LAKE CHARLES - McNeese returns home on Saturday for a rematch of last year's Southland Conference Tournament Championship game when the Cowboys host Nicholls at 4 p.m. in the Legacy Center.

Tickets are still available at the McNeese ticket office. It's also Hometown Heroes Day as vehicles from the Lake Charles Fire Department, Lake Charles Police Department, Calcasieu Parish Sheriff's Office and more will be on site.

First responders can also purchase a specially priced ticket of just $5 with valid identification.

The Cowboys are in the midst of a 5-game winning streak, their longest of the season, and have won a school-record 15-straight conference games dating back to last season. McNeese is 10-5 on the season, 4-0 in league play, and is coming off a 92-69 win at Northwestern State on Monday in a game that saw the Cowboys drop a season-high 16 three-pointers.

Nicholls, the preseason pick to finish third in the standings, is 3-1 in conference play and defeated East Texas A&M by an 83-61 score in its last outing.

Saturday's game will be the 106th meeting in the all-time series with McNeese holding a 57-48 lead. The Cowboys have won four straight in the series, including going 3-0 last year, capping it with a 92-76 win in the conference tournament championship game.

COWBOY NOTABLES
• In their 10 wins, the Cowboys have held each opponent to under 70 points and three under 60.
• Joe Charles recorded his first double-double of the season at ETAM (10-10) and the 12th in his career.
• Quadir Copeland recorded his third points-assist double-double of the season at NSU, going 13-11.
• Javohn Garcia is averaging 20.0 points in SLC games only.
• Sincere Parker returned to the floor at ETAM and scored 14 points and followed that with 18 at NSU.
• Brandon Murray missed his third fourth game with a sore knee but is activated to play on Saturday.
• Christian Shumate recorded his first double-double of the season against Southeastern, the 35th of his career, a school record and 3rd-most in SLC history.
• Shumate has scored double-figures in 81 career games out of 116 played at McNeese.
• Shumate needs one rebound to move into 4th on the all-time career list at McNeese.

MASKED COWBOY HITTING HIS STRIDE
• Donning a black face guard this season due to a facial injury in the offseason, senior guard Javohn Garcia, aka The Masked Cowboy, has put the team on his shoulders as of late and taken over the scoring roll in conference play.
• Garcia scored a career-high 26 points in a win over Southeastern (Dec. 30) then followed up with a 24-point outing at East Texas A&M (Jan. 4) where he combined in both games to connect on 16 of 27 from the field and 4 of 9 from 3-point range.
• He was named the SLC's Player of the Week for those performances.
• In SLC games only, Garcia is averaging 20 ppg, hitting 52.1% from the field (25-48), and 33.3% from long range (7-21) while also connecting on 23 of 26 at the FT line for 88.5%.
• He's scored double-figures 10 times this season and has three games with 20 or more points.
• He's scored 882 career points, needing 118 to reach the 1,000 milestone.

SLC WIN STREAK REACHES 15 STRAIGHT
• McNeese won its 15th-straight Southland Conference game on Monday at Northwestern State, improving on its school record which was at 13.
• The current streak is tied as the 5th-longest in conference history.

SLC LONGEST WINNING STREAKS
Rank    Streak    Team Season          Began              Ended
1.          22           Stephen F. Austin      2012-14            2/20/13 3/8/14
2.          20           UL-Lafayette            1971-73            1/3/72  1/14/76
3.          19           ULM                        1992-94            1/7/93  1/8/94
4.          16           UT Arlington            2011-12            1/4/12  3/3/12
5           15           McNeese                 2023-Now         2/5/24  Current
            15           Stephen F. Austin      2019-24            1/15/20 12/5/24
             15           ULM                        1990-92            1/24/91 1/23/92

LOVING THE LEGACY
• The Legacy Center has become one of the toughest places to play for McNeese's opponents as of late as the Cowboys have posted a 23-1 record in the arena over the last two seasons.
• McNeese went 18-0 in the Legacy Center last year and is currently 5-1 at home this season.
• The Cowboys saw their 20-game home court winning streak snapped against Santa Clara back on December 3, which at the time, was the nation's 4th-longest home court winning streak.
• The Cowboys have won 13 straight games against Southland Conference opponents in the arena - 9-0 during SLC play last season and 2-0 in SLC Tournament action, and 2-0 this year.
• McNeese has won 12 straight league games at home dating back to the 2022-23 season.
• Since its opening for the 2018-19 season, McNeese has compiled a 48-27 all-time record in the Legacy Center.
• 25-21 in Southland Conference games played in Legacy Center including 9-0 last season and 15-1 over the last 16 games.
• Due to hurricane damage, the entire 2020-21 season and half of the 21-22 season was played out at Burton Coliseum, McNeese's home arena from 1986-2018.

McNEESE BOASTS ONE OF NATIONS TOUGHEST STRENGTHS OF SCHEDULE
• According to KenPom.com, McNees's non-conference strength of schedule ranks as the 23rd toughest in the nation.
• McNeese's five losses are by a combined 29 points (5.8 average), and in four of those losses, the Cowboys either led or were within one possession with less than two minutes to play.
• Of McNeese's nine non-conference D1 opponents, 6 are either ranked or receiving votes in Mid-Major or Major Top 25 polls.
• The Cowboys' non-conference D1 opponents have a combined 111-51 W-L record - a .685 winning percentage.

SHUMATE JOINS ELITE COMPANY
• With his 17-point against Santa Clara back on Dec. 3, Christian Shumate became just the 20th player in school history to score 1,400 points in a career.
• On top of that, he became only the 3rd player in school history to record 1,400 points and 900 rebounds in a career, joining Cowboy legends and brothers Edmond Lawrence (1,986 points/1,212 rebounds) and David Lawrence (1,938 points/1,026 rebounds).
• To date, Shumate has scored 1,487 points (16th all-time) and pulled in 962 rebounds in his career (5th all-time).
• His current career shooting percentage stands at 54.7 percent, ranking as the 3rd-best in school history.
• He's also averaging 8.3 rebounds in his career, 10th-best in school history.

NEXT UP
• McNeese will visit HCU on Monday night before returning home for two straight on Jan. 18 vs. Lamar and Jan. 20 against Stephen F. Austin.