LAKE CHARLES - McNeese first year head coach Bill Armstrong has the Cowboys on path for their third straight Southland Conference championship and NCAA Tournament appearance, and because of that, he's been nominated for the 2025-26 Joe B. Hall Award which is presented annually to the top first-time head coach in Division I college basketball.
 
With a 14-3 overall record and 7-1 mark in Southland Conference play, Armstrong's Cowboys haven't skipped a beat from the previous two seasons that saw McNeese compile a record of 58-11 including a mark of 36-2 in conference play under Will Wade, a close friend of Armstrong's who he coached under for five years at LSU.
 
In fact, the Cowboys' 14-3 record this year is two wins better than what McNeese's mark was through 17 games last season, all while possessing the nation's 12^th-toughest non-conference schedule.
 
Armstrong is a brilliant tactician when it comes to defense where he has the Cowboys ranked No. 1 in the nation in turnover margin (7.5), fourth in turnovers forced per game (17.5), and fifth in steals per game (10.5).
 
McNeese's defense is ranked No. 2 in the nation with a 14.6 steal percentage on defensive possessions and second in the NCAA in turnover percentage at a 24.6 percent rate on possessions.
 
Diving deeper into the analytics, McNeese's Hakeem percentage is ranked No. 2 in the NCAA at 31.3 percent. Hakeem percentage is the sum of a team's block and steal percentages.
 
Offensively, McNeese has been just as impressive.
 
The Cowboys lead the Southland and is ranked 51^st in the NCAA by scoring 84.8 points per game and is 24^th in the nation with a +16.5 scoring margin. McNeese has scored 80 points or more eight times, all wins, and has topped 100 three times.
 
Since dropping its conference opener at UIW on December 1, the Cowboys have won eight of nine games which includes seven straight league wins and four straight victories overall.
 
Armstrong's team is ranked No. 1 in the Southland in 13 categories and ranks in the top 20 in the nation in five different categories.
 
McNeese will look to keep the streaks alive when it visits UTRGV on Saturday followed by a Monday afternoon contest at A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
Finalists for the award will be announced in late February-early March.