The McNeese men’s and women’s basketball teams will wait a few days to rest before competing in the Southland Conference Tournaments.
For the men, Bill Armstrong’s squad finished the regular season with a 75-65 win over the Nicholls Colonels and an eight-game win streak. That streak pushed their record to 26-5 and 19-3 in conference play. With the success at the end of the regular season, the Cowboys earned the number two seed in the Southland Conference Men’s Tournament, giving them a double bye and a direct line to the semifinals.
The men’s tournament run for a three-peat won’t begin until Tuesday, March 10th, inside the Townsley Law Arena in Lake Charles, LA. They will wait to see their first opponent on Monday night. Nicholls and Northwestern State will duke it out in the first round, and the winner will take on UT Rio Grande Valley. The winner of that one will then play McNeese.
The Pokes recorded five wins in the regular season versus those three teams, with the lone loss coming on the road against the Vaqueros.
The women’s team was even more successful, finishing the season with a 20-game win streak, including an 87-60 win over Stephen F. Austin. The win streak was also the largest in program history as they were also 21-1 in conference play. The Cowgirls catapulted themselves to the top seed in the bracket and also won’t play their first tournament game until Wednesday morning in the semifinals.
McNeese will play at 10:30 AM inside the Townsley Law Arena. On their side of the bracket, a first-round matchup between East Texas A&M and Northwestern State will feature. The winner of that game will take on UTRGV, and then the Cowgirls will play that game’s winner.
In the regular season, the Pokes also went 5-1 in their matchups with the other teams on the same side of McNeese’s bracket. If McNeese wins on Wednesday, its most likely opponent would be Lamar in the championship game the next day at 4:00 PM.