LAKE CHARLES – McNeese will host Texas A&M-Commerce at 3:30 on Saturday afternoon on ESPN+ in an attempt to do something it hasn't done since it last won a Southland Conference championship in 2011 – win its first three league games of the season.
 
McNeese (5-10, 2-0 SLC) is coming off an impressive 92-77 win over Northwestern State on Thursday night in front of a packed Legacy Center to run its record to 2-0 in the conference. Meanwhile, Commerce (5-11, 1-1) let won slip away against Nicholls at home when the Colonels outscored the Lions 12-2 down the stretch to escape with a 66-63 victory.
 
The Cowboys are 2-0 for the first time in five years but haven't been 3-0 since the 2010-11 season when they opened the season 3-0 en route to the regular season title.
 
SERIES VS. TEXAS A&M-COMMERCE:
• McNeese and Texas A&M-Commerce will be facing off for the first time since Dec. 9, 1968 when Commerce was known as East Texas State.
• Saturday's game will be the 15th meeting in the series with McNeese holding an 8-6 lead.
• McNeese defeated the Lions 90-60 in that last match-up that was played in Lake Charles at the old arena on campus, now the Ralph Ward Recreation Complex.
• The Cowboys will make a return trip to Commerce on February 4.
 
LAST TIME OUT - McNeese 92, Northwestern State 77
• McNeese led for all but 20 seconds in the game to pick up its fourth straigth win over the Demons and run its record to 2-0 in Southland Conference play.
• The Cowboys used a 14-0 run late in the second half to put the game away.
• Five Cowboys scored in double-figures for the second straight game.
• McNeese made all 13 of its free throw attempts.
• Connected on a season-high 15 three-pointers which was four short of the school record of 19.
• McNeese shot 61.5 percent in the second half.
 
COWBOY NOTEBOOK
• McNeese won its 365th Southland Conference game Thursday night against NSU, improving on its league record.
• McNeese is 2-0 in Southland Conference play for the first time in five years (2017-18) and will be looking for its first 3-0 start since the 2010-11 season, which was also the last time the Cowboys won the Southland Conference championship.
• In that season, McNeese began league play 3-0 and finished with an 11-5 conference record (21-12 overall) and lost to UTSA in the SLC Tournament Championship game, 75-72... the Cowboys hosted Boston College in the first round of the NIT, falling 82-64.
• The Cowboys are outscoring their opponents 80-60 in the five wins.
• McNeese is 5-0 on the season when leading at the half.
• Cowboys have made at least one three-point goal in 309 consecutive games.
• McNeese is the only team in the league with four players that has made 20 or more 3s on the season - Scott 24, English 23, Berze 23, Francois 23.
• Roberts Berze has made at least one 3 in nine straight games and since hitting 3 for 7 through the first six games, he's knocked down 20 of 45 over the last nine.
• Francois is 10-19 from long range the last two games (11-20 overall from the field).
• Zach Scott has hit multiple 3s seven times one the year.
• Scott has scored 1,160 points in his career which includes his playing days at Florida Gulf Coast University... he's scored 546 of those points as a Cowboy.
• Scott has knocked down 107 three-point goals in his McNeese career, needing 29 more to move into 10th on the McNeese career record list.