McNeese (8-2, 1-1) vs. East Texas A&M (5-4, 0-0)
December 12, 2025 • Joe Dumars Court at Townsley Law Arena
 
Time: 7:30 p.m.
Watch: ESPN+ (LINK)
Live Stats: (LINK)
Tickets: (LINK)
 
LAKE CHARLES – McNeese will enter Friday night's Southland Conference game against East Texas A&M with the nation's fourth-longest home winning streak at 17 games as the Cowboys look to build off their big non-conference win at Rhode Island.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 at the Townsley Law Arena and will follow a 5 p.m. women's contest.
 
McNeese (8-2, 1-1 SLC) has won eight of its first 10 games for the second time in three seasons with two of those victories coming against Atlantic 10 teams (George Washington and Rhode Island). Winners of two straight, the Cowboys have won seven of their last eight games as they continue conference play. McNeese will play at HCU on Monday night before the Christmas break, and will resume play on December 29 when it visits No. 1 (coaches poll) Michigan.
 
In the Cowboys' 66-64 win at Rhode Island, Tyshawn Archie hit the game-winning shot with 1.2 seconds to play and Javohn Garcia blocked a layup right before the buzzer sounded on a shot that would have sent the game into overtime.
 
Archie's final bucket gave him a career-high 18 points on the night. Three players played a season-high in minutes – Garcia with 35, Jerrell Colbert 27, and Larry Johnson 24. Colbert had perhaps his most productive game on the season, scoring five points with six rebounds and two blocked shots.
 
East Texas A&M is 5-4 on the season and will be playing its first conference game of the year. The Lions lead the league with 10.2 three-pointers made per game.
 
McNeese tops the conference in scoring offense (87.6 ppg), scoring defense (65.3), scoring margin (22.3), field goal shooting (50.3), field goal defense (38.0), free throw shooting (77.7), offensive rebounds (13.6), turnovers forced (18.9), turnover margin (8.9), assist/turnover ratio (1.62), and steals (11.8).
 
The Cowboys have won six straight against the Lions and lead the overall series by a 14-8 margin.
 
TAKEAWAY TRAIN
• McNeese leads the Southland Conference and is ranked 3rd in the NCAA in turnovers forced per game with 18.9.
• The Cowboys are No. 1 in the nation with an 8.9 turnover margin and is 3^rd in the country with 11.8 steals per game.
• Five times McNeese has forced its opponents into 20 or more turnovers in a game, the latest being Rhode Island with 21 turnovers.
• McNeese has recorded 10 or more steals seven times and had 15 swipes against Rhode Island the last game out.
• Individually, Garwey Dual and Javohn Garcia are ranked Nos. 1 and 3 respectively in the Southland Conference. Dual is averaging 2.4 steals per game, which ranks him 26^th nationally, while Garcia has a 2.0 clip and is ranked 75^th in the NCAA.
 
HOME SWEET HOME
• Since the beginning of the 2023-24 season, McNeese has compiled a record of 37-1 inside the Townsley Law Arena the last 38 games with the lone loss coming against Santa Clara last season.
• In Southland Conference play during that span, McNeese is 20-0 in regular season league games at home and 24-0 overall against conference opponents when adding in league tournament games.
• The Cowboys have won 21 straight regular season conference games in Townsley Law Arena dating back to the 2022-23 season with the last loss coming on Feb. 18, 2023 to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
• McNeese's current home league winning streak of 17 games ranks tied as the 4^th-longest in the NCAA.
 
SERIES VS. EAST TEXAS A&M
• Friday night's game will be the 23^rd meeting in the all-time series with McNeese leading 14-8.
• McNeese will carry a 5-game winning streak in the series into the game.
• The Cowboys have won the last three games played in Townsley Law Arena, including last year's game by a 67-51 score. In that game, DJ Richards Jr. scored 12 points behind four 3-pointers while Javohn Garcia added nine points, six rebounds and two steals.
• ETAM head coach Jaret von Rosenberg is 2-6 all-time against McNeese.
 
BANDIT BANGS
• McNeese has recorded 39 slam dunks on the season, and average of 3.9 per game.
• Freshman phenom Larry Johnson leads the team with 18 Johnson Jams… following him is Jerrell Colbert with six then Garwey Dual with four.