Garcia, Shumate, and Wade Take Home Conference Top Honors

For the second year in a row, McNeese State took home the Southland Conference Regular Season crown, and for the second straight season, McNeese sweeps the top honors in the Southland Conference.

On Friday, the Southland Conference announced that McNeese's Javohn Garcia was named the Player of the Year and Will Wade was named the Coach of the Year.

Forward Christian Shumate was named the Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year for the second consecutive season. Quadir Copeland was named to the 2nd Team.

The man behind the mask no longer hides in the shadows. Javohn Garcia has been named the 2025 Southland Conference Player of the Year.

Before this year, he was named to the second team of the preseason All-Conference Team. Javohn Garcia has been one of the most consistent players in the conference over the last two seasons, which included him flying under the radar for most of his career donning the blue and gold. It has been a big season all around for Garcia, as he also notched his 1,000th career point earlier this year against Northwestern State.

Garcia scored in double digits in 21 of McNeese's 31 games this season, including five 20+ point games.

In the least surprising award of the release, Will Wade notches his 2nd straight Southland Conference Coach of the Year award as Wade guided the Cowboys to another Conference Title. In Wade's two years in Lake Charles, the Cowboys are 35-2 in Southland Conference Play.

There is no doubt that Wade will go down as one of the most successful Southland Conference Coaches of all time.

In 2024-25, he became the fastest coach to reach 30 wins in school history, doing it in 37 games, and has guided the Cowboys to back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time since 2001-2002 and just the fifth time in school history. His current record at McNeese is 46-8 overall and 35-2 in league play; he is the winningest coach in conference history in league games only.

In addition, McNeese’s current total wins of 55 over two years under Wade is the most in school history in the 82-year history of the program.

Christian Shumate and Quadir Copeland were also named to the All-Southland Conference Team, both members of the 2nd Team.

Christian Shumate was also named the 2025 Southland Conference Defensive Player of the Year for the 2nd consecutive season.

Shumate was off to a bit of a slow start to begin conference play, but certainly picked it up towards the end. Shumate, known for his legendary "Shu-Slams," was named to the 24-35 Preseason All-SLC 1st Team and was also on the Lou Henson Early Season Watch List. Shumate is now the 4th player in McNeese history to score 1,500 points and grab 1,000 rebounds in a career.

It wasn't always roses for Quadir Copeland as a member of the McNeese Cowboys. Copeland has started all but one game in conference play for McNeese, as he is averaging 9 points per game and 5 assists. This season, Copeland has tallied 138 assists, which has him ranked the 10th most in school history for a single season.

For McNeese, you could certainly make the case for a few others to be included on the All-Conference lists.

2024-2025 Southland Conference First Team
Javohn Garcia, McNeese
Gary Clark, A&M Corpus Christi
Sam Hines Jr., Southeastern
Jakevion Buckley, Southeastern
Bryson Dawkins, Houston Christian

2nd Team All-Conference
Quadir Copeland, McNeese
Jamal West Jr., Nicholls
Christian Shumate, McNeese
Addison Patterson, Northwestern
Alexis Marmolejos, Lamar

All-Defensive Team
Christian Shumate, McNeese
Adam Hamilton, Lamar
Jerald Colonel, Northwestern State
Jakevion Buckley, Southeastern
Andrew Holifield, Lamar

Now, the focus for McNeese is on the Southland Conference Tournament, which is set to begin on Sunday Night with the first round of men's games in the bracket. With the #1-seed, McNeese has a bye until the Semifinals, which don't take place until Tuesday Evening. Will Wade and his Bayou Bandints will await their next opponent until then.