LAKE CHARLES – McNeese returns to the Legacy Center on Thursday against Nicholls to begin a four-game Southland Conference home stand.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. and will follow a 5 o'clock game between the two women's teams. The game will broadcast live on the McNeese Sports Network (92.1 FM and mymagiclc.com) and will also stream on CowboyInsider.
 
McNeese (8-12, 2-1 SLC) is coming off a 1-1 Texas road trip that saw it fall by four points to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (60-56) before bouncing back with an 82-72 win at UIW. In that game, Christian Shumate was nearly unstoppable as he scored a career-high 29 points behind 11 of 18 shooting while 14 of his points were generated from eight offensive rebounds.
 
Shumate, who started both games in Texas scoring 19 and 29 points respectively, will enter Thursday's game second on the team in scoring at 11.1 points for the season but tops the team in conference only points per game with a 16.7 average.
 
Myles Lewis leads the team with 11.4 points on the season while Kellon Taylor is averaging 10.2 per contest. Following Shumate in league games only, Zach Scott is averaging 15.7 points while leading the league in 3-point shooting at 62.5 percent (10 for 16), Collin Warren is knocking in 14 points per league game and Taylor is hitting 10.7 per clip.
 
Nicholls (11-9, 1-2), the defending conference champion and preseason favorite, dropped a 101-93 high-scoring affair to rival Southeastern its last time out. The Colonels have dropped three of their last four games, two of them to the Lions.
 
Leading the team and conference in scoring is Ty Gordon who is hitting 20.2 points per game. The fifth-year senior battled an injury prior to the SLC Tip-Off Tournament and missed all three games in Katy two weeks ago. He came off the bench against the Lions and scored 18 points while playing 35 minutes. Another 5^th-year senior, Devante Carter, is putting in 12 points per game and scored 15 against the Lions on Saturday.
 
Cowboys Return Home to Begin 4-Game Home Stand: McNeese returns to the Legacy Center on Thursday night against Nicholls to begin a 4-game home stand. The Cowboys are 5-0 at home this season, 1-0 in the Legacy Center, and are coming off a 1-1 Texas road trip (L, 60-56 at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi; W, 82-72 at UIW). Following Thursday's game, the Cowboys will host New Orleans on Sunday at 5 in a game that will broadcast live on ESPNU, the first linear televised home game for McNeese since March 9, 2002 when it defeated ULM in the championship game of the SLC Tournament. That game was televised on ESPN2 and was played in Burton Coliseum.
 
About The Teams: McNeese enters the game 8-12 on the season and is 2-1 in conference play, one game out of first place. The Cowboys have won three of their last five games and 5 of the last 8. McNeese leads the Southland Conference in three categories - rebounds per game (40.7), total rebounds (813), and offensive rebounds per game (14.3).
 
Nicholls is 11-9 on the season and 1-2 in conference play. The Colonels are coming off a 1-1 weekend that saw them defeat Northwestern State 69-58 the falling to Southeastern 101-92. The Colonels have dropped three of their last four games and 5 of their last 8. Five of the Colonels nine losses have come against Power 5 programs (Baylor, TCU, Wisconsin, Oregon State and Purdue).
 
The Series: Thursday's game will be the 98th all-time meeting with the Cowboys holding a 53-44 lead. Nicholls swept the series last season and has won three straight overall.
 
Aiken, Saddler Face-Off Against Former Team: McNeese head coach John Aiken and assistant coach Tevon Saddler will be going up against their old team on Thursday against Nicholls. Aiken spent two seasons as an assistant at Nicholls before arriving in Lake Charles four years ago, helping the Colonels win the 2017-18 league title. Saddler was an all-SLC player for the Colonels while playing for Aiken in that championship season, then returned as the Colonel's director of operations for two seasons, helping the team to another title last year.
 
20-Point Scorers: McNeese has had six different players score 20 points or more at least once this season with a total of it happening 12 times among the group. Christian Shumate leads the way with four, 20-point games on the season followed by Brendan Medley-Bacon with three Myles Lewis has topped 20 or more twice. Kellon Taylor, Zach Scott, and Collin Warren have scored 20 or more once. The Cowboys had three players score 20 points in the same game against Ecclesia on Dec. 30 (Lewis 21, Shumate 21, Taylor 20) marking the first time that's happened in two years.
 
Off The Bench: The Cowboys rank as one of the top teams in the nation when it comes to bench minutes and scoring. McNeese is ranked No. 38 in the NCAA with the bench accounting for 40% of the minutes played in a game. In addition, the Cowboys have scored 553 points from its bench, an average of 27.7 points per game.
 
Out To Quick Starts: The Cowboys have gotten out to quick starts in all but two games this season. McNeese had held a lead deep in the first half for all games for the exception of games at LSU and against Southeastern at the tip-off tournament. McNeese is 7-1 when leading and 1-11 when trailing at the half. Of those 11 losses when trailing at the half, in nine of those games, the Cowboys trailed by 10 or fewer points with less than 10 minutes to play in the game.  The lone loss when leading at the half came against UTEP (McNeese led 38-34 before falling 82-72).
 
Cleaning Up The Glass: McNeese is ranked No. 1 in the conference in rebounds per game (40.7), total rebounds (813) and offensive rebounds per game (14.3). The Cowboys set a school record with 37 offensive boards in a 120-44 win over Arlington Baptist and 77 total rebounds for the second-most rebounds in school history. Outrebounded Arlington Baptist 77-16, setting a new single-game school record with a +61 rebound margin.
 
NCAA Rankings: The Cowboys are ranked No. 6 in the NCAA with 813 total rebounds, 5th in offensive rebounds per game (14.3), and 17th in total rebounds per game (40.7). The Cowboys are also No. 9 in the NCAA with 186 steals, 9th with 421 free throw attempts and 18th with 9.3 steals per game.
 
Sensational Shumate: Freshman Christian Shumate leads the Cowboys with four, 20-point games and has led the team in scoring individually a squad-high eight times on the season. He's coming off a career-high 29-point outing at UIW in his last game where he also pulled down 11 rebounds (9 offensive) for his fourth double-double of the season. He's averaging 16.7 ppg in league games while hitting 60 percent of his shots (21 of 35). His points average is 6th-best among conference players in SLC games.
 
Great Scott!: Zach Scott has emerged as one of the top 3-point threats in the conference. He's No. 1 in the league in 3FG shooting at 62.5 percent (10 for 16) in conference games only, and is averaging 15.7 points in the three games, ranking 8th in the conference in scoring. He tied a career-high with five 3s in the league-opening win over HBU while sinking 24 points, a McNeese best.
 
Paint Domination: McNeese has scored 782 points in the paint this season, accounting for 51 percent of the team's total scoring. The team is averaging 39.1 points a game with scoring in the paint. McNeese scored a school record 84 points in the paint in a 120-44 win over Arlington Baptist on Jan. 12.