HOUSTON – McNeese will take its first-place show on the road for the third time in four games when the Cowboys visit the HCU Huskies on Monday night at 7.
 
The game will broadcast on ESPN+ and on the McNeese Radio Network (Power 92.1 FM).
 
McNeese (11-5, 5-0 SLC) is currently on a six-game winning streak, the longest of the season, and has won a school-record 16-consecutive Southland Conference games which is tied as the fourth-longest streak in league history. The Cowboys are alone atop the conference standings as the only unbeaten team remaining.
 
The Cowboys are coming off an 80-71 home win over Nicholls on Saturday in a game that saw Javohn Garcia sink 25 points for his third, 20-point game in five league outings.
 
HCU (6-10, 3-2), under first-year head coach Craig Doty, defeated UIW 81-76 on Saturday and has won two straight games.
 
Monday night's game will be the 35^th in the series with the Cowboys holding a 24-10 lead. McNeese has won two straight in the series and seven of the last 10 matchups.
 
COWBOY NOTABLES
• In their 11 wins, the Cowboys have held 10 opponents to under 70 points and three under 60... Nicholls' 71 points on Saturday are the most scored by an opponent in a McNeese win.
• 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 21.0 points in SLC games only and has scored 20 or more in three of the last five games.
• Garcia has scored 907 points in his career.
• Sincere Parker returned to the floor at ETAM and scored 14 points and followed that with 18 at NSU.
• 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 117 played at McNeese.
• With six rebounds against Nicholls, Shumate moved into 4th on the McNeese career rebounding list with 968... add in the 8 games he played at Tulsa as a freshman, he now has 976 total career rebounds.
• Shumate is ranked 16th in scoring on the career list with 1,492 points, needing 3 to more into 15th and 10 for 14th.
 
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.
• On Saturday, he netted 25 points against Nicholls and has scored 20 or more points in 3 of the 5 league games this season.
• In SLC games only, Garcia is averaging 21.0 ppg, hitting 51.7% from the field (31-60), 34.8% from long range (8-23) while also connecting on 35 of 39 at the FT line for 89.7%.
• He's scored double-figures 11 times this season and has four games with 20 or more points.
• He's scored 907 career points, needing 93 to reach the 1,000 milestone.
 
SLC WIN STREAK REACHES 16 STRAIGHT
• McNeese won its 16th-straight Southland Conference game on Saturday at home against Nicholls, which is also a school record.
• The current streak is tied as the 4th-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        McNeese                     2023-Now       2/5/24 Current
            16        UT Arlington                2011-12           1/4/12             3/3/12
 
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 returns home on Saturday when it hosts Lamar in the first go of the annual Battle of the Border matchup, then will host Stephen F. Austin next Monday night.