LAKE CHARLES – After a tough loss at NCCU, the McNeese men's basketball team will travel to the state of independence to face the Pittsburgh Panthers on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is set for 1PM (CT) at the Petersen Events Center.
 
Saturday's road game at Pittsburgh will be the first meeting between the two teams. Overall, Pitt is 6-2 against Southland Conference opponents. McNeese will be looking for its first road win of the season in Pittsburgh.
 
The Cowboys (2-6) have dropped their last three contests, the most recent coming in a six-point loss at NCCU on Thursday. McNeese would be down by as many at 19 in the contest, and a late second-half rally fell just short of a comeback.
 
McNeese has surely improved from its actions last season, scoring more and pulling down more boards. In fact, its increase on the glass is ranked amongst the top five teams in the nation.
 
Quatarrius Wilson led McNeese in rebounds as he usually does, and with his 11 boards on Thursday- holds his 2^nd place spot in the Southland Conference for rebounds.
 
Wilson's rebounds, combined with teammate Stephen Ugochukwu's, would push the Cowboys to finish the match-up with more rebounds than the Eagles, despite losing the contest. Outrebounding an opponent in a loss is nothing new for McNeese, as the same occurred when they lost to UL-Lafayette 89-78 in late November.
 
James Harvey is finding his groove again; after scoring only five combined points in the last two contests, Harvey returned to bank 16 points for his fifth double-digit scoring game of the season.
 
The Panthers (5-5) have won four of their past five contests with Marcus Carr averaging a team-high 15.4 points per game, while shooting 57.5 percent (23-of-40) from the field and 91.7 percent (22-of-24) from the foul line, in that span.
 
Ryan Luther is averaging 13.2 points, 11.0 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game over the past five contests.
 
Seven different Panthers have scored in double figures this season with  Luther leading the way with eight double-digit efforts. Luther leads the team in scoring (12.7 ppg.), rebounds (10.1 rpg.), blocks (seven) and steals (16).
 
The Cowboys will only have one more non-conference game before meeting Incarnate Word in Burton Coliseum on December 28^th to start conference play.
 
Saturday's game will be available for fans on the ACC Network Extra- links to live video, audio, and stats available at McNeeseSports.com. Fans are encouraged to follow the Cowboys on Twitter @McNeeseMBB for live in game updates and all things regarding Cowboy Basketball.