LAKE CHARLES – McNeese will bring the Southland Conference's longest winning streak back to the H&HP Arena on Saturday to start a three-game home stand when it hosts HBU in the second part of a double-header.
Tip-off will be at approximately 3:30 or 30 minutes following the conclusion of the women's game between the two schools that tips off a 1.
Winners of five straight, McNeese (10-9, 5-3 SLC) has moved into fifth place in the league standings and is just two games out of first place. The Cowboys are coming off a 77-61 win over Southeastern Louisiana in Hammond this past Wednesday to mark their third straight road win.
Sha'markus Kennedy will lead a starting five unit that has gone 5-0 since the insertion of
Myles Hutchinson at the point guard position. Kennedy leads the team in both scoring (16.9) and rebounding (9.2) and is the only player in the league ranked in the top five in both categories – fourth in scoring and first in rebounding. He's also the only player in the top 23 in the league in scoring to not have made a three-pointer (he's only attempted two on the season).
Kennedy also tops the league in field goal percentage at 68 percent, ranking him fifth in the nation.
Three-point sharp shooter
Dru Kuxhausen continues to lead all of Division I basketball with 83 three-pointers made and a 4.4 3FG made per game average. He's third on the team with 15.9 points per game.
A.J. Lawson is second in scoring with 16.2 points per game and leads the squad with a 3.5 assist average while
Roydell Brown (7.8 ppg, 7.8 rpg) and
Myles Hutchinson (3.1 ppg, 1.4 apg) are expected to round out the starting five.
HBU (1-15, 1-6) isn't indicative of its record as the Huskies have not only played nine guarantee money games, they also possess the league's top scorer in Ian DuBose with is averaging 20.1 points per game.
The Huskies are also good from the three-point area, ranking second behind the Cowboys in percentage at 36.9 percent while guard Jason Gates is 13
th nationally with 3.3 made threes per game.
POKES RETURN HOME VS. HBU FOR THREE STRAIGHT :
• McNeese will begin a 3-game home stand on Saturday when it hosts HBU. The Cowboys will follow with a Wednesday night tilt against Nicholls then cap the home stand off next Saturday vs. Lamar.
• The Cowboys have won 5 straight games and 8 of their last 11
• The 5-game winning streak is the longest since winning five straight towards the end of the 2014-15 season.
• The last time McNeese won six straight was in 2011-12 when it captured 8 wins in a row from Jan. 25-Feb. 18. That was also the last time McNeese posted a winning season at 17-16 and played in the CollegeInsider.com postseason tournament. McNeese lost to Lamar in the conference tournament championship game that season.
FAST BREAK FACTS:
• McNeese has 10 wins through the first 19 games for the first time since winning 12 in the first 19 in the conference championship season of 2010-11.
• McNeese's 5-3 league record through eight contests is the best mark since starting out 6-2 in the 2011-12 season.
• The Cowboys are outscoring their opponents 77-66 during the win streak while hitting 51 percent from the field and 80 percent at the FT line.
•
Sha'markus Kennedy is hitting 73 percent of his shots (46-63) during the streak and averaging 20.8 points and 10.6 rebounds.
• Kennedy is the only player in the Southland Conference in the top 5 in scoring (4th, 16.9) and rebounding (1st, 9.2) on the year.
• Kennedy is the only player in the top 23 in scoring in the league with zero 3-pointers made.
• McNeese had held its last three opponents to an average of 56 points per game and 37.5% FG shooting.
KUXHAUSEN'S RAIN OF 3s CHASING MALLET, MARSHALL, CURRY:
•
Dru Kuxhausen continues his pace to become the single-season record holder for three-pointers made in school (107) and Southland Conference history (115), but now, he could be flirting with Steph Curry's national record of 162.
• Kux has drained 83 three-pointers on the year, ranking at the eight most in school history in a season and currently tops the NCAA rankings.
• He's averaging 4.4 3FG made per game which would give him 136 for a 31-game season if he continues that pace, and easily breaking the McNeese and SLC records.
• But should the Cowboys extend their season into the SLC tournament and beyond, that NCAA mark would not be out of the question depending on how many extra games McNeese would play.
• Also, his .512 3FG percentage is currently 62 points better than the school record of .450 held by Edward Garriet in 2002-03.
McNeese Single-Season 3-Pointers Made
1. 107 Demond Mallet (2000-01)
2. 94 Demond Mallet (1997-98)
3. 89 Edward Garriet (2003-04)
4. 87 Jason Coleman (2002-03)
87 Damon Wordlaw (1994-95)
6. 86 Diego Kapelan (2010-11)
86 Diego Kapelan (2009-10)
8. 83 Dru Kuxhausen (2019-20)
9. 79
James Harvey (2018-19)
10. 78 Ledrick Eackles (2013-14)
Single-Season 3FG Percent (minimum 3 FG att/g)
1. .512 Dru Kuxhausen (83-162, 2019-20)
2. .450 Edward Garriet (50-111, 2002-03)
3. .444 Tab Harris (43-99, 1987-88)
4 .441 Jason Coleman (71-161, 1999-00)
5. .431
Sam Baker (25-58, 2019-20)
KENNEDY HAS RECORD IN SIGHT TOO
• Senior forward
Sha'markus Kennedy has already tied a single-game school record with 10 blocked shots against Paul Quinn on Dec. 18.
• His current season FG shooting percentage of .680 would break his own record of .641 that he set last year to break a then-40 year old school record of .635 held by David Lawrence (1978-79).
• Kennedy is currently ranked 1st in the SLC and 5th in the NCAA in FG percentage.
SERIES VS. HBU
•McNeese leads the all-time series by a 17-7 margin.
• The two teams are 5-5 since HBU joined the league in the 2013-14 season.
• McNeese has won 2 straight at home vs. HBU.
SHA'MARKUS SLAMMING THEM DOWN
• Sha'markus Kennedy leads the Cowboys with 39 dunks on the season.
• He's recorded a season-high 5 slams against Kansas City and at Southeastern Louisiana.
• Kennedy has multiple Sham Slams in six straight games and has at least one slam in 7 consecutive outings.
• In McNeese's last two games, Kennedy started the scoring out with slams.
