on the offensive end.
"We have to rebound the ball better," said Simmons. "But we also have to shoot it better and do the fundamental things right."
Jamaya Burr leads the Cowboys in scoring with 14.6 points per game followed by
Craig McFerrin with an 8.9 scoring mark and a team-high 6.9 rebounds.
Despite the wide margin of defeat at SFA, the Cowboys connected on 40 percent of their shots from the floor including 46 percent in the second half.
"I think we're still improving each game but we have to fight through the tough areas and continue to play," said Simmons. "We just need to get a win to build some confidence."
The Huskies lead the conference in FG shooting (46.5 percent) and are third in scoring (77.6 ppg).
Anthony Odunsi, the reigning conference player of the week, tops the team with 15.4 points per game.
