NEW ORLEANS – McNeese will wrap up the regular-season portion of its schedule starting Saturday with a visit to New Orleans followed by a Monday night nationally televised game at Nicholls.
 
Saturday's game will carry a 5 p.m. start time and will air on ESPN+ while Monday's game has a 6:30 tip-time and will broadcast on CBSSN.
 
McNeese (24-5, 17-3 SLC) sits one game behind league leader Stephen F. Austin in the conference standings and is still alive to claim at least a share for its third-straight regular season title.
 
The Cowboys have already clinched at least the No. 2 seed in the conference tournament, which gets underway on Sunday, March 8, and have a bye into the semifinal round which will be played on Tuesday, March 10.
 
McNeese was won six straight games heading into Saturday and 10 of its last 11. New Orleans (14-15, 12-8) has won three-in-a-row including seven of its last nine games and pulled off an impressive road sweep last weekend with wins at Lamar and Stephen F. Austin.
 
SERIES vs. UNO
• Saturday's game will be the 37th meeting all-time with UNO holding a 20-16 lead in the series.
• McNeese has won 7 straight over the Privateers including 82-63 back on January 24 in Lake Charles.
• In that game, Larry Johnson scored 26 points to lead the Cowboys while Garwey Dual added 14 and Tyshawn Archie 10.
• The Cowboys have won 7 of the last 10 played including the last three meetings in New Orleans.
 
JOHNSON CLIMBING FRESHMAN SCORING LIST
• Freshman Larry Johnson has scored 490 points this season, ranking No. 3 on the school's single-season freshman scoring list and is one of only five freshmen in school history to score 400 points in a season.
• He needs 8 points to pass Henry Ray for second (497) and 38 points away from passing Joe Dumars' freshman record (527).
• His 16.9 scoring average ranks as the 3rd-best in school history among freshmen, following Henry Ray (19.7) and Joe Dumars (18.2).
• Johnson is ranked 11th in the NCAA in total points scored among freshmen.
• With 10 more points, he'll become the first freshman in school history to score 500 points and grab 150 rebounds in a season... In addition, he'll be just the 15th player ever to do it in school history and just the 19th time (four players did it two different seasons).
 
TEAM TALKING POINTS
• The Cowboys are ranked No. 59 in the latest NCAA NET rankings and No. 66 in the KenPom.
• McNeese in the Mid-Major Polls: T3 One-Bid Top 32 (6), Field of 68 (7), CollegeInsider (14), Mid-Major Power 25 (14), Mid-Major Madness (17).
• The Cowboys' three SLC losses are by a combined 13 points.
• McNeese is ranked No. 1 in the conference in 11 stat categories and ranked No. 2 in seven more.
• McNeese is ranked No. 1 in the NCAA in steal percentage (15.3) and in turnover percentage (24.6), and is No. 4 in block percentage (16.4).
• The Cowboys are 15th in the NCAA in non-steal turnover percentage (9.4).
• The Cowboys have connected on 50% or better from the field in nine conference games and 12 games overall.
• The Cowboys have had 7 different players make at least 10 starts.
• All 10 regulars have scored double-digits at least once this season while eight players have scored 10 or more multiple times.
• 18 of the Cowboys' 24 wins have been by 10 points or more.
• Eight players are averaging at least 17 minutes of playing time a game while 10 are averaging 12 or more minutes.
 
INDIVIDUAL TALKING POINTS
• McNeese's Javohn Garcia and DJ Richards Jr. are the winningest players in school history now with 82 wins in their three seasons as a Cowboy.
• Larry Johnson has been named to the Mid-Major Freshman of the Year Watch List by MiniHoopsAlert.
• Johnson leads the team with 25 double-digit scoring games followed by Tyshawn Archie with 24.
• Johnson also leads the team with 10, 20-point scoring games, followed by Archie with four.
• DJ Richards Jr. is 6th all-time with 220 made 3-pointers and 6th with 527 3FG attempts... in addition he's second all-time in 3FG percentage at .421.
• Richards Jr. needs 27 points to record his 1,000^th scored as a McNeese Cowboy.
• Garwey Dual has dished out 5 or more assists 12 times this season with a high of 11 against Biblical Studies (Nov. 10).
• With 122 assists on the year, Dual is 17 away from breaking into the top 10 single-season school record list.
• Dual has dished out multiple assists in 21 of the last 22 games.
• Larry Johnson has scored 17 or more points 17 times and in 9 of the last 13 games.
• McNeese has recorded 10 or more steals 17 times including 6 of the last 7 games.
• The Cowboys have blocked multiple shots in all but three games and have five or more blocks in 13 games on the season.