LAKE CHARLES – McNeese will close out the home portion of its regular season on Monday night when it hosts UTRGV for Senior Night at the Townsley Law Arena where the Cowboys have won 26-consecutive games.
 
Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. and the game will broadcast on ESPN+.
 
McNeese will recognize three senior players prior to the tip, two of which have etched their names among the best to wear the blue and gold – Javohn Garcia and DJ Richards Jr., along with Jerrell Colbert who has played a major part of the team's success in his one season at McNeese.
 
Garcia and Richards Jr. are the winningest players in school history, compiling 81 wins to date over their three seasons as a Cowboy
 
McNeese defeated A&M-Corpus Christi 70-54 on Saturday night in front of a national TV audience on ESPNU. The win improved the Cowboys' record to 23-5 overall and 16-3 in Southland Conference play and locked up at least the No. 2 seed for the league's postseason tournament which McNeese will host against this year March 8-12.
 
The Cowboys led 24-23 at the half then burned up the nets in the second half with 63 percent shooting. Larry Johnson scored 23 points to pace the Cowboys.
 
UTRGV (16-12, 12-7) is one of the hottest teams in the conference having won 10 of its last 11 games and won at Southeastern 96-75 on Saturday.
 
The Vaqueros beat the Cowboys 79-76 in Edinburg back on January 17 in a game that saw them build a 23-point lead late in the first half. McNeese stormed back and had a three-point attempt to tie the game fall off the mark with five seconds left.
 
In that game, Tyshawn Archie led McNeese with 23 points while Garcia added 19 and Johnson 17. URTGV sank 13 three-pointers in the game including seven in the first half to get out to a fast start.
 
The Vaqueros are 7-3 in conference road games on the season and have won six straight, the last four by averaging 95 points a game of offense.
 
Johnson continues to lead the Cowboys in scoring for the season, now at 16.8 per game after his ninth, 20-point game of the year. He's scored 470 points on the year and is only 58 points away from breaking Joe Dumars' freshman scoring school record.
 
Following Monday night's game, the Cowboys will hit the road for the final two regular season contests beginning Saturday at New Orleans and next Monday night at Nicholls.
 
GAMEDAY NOTEBOOK:
• McNeese's 26-game home winning streak is the third-longest in the NCAA behind Duke and Miami (OH) with 30 each, and Akron at 29.
• The streak is the 4^th-longest in the history of the Southland Conference (Lamar 80, Louisiana Tech 38, SFA 31).
• McNeese has won 29 straight home regular season conference games, ranking as the third-longest in league history behind Lamar (40) and SFA (39).
• The Cowboys have won 33-consecutive home games against conference teams in regular season and tournament games.
• Since the start of the 2023-24 season, McNeese has compiled a 81-16 overall record, including a 52-5 Southland Conference record over the last three seasons... 51-12 overall the last two seasons.
• McNeese has won 26 straight home games dating back to last season with the last loss coming against Santa Clara last December.
• 67-1 record when leading at the half over the last three years, 18-0 this season.
• McNeese is outscoring its opponents 89.4-62-3 at home, a 27.1 scoring margin.
• The Cowboys' three SLC losses are by a combined 13 points.
• The Cowboys have connected on 50% or better from the field in nine conference games and 12 games overall.
• 18 of the Cowboys' 23 wins have been by 10 points or more.
• McNeese has recorded 10 or more steals 16 times including 5 of the last 6 games.
 
SERIES vs. UTRGV
• Monday's game will mark the 11th meeting in the series with McNeese leading 8-2.
• McNeese swept the season series last year, the first for UTRGV as a member in the Southland Conference, winning 100-65 in Lake Charles and 93-63 in Edinburg.
• UTRGV is formerly UT Pan American.
• The series began in the 1978-79 season.