LAKE CHARLES – History will be made on Sunday when for the first time ever, McNeese will host the entire Southland Conference Men's and Women's Basketball Tournaments at Joe Dumars Court at Legacy Center.
 
The Cowboys (9-22 overall), who are making their league-record 33^rd appearance in the postseason, will begin play as the No. 8 seed against No. 5 Texas A&M-Commerce at 5 p.m. on Sunday. A win would pit the Cowboys against No. 4 Nicholls at 5 p.m. in Monday's quarterfinal round. The winner of that quarterfinal will play No. 1 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi at 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday. The championship game will be played on Wednesday beginning at 4.
 
The first two games will broadcast on ESPN+ while the first semifinal game will carry live on ESPNU. The championship game will air on ESPN2.
 
The Cowboys are 25-30 all-time in the league postseason tournament including a 17-12 record in the first round. McNeese defeated Northwestern State 80-67 in last year's first round before falling by four points to New Orleans in the quarterfinals.
 
A&M- Commerce (13-19) is making their debut in the tournament in its first season as a member of the league. The Lions are not be eligible to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament should it win the Southland bracket.
 
McNeese Notebook:
• A&M-Commerce swept the season series from the Cowboys, winning 82-80 in overtime in Lake Charles on Jan. 7 then taking a 60-58 victory in Commerce on Feb. 4.
• McNeese is 6-8 in the Legacy Center this season including a 3-6 record against conference opponents. However, games in the tournament will be considered neutral site games for the Cowboys.
• As the No. 8 seed, the Cowboys will be the visiting team as long as they are in the tournament and will have the bench on the south end of the arena, opposite their regular bench for home games.
• Four of the Cowboys' five starters in Sunday's game all played in last year's tournament with senior guard Zach Scott averaging 15 points per game to lead the way.
• In two games against Commerce this season, sophomore forward Christian Shumate averaged 16 points and nine rebounds a game while making 57 percent of his shots. Zach Scott averaged 13 points and Harwin Francois at 10.5 points.
• Shumate will enter the game with 13 double-doubles on the season to lead the league and ranking him 16^th in the NCAA. He's recorded a double-double in three straight games.
• Shumate has pulled down 509 career rebounds as a Cowboy, needed just 49 more to move into the top 20 all-time.
• Freshman forward Dionjahe Thomas has started in the last three games and is coming off a career-best night against UNO where he scored 15 points with 12 rebounds.
• Zach Scott leads the team with 63 three-pointers made on the season and has connected on 146 in his McNeese career, ranking him 10^th on the McNeese career list. He needs two more to move past Jeremie Mitchell for ninth place.