On Sunday, the NCAA Selection Sunday show announced that the No. 5 seed Gonzaga men's basketball team is facing off against the No. 12 seed McNeese State.
Who are the McNeese State Cowboys?
From Lake Charles, Louisiana, the Cowboys won their conference tournament to punch their ticket for the big dance. The team went 30-3 overall and 17-1 in the Southland conference during the regular season.
This is the first time the team will be back in the NCAA Tournament since 2002, making it 22 years since the team has been part of March Madness.
McNeese's leading scorer is #13 Shahada Wells, averaging 17.8 points, 4.8 assists, and 3 steals per game. Wells is a 6-foot shooting guard from Texas. Trailing is the Cowboys' big man, #24 Christian Shumate, averaging 11.9 points, 1.4 blocks, and 9.5 rebounds per game. Shumate is a 6'6" forward from Illinois. The Cowboys have two other players averaging over 11 points per game.
The McNeese Starters (based on previous games):
#01 Omar Cooper, a 6-foot junior point guard from Atlanta, Ga.
#05 Antavion Collum, 6'9" graduate student, center from Memphis, Tenn.
#13 Shahada Wells, a 6-foot graduate student shooting guard from Amarillo, Texas
#14 Javohn Garcia, 6'3" junior, shooting guard from Columbus, Ohio.
#24 Christian Shumate, 6'6" junior, forward from Chicago, Ill.
The Cowboys have a strong bench rotation with three players averaging over 16 minutes per game: two guards and one forward.
McNeese Conference Championship
The Cowboys faced Nicholls State University in the Southland Conference championship game, winning 92-76. During that game, Wells had 27 points, 6 assists and 3 steals. Javohn Garcia had 19 points of his own, with 1 assist and 2 steals. Shumate scored 11 points, had 2 assists and 4 blocks. Off the bench, #02 DJ Richards Jr. played 30 minutes and scored 16 points.
During the championship game, McNeese scored 15 points off of turnovers, 30 points in the paint, 10 fast break points, and 9 second chance points. They had a 61.4% field goal average, 55% 3-point average and a high 77.1% free throw average.
Gonzaga vs McNeese
The Gonzaga Bulldogs and McNeese State Cowboys match-up is on March 21 at 4:25 p.m. in Salt Lake City, Utah. The game will air live on TBS.
Points per game
- Gonzaga - 84.9 points
- McNeese - 80.4 points
Points allowed per game
- Gonzaga - 69 points
- McNeese - 61.5 per game
Record
- Gonzaga: 25-7 overall, 14-2 in conference
- McNeese: 30-3 overall, 17-1 in conference
NET ranking
- Gonzaga is 17th in the NET with a 3-6 Quad 1 record, 4-1 in Quad 2 and 17-0 in Quad 3 and Quad 4 games combined.
- McNeese is 56th in the NET with a 1-0 record in Quad 1 games, 2-2 in Quad 2, 4-0 in Quad 3 and 19-1 in Quad 4.
More to Every Story
NET stands for NCAA Evaluation Tool. The 2023-24 season marks the 6th season the NCAA has used this ranking tool.
The quadrant system plays a key role in team's rank, NCAA says "the quality of wins and losses will be organized based on game location and the opponent's NET ranking.
- Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
- Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
- Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
- Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353
The number of Quadrant 1 wins and Quadrant 3/4 losses will be incredibly important when it comes time for NCAA tournament selection and seeding."
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