LAKE CHARLES – McNeese Basketball returns to the Legacy Center on Saturday afternoon after being away since December 17 when it opens up its home Southland Conference schedule against the preseason No. 1 team, Southeastern Louisiana Lions.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 4 p.m. and will follow a 1 o'clock game between the two women's teams. The game will broadcast live on ESPN+.
 
McNeese (13-2, 2-0 SLC) will carry an eight-game winning streak into the contest, the seventh-longest current streak in the nation, as well as a 7-0 home court record this season. Southeastern (6-9, 1-1) had its four-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday night at Nicholls.
 
McNeese was picked No. 2 in the preseason poll, two points behind SLU.
 
GAME DAY NOTES:
McNEESE RETURNS HOME AFTER NEARLY MONTH ON ROAD
• The McNeese Cowboys will finally return to the Legacy Center on Saturday when they face Southeastern Louisiana at 4 p.m. and after being on the road for nearly a full month.
• The Cowboys last played at home on Dec. 17 when they defeated UL Lafayette, 74-72, in front of a sellout crowd of 4,300.
• Only once before in school history has McNeese started the league season 2-0 with both wins coming on the road (1984-85).
• The Cowboys will carry an 8-game winning streak into the game, the longest since 2011-12 when that squad won 8-straight.
• Saturday's game will also pit the preseason No. 1 league favorite (SLU) against No. 2 (McNeese).
• The Cowboys won their two SLC opening week games, beating A&M-Commerce 73-67 last Saturday, then defeating Northwestern State 68-59 on Monday.
• Both of those games came on the road and marked just the second time in school history the Cowboys won their first two league games that came away from home (last was in 1984-85 which was also Joe Dumars' senior season).
• McNeese is 7-0 at home this season and outscoring opponents by a +34.0 margin (87.3-53.3).
• Southeastern is 6-9 on the season and 1-1 in conference play.
• The Lions had their 4-game winning streak snapped on Tuesday night when they fell 66-61 at Nicholls.
• SLU is 2-9 away from home this season.
• Saturday's game will mark the 122nd all-time meeting with the Cowboys holding a 68-53 advantage.
 
8-GAME WINNING STREAK 7TH LONGEST IN NCAA
• McNeese's current 8-game winning streak is tied as the seventh-longest in the NCAA heading into Wednesday night's games.
• Utah State and Samford hold the longest streak at 14 wins each followed by Grand Canyon (12) and Georgia (10) with double-digit winning streaks.
• Memphis and Dayton have each won 9-straight.
• Matching McNeese's 8-game winning streak are Texas Tech, Auburn, Charleston, Fairfield, Western Carolina and Western Illinois.
• The winning streak is the longest for a McNeese team since the 2011-12 season when it won 8-straight.
• McNeese hasn't won 9-in-a-row since winning 14-straight in the 2001-02 season when it ended the regular season and won the SLC tournament with 14-consecutive Ws before falling to Mississippi State in the NCAA Tournament, which was also the last time the Cowboys appeared in the NCAAs.
 
LEGACY CENTER GIVING COWBOYS TRUE HOME COURT ADVANTAGE
• McNeese has posted a perfect 7-0 record in the Legacy Center this season, including Division I wins over UT Martin, Southern Miss and UL Lafayette.
• That's already the most home wins in a season in school history in the 6-year-old arena.
• McNeese last won 7 home games in the 2020-21 season, but those games were played in Burton Coliseum due to the damage suffered at the Legacy Center by Hurricane Laura and Delta.
• The Cowboys are averaging a league-best 2,607 per game, nearly 1,000 more than No. 2 on the SLC list, Lamar (1,685).
 
COWBOYS IN TOP 10 IN MID-MAJOR POLLS
• McNeese has to No. 7 in this week's CollegeInsider Mid-Major Top 25 poll, continuing as its highest ranking in school history.
• The Cowboys are also No. 4 in the Field of 68 poll and No. 2 in the Major Madness Small College Top 25.
• In addition, McNeese is 5th in the McKinney Mid-Major Top 25 poll.
 
DOMINANT DEFENSE
• McNeese currently leads the Southland Conference and is ranked in the top 10 in the NCAA in four different defensive categories - FG defense, turnover margin, scoring defense and steals per game.
• Only once this season has an opponent reached 80 points against the Cowboys (UT Martin) while opponents have been held to 60 points or less eight times.
• The Cowboys have recorded 10 or more steals five times with a high of 20 against MUW.
• The defense has held opponents below 40% shooting a total of 8 times and below 30% from 3FG range 9 times.
 
2023-24 THROUGH 15 GAMES
• With a 13-2 record, McNeese is out to its best start in 50 years (1973-74 team started 17-2).
• Head coach Will Wade picked up his 200th career win last Saturday at Texas A&M-Commerce and No. 201 at Northwestern State on Monday.
• McNeese's win over Michigan was the first for the program over a Big Ten team in school history and just the 6th by a Southland Conference team, first since 2014 when UIW defeated Nebraska.
• The Cowboys' 7 wins over non-conference Division I opponents is the first time to happen in school history.
• Shahada Wells garnered his second national player of the week award when he was named the Lute Olson POW for his performance against Michigan.
• Wells is the first Cowboy in school history to be named a National Player of the Week and he's done it twice.
• 10 of the 13 wins have come by 10 points or more - 6 against D1 opponents.
• The Cowboys' 74-72 win over ULL on Dec. 17 drew a Legacy Center record crowd of 4,300 fans, marking the first-ever sellout in the 6-year-old arena.
 
SHUMATE JOINS ELITE CLUB
• Christian Shumate became just the 12th player in McNeese basketball history to join the 1,000 points/600 rebounds in a career club in the two games at the Louisiana Tech MTE.
• In addition, he pulled down a career-high 21 rebounds at UAB which ranks as the 6th-most boards in a game by a Cowboy in school history.
• Shumate is ranked No. 1 in the Southland Conference in three categories - total rebounds (140) and rebounds per game (9.3), and is No. 2 in the league in total blocked shots (22), blocks per game (1.5), offensive rebounds per game (3.3) and defensive rebounds per game (6.0).
• He's currently 14th on the McNeese career rebounding list with 690 boards and is 30th in scoring on the career school list with 1,092 points.
• He's 10 rebounds away from becoming just the 8th Cowboy in school history to score 1,000 points and pull 700 career rebounds.
 
POKES OUT TO BEST START in 50 years
• McNeese's 13-2 start is the best in 50 years - the 1973-74 Cowboys started the season 17-2 and ended with a 20-5 mark.
• The season-opening win over VCU marked the first win over a Division I opponent to start the season since defeating Houston in the 1995-96 season.
• McNeese has won a school-record 7 games against non-conference Division I opponents.
 
SHU-SLAMS AND BANDIT BASHES
• Christian Shumate has thrown down a team-high 19 dunks, three of those on alley-oops.
• Shumate had a season-high 3 slams in the win at Michigan.
•  As a team, the Cowboys have recorded 30 dunks on the season.
 
SHU-SLAMS MAKING ESPN TOP PLAYS
• Shumate's one-handed, putback dunk against Northwestern State was listed on the Sportscenter Top 10 Plays of the Day on Monday night, coming in at No. 3 on the list.
• That's the second time this season he's had one of his dunks highlighted on the Top 10.
• The other came against Southern Miss and was chosen as the No. 8 play of the day.
 
20-POINT SCORERS
• McNeese has seen 11, 20-point scorers on the season including at least one in 5 of the last 6 games.
• Shahada Wells tops the team with six, 20-plus point games which also includes three, 30-plus point games.
• Antavion Collum has scored 20 or more three times.
 
DOMINATING THE PAINT
• McNeese has led 13 of its 15 opponents when it comes to points in the paint, outscoring teams 604-316 (40.3-21.1), a +19.2 margin.
• Four times, McNeese has scored 50 or more points in the paint with a high of 76 points against Champion Christian.
• The Cowboys have held opponents to 10 or fewer points in the paint three times.