HAMMOND, La. – The Southeastern Louisiana University men's basketball team ends its conference-opening three-game road trip and then comes home for the first time in Southland Conference play, heading to McNeese State on Saturday and hosting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi on Monday.
 
Saturday's game between Southeastern (6-9, 1-1 SLC) and McNeese (13-2, 2-0 SLCU) will tip off at 4:00 p.m. from the Legacy Center in Lake Charles while Monday's game against A&M-Corpus Christi (9-6, 2-0 SLC) is set to tip at 6:00 p.m. from the Pride Roofing University Center and it will be Welcome BACK night as SLU athletics welcomes students back to campus from the semester break. Both games will be live streamed on ESPN+ and can be heard, thanks to the Southeastern Sports Radio Network, on 90.9 FM The Lion in the Hammond/Ponchatoula area and worldwide at LionSports.net/ListenLive or LionUpRadio.org, or on smart devices through the Lions Gameday Experience app, the TuneIn Radio app, or the MyTuner Radio app. Live stats for both games will also be available through the host institution.
 
The Lions are coming off of a tough 66-61 defeat Tuesday night at Nicholls where SLU outscored the Colonels 44-24 in the paint but shot 10 less free throws than the Colonels which resulted in nine more points for Nicholls once all the free throws were taken. To show how well the Lions worked inside on Tuesday, Nick Caldwell led all scorers in the contest as he tallied 20 points while his buddy in the SLU post, Brody Rowbury, added 15 points as the two combined to hit 15 of their 23 shot attempts, or 65.2%, in the game. Roger McFarlane had his third-straight game with double digit rebounds, grabbing 12 boards against Nicholls while Roscoe Eastmond had more than 10 assists for the second time in three games, being credited with 11 dimes on Tuesday.
 
Caldwell's big night against Nicholls has now moved him into a tie with McFarlane as the team's top scorer as both average 13.3 points per game on the year. Caldwell has scored 200 points total this season, hitting 54.7% from the field and 44.1% from three on the year. McFarlane hits 39.9% of his shot attempts and 32.4% from above the arc, having scored 199 points on the season so far. McFarlane is also the team's leading rebounder, grabbing 7.5 boards per game while Caldwell sits right behind him at 5.2 rebounds a contest. Caldwell remains SLU's top shot blocker, swatting 0.7 opposing shots away per game.
 
Rowbury has moved up to third in the team scoring average, now putting in 8.9 points per game while hitting 51.9% of his shot attempts and grabbing 5.4 rebounds per game.
 
Eastmond averages 7.3 points on 41.9% shooting, including 37.1% from beyond the arc, but his assist per game average has started to jump up, now averaging 5.3 helpers each time out.
 
Southeastern is entering the weekend's two game average 67.8 points per game on 43% shooting as a team while hitting 37.1%. SLU opponents score 71.5 points per game while connecting on 44.5% of their shot attempts, including 32.3% from three.
 
McNeese enters Saturday's game having won eight-straight games, which includes wins over Southern Mississippi and Louisiana-Lafayette at home and a road win over Michigan. The Cowboys last loss came at Louisiana Tech on the day before Thanksgiving. In their last contest, a 68-59 road win at Northwestern State, Shahada Wells, who has already won two SLC Player of the Week awards, filled up the box score for the Cowboys with 18 points, six rebounds, five assists, and four steals. Antavion Collum hit two three-pointers and four free throws to get into double-digits against the Demons, finishing with 12 points while Javohn Garcia ended the night with 11 points. Christian Shumate didn't have the game he wanted scoring-wise, but was a big contributor in other ways as he finished the game against NSU with 10 rebounds, three blocks, two assists, and a steal.
 
Wells is McNeese's top cog all-around, averaging 19.7 points per game on 51.5% shooting and 41.7% from long distance. He also snags 5.4 rebounds per game, dishing out 3.9 assists per game, and collects 2.6 steals per game.
 
Shumate is on the cusp of a season-long double-double average as he scores 11.7 points and grabs 9.3 boards each time out. He hits 53.3% of his shot attempts and blocks 1.5 opposing shots a game.
 
DJ Richards, Jr., who has also earned a previous SLC Player of the Week award this season, scores 11.3 points per game on 50% shooting and 46.6% from deep.
 
Collum averages 10.6 points per game as he hits 45.8% from the field and 43.5% from deep while grabbing five rebounds a game as well.
 
McNeese scores 79.4 points per game and hits 49.1% from the field while connecting on 39.4% from three as a team. The Cowboys give up 59.7 points per game as their opponents hit 36.8% of their shot attempts and 29.5% from long range.
 
Southeastern and McNeese split the two 2022-23 meetings with the home team winning both games. SLU has won five of the last six meetings over the Cowboys.
 
Monday's opponent, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, enters the weekend's action riding a three-game win streak, including victories in both of their first two SLC games on the season. The Islanders start their weekend on Saturday at New Orleans.
 
In their last contest, an 81-59 home win over Houston Christian, the Islanders finished the first half on a 12-0 run to turn a one-point game into a 13-point game and never looked back to knock off the Huskies. Garry Clark led A&M-Corpus Christi with an 18-point, 10 rebound double-double. Dian Wright-Forde came off the bench and finished with 14 points, four rebounds, three assists, and two steals. Jordan Roberts ended the game with 11 points with a couple rebounds and a couple assists against HCU.
 
Clark leads the Islanders on the season by averaging 11.2 points and 8.2 rebounds a game. He hits 56.1% of his shot attempts on the year. Wright-Forde averages 10.8 points per game as a reserve on 45.8% shooting. Lance-Amir Paul also comes off the bench and sits at just less than 10 points per game, averaging 9.6 points per game on 40.4% shooting. Marion Humphrey leads the team with 3.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game.
 
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi leads the all-time series over Southeastern, 14-10. The two teams split the season series a year ago with the road team winning each contest.
 
HARDWOOD CLUB/S CLUB
Fans interested in becoming active supporters of the basketball program are encouraged to join the Hardwood Club.  Lion alums are encouraged to join the exclusive S Club, which is restricted to Southeastern athletic letterwinners.  All membership fees and donations to Hardwood Club are available for the exclusive use of the Southeastern basketball program. Membership information is available by contacting the Lion Athletics Association at laa@southeastern.edu or (985) 549-5091 or visiting www.LionUp.com.
 
SOCIAL MEDIA
For more information on Southeastern Basketball, follow @LionUpMBB and @DavidKieferSLU on Twitter, like /SLUathletics on Facebook and subscribe to the SLUathletics YouTube channel.
 
TICKETS
For ticket information, please contact the Southeastern Athletics Ticket Office at (985) 549-5466 or visit www.LionSports.net/tickets. Southeastern is implementing mobile ticketing as the primary source for securing tickets. All tickets will be available via e-mail in a PDF format for fans to download on their phone or print at home. Tickets can also be downloaded to Apple Wallet.