Game Notes

NATCHITOCHES – After a grueling pre-Southland Conference schedule that saw McNeese battle against five guarantee opponents, the Cowboys can hit the reset button as they open Southland Conference play on Saturday against Northwestern State.
 
Tip-off will commence 30 minutes following a 1 p.m. women's basketball game between the two teams at Prather Coliseum.
 
McNeese (3-8) has shown some improvements over the last three games, one of those being a 7-point win at Tulane.
 
"The key is we're getting better every game," said head coach Dave Simmons who will be facing a team he coached for in the early 2000s. "These are the ones that matter the most."
 
McNeese should learn right away where it stands among its conference foes. In the first five games, the Cowboys will face four teams picked to finish in the top five in the league standings in preseason polls.
 
"We played some great, talented teams and ball players in our non-conference schedule," said Simmons. "We feel like those games got us prepared for what we'll face in conference play."
 
One key to McNeese's success will be the ability to shoot the three-pointer, an area that has been lacking as of late.
 
The Cowboys made just 6 of 26 from long range at North Carolina State in their last outing and are currently ranked last in the league in 3-point field goal shooting at 30.2 percent.
 
"We have good shooters," said Simmons. "We're confident of that and confident that they'll start finding their touch."
 
Three players average double-figures in scoring, led by senior point guard Jamaya Burr at 11.9 points per game.
 
Northwestern State (6-5) is a perfect 4-0 at home this season and is coming off an 86-66 win over Louisiana College on Wednesday night. The Demons have two Division I wins on the season, 79-67 at UTEP and 68-64 at Louisiana-Monroe.
 
The Demons were hit with a big blow in their 100-93 loss at Rice two games ago when leading scorer Zeek Woodley broke his wrist. He'll miss 6 to 8 weeks.
 
"That's a big loss for them but they have a lot of good players," said Simmons.
 
In their first game without Woodley, Sabri Thompson scored 18 points for the Demons behind 4 of 4 shooting from long range.
 
McNeese leads the all-time series by a 61-59 margin but NSU has won 8 of the last 10. The Demons will make a return trip to Lake Charles on Jan. 21.