COMMERCE, Texas – McNeese will take its 11-2 and No. 9 mid-major ranking into Saturday's Southland Conference opening game at Texas A&M-Commerce looking to build on its six-game winning streak.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN+ as well as on the McNeese Radio Network at Magic 92.1 FM and mymagiclc.com.
 
McNeese Opens Southland Play With Two Road Games
• McNeese will begin Southland Conference play on Saturday when it travels to Texas A&M-Commerce for the first of two road games to begin league action.
• Winners of six straight games, the Cowboys will be looking for their first, 7-game winning streak since the 2019-20 season when they won 7-in-a-row.
• The Cowboys are coming off a historic, 87-76 win at Michigan last Friday night to mark the program's first-ever win over a Big Ten opponent.
• McNeese led for a total of 34:41 in that game and trailed just 2:35.
• McNeese is 4-2 away from home this season with the two losses by a total of 11 points (76-74 at Western Carolina; 71-62 at Louisiana Tech).
• Commerce is 6-7 on the season and is coming off a 130-53 win over Arlington Baptist in its last outing back on Dec. 18.
• The Lions are 5-1 at home this season and 1-1 vs. Division I opponents (L, 71-61 to Denver; W, 101-99 ot vs. Northern Colorado).
• Saturday's matchup will be the 18th in the series history with McNeese holding a 9-8 all-time lead.
• Since joining the Southland, Commerce has won 2 out of 3 against the Cowboys but McNeese defeated the Lions in the last matchup, that coming in the first round of last year's SLC Tournament where the Cowboys prevailed, 79-78.
• Texas A&M-Commerce if formerly known as East Texas Baptist.
• The two teams will meet again on February 10 in Lake Charles.
 
Cowboys named Dickie V's Team of the Week
• Dick Vitale has named the McNeese Cowboys his Team of the Week when he released his "Dickie V's Stars of the Week" selections on Tuesday.
• The recognition comes on the heels of McNeese's impressive, 87-76 win at Michigan last Friday night, the first win by the Cowboys over a Big Ten team and just the ninth in SLC history.
 
Wells Named SLC, Louisiana and National Player of the Week
• Graduate guard Shahada Wells has been named Player of the Week by the Southland Conference, Louisiana and the Lute Olson National Player of the Week after his performance against Michigan where he recorded 30 points, 10 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 steals.
• It's the second time he's been named SLC and Louisiana POW, becoming the first two-time winner this season.
• It's also his second national honor this season (named one of five Oscar Robertson Players of the Week on Dec. 5).
 
Wells Listed Among Top 10 Players for Player of the Year Award
• KenPom released its 2024 Player of the Year standings this week and McNeese's Shahada Wells is ranked 10th among the list with a 1.274 rating.
• The Top 10 includes: 1, Zach Edey (Purdue); 2, Kyle Filipowski (Duke); 3, PJ Hall (Clemson); 4, Jaedon LeDee (SD State); 5, Kevin McCuller (Kansas); 6, KJ Simpson (Colorado); 7, David Jones (Memphis); 8, Terrence Shannon (Illinois); 9, Johni Broome (Auburn); 10, Shahada Wells (McNeese).
• Wells is ranked 6th by KenPom with six game MVP awards on the season through 13 games.
2023-24 through 12 games
• With an 11-2 record, McNeese is out to its best start in 51 years (1972-73 team started 11-2).
• Head coach Will Wade will be looking to pick up his 200th career win on Saturday.
• 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 Michgian.
• Wells is the first Cowboy in school history to be named a National Player of the Week.
• The Cowboys are ranked No. 3 in the NCAA in FG defense (36.7%), 4th in scoring defense (59.2 ppg), and 4th in scoring margin (21.6).
• 10 of the 11 wins have come by 10 points or more - 6 against D1 opponents.
• Only once this season has an opponent scored 80 or more on the Cowboys (91-80- win over UT Martin) and three times scoring 70 or more.
• 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 (117), rebounds per game (9.8), offensive rebounds per game (3.5).
• He's currently 14th on the McNeese career rebounding list with 675 boards.
• Ranked 30th in scoring on the career school list with 1,078 points.
• He's 25 rebounds away from becoming just the 8th Cowboy in school history to score 1,000 points and pull 700 career rebounds.
 
McNeese Out to Best Start in 50 Years
• McNeese's 11-2 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.
 
Wells First Cowboy in 22 Years with Three or More 30-plus Point Games in a Season
• Coming off a 30-point outing in leading McNeese to a win over Michigan, Shahada Wells is the first Cowboy since the 2000-01 season to record at least three, 30-point games in a season.
• In that 2000-01 year, Demond Mallet topped 30 or more five times and the year prior in 1999-2000, Tierre Brown clipped 30 or more six times.