LAKE CHARLES – The Battle of the Border basketball style will renew a storied rivalry between McNeese and Lamar on Saturday when an expected sellout will witness the Cowboys attempt to keep their hot streak alive and continue to move up the Southland Conference standings.
 
Tip-off in the H&HP Arena is scheduled for 3:30 and will follow a 1 o'clock game between the two women's basketball team.
 
McNeese (12-9, 7-3 SLC) has won seven straight games and is coming off a thrilling 80-74 overtime win over then-2^nd place Nicholls in front of an H&HP Arena record crowd of 3,623. That victory lifted the Cowboys into fourth place in the standings and just one game out of second and two behind first place Stephen F. Austin.
 
Lamar (10-11, 4-6), who is coached by former Cowboys' head coach Tic Price, was off on Wednesday and dropped a 70-62 decision to SFA last Saturday in its last outing.
 
GAMEDAY NOTES:
 
McNeese Probable Starters
11       Myles Hutchinson (3.2 ppg, 1.1 rpg, 1.5 apg)
0          Dru Kuxhausen (15.9 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 1.2 apg)
12       A.J. Lawson (16.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.8 apg)
22       Roydell Brown (8.4 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 2.7 apg)
23       Sha'markus Kennedy (17.9 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 3.1 bpg)
 
BATTLE OF THE BORDER MATCHUP ON SATURDAY:
• McNeese and Lamar will renew its storied rivalry on Saturday in the first part of the "Battle of the Border" matchup.
• Winners of 7 straight games and 10 of the last 13.
• The 7-game winning streak is the longest since 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.
• Sha'markus Kennedy was named this week's SLC and Louisiana Player of the Week for the second straight week.
• McNeese is 9-2 at home this season and outscoring opponents by a 91-68 margin.
• Set a new school record with 5th 100-point game of the season in 102-89 win over HBU last Saturday.
 
FAST BREAK FACTS:
• McNeese has 12 wins through 21 games for the first time since winning 13 of the first 21 games in the conference championship season of 2010-11.
• McNeese's 7-3 league record through 10 games is the best mark since starting out 8-2 in the 2011-12 season.
• Sha'markus Kennedy is hitting 77 percent of his shots (60-78) during the streak and averaging 23.5 points and 11.2 rebounds. A.J. Lawson is averaging 20.3 ppg in that span.
• Kennedy is the only player in the Southland Conference in the top 5 in scoring (3rd, 17.9) and rebounding (1st, 10.0) on the year.
• Kuxhausen has hit multiple 3s in all 21 games.
• Kennedy has scored double-figures in 7 straight games with 20 or more in all but one.
• Kennedy grabbed 20 rebounds against Nicholls to become the first player in the league to clean the glass with 20 boards and the first Cowboy to do so since Anthony Pullard grabbed 22 vs. North Texas in the first round of the 1990 SLC Tournament.
 
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 92 three-pointers on the year, ranking as the 3rd-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 .514 3FG percentage is currently 64 points better than the school record of .450 held by Edward Garriet in 2002-03. The SLC record is .476 set by Josh Washington of AMCC in 2007.
 
McNeese Single-Season 3-Pointers Made
1. 107 Demond Mallet (2000-01)
2. 94 Demond Mallet (1997-98)
3. 92 Dru Kuxhausen (2019-20)
4. 89 Edward Garriet (2003-04)
5. 87 Jason Coleman (2002-03)
87 Damon Wordlaw (1994-95)
7. 86 Diego Kapelan (2010-11)
86 Diego Kapelan (2009-10)
 
Single-Season 3FG Percent (minimum 3 FG att/g)
1. .514 Dru Kuxhausen (92-179, 2019-20)
2. .450 Edward Garriet (50-111, 2002-03)
3. .444 Tab Harris (43-99, 1987-88)
 
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 .686 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). The conference record is .714 (Jethro Owens, NSU, 1991).
• Kennedy is currently ranked 1st in the SLC and 2nd in the NCAA in FG percentage.
 
SERIES VS. LAMAR
• Lamar leads the storied rivalry by a 56-51 margin.
• The Cardinals won both games last season - 83-58 in Beaumont, 84-75 in Lake Charles.
• LU has won 5 of the last 6 matchups and 7 of 10.
• Lamar head coach Tic Price coached McNeese from 2002-2006 and led the Cowboys to the 2002 SLC title and NCAA Tournament.
• Assistant coach David Dumars is a former assistant coach for the Cowboys and is hte brother of McNeese Hall of Famer Joe Dumars.
 
RECORDS BROKEN OR TIED IN '19-'20
• This season, McNeese has broken or tied seven individual or school records.
The list:
10, 3FGM by Dru Kuxhausen vs. Paul Quinn (new record)
18, 3FG attempts by Kuxhausen vs. PQ (tied)
10, blocks by Sha'Markus Kennedy vs. KC (tied)
19, 3FGM as a team vs. SUNO and Paul Quinn (new record vs. SUNO and tied vs. PQ)
35, 3FG attempts vs. Paul Quinn (tied team)
5, 100-pt scoring games