Early Look At 2025-26 McNeese Basketball Schedule

Lake Charles, Louisiana (KNGT-FM) - The McNeese Cowboys basketball team is gearing up for another exciting season inside the Legacy Center under first-year Head Coach Bill Armstrong. On Wednesday, the Southland Conference released its conference opponents, which means their 2025-2026 schedule is starting to take shape.

Things will be a little bit different inside the Legacy Center this year with a few new faces on the court and the sidelines. The mentality is still the same for Head Coach Bill Armstrong and company. Armstrong is a branch off the Will Wade coaching tree, after spending a stint with him at LSU. But, they couldn't be anything further from the same...

You likely won't see him throwing temper tantrums on the sideline or eating a hot dog in the stands pre-game, but Armstrong will have his way of going about things while still featuring a loaded roster with a high level of play.

The roster will be as talented as it has ever been for McNeese Basketball with returners like DJ Richards, TJohnn Brown, and the Southland Conference Player of the Year Javohn Garcia. Pair that with some talented high-major transfers, and McNeese might be even better than they were under the hot-dog-eating "Willie The Kid."

A lot has been made of scheduling for McNeese over the last few years as games continue to get harder and harder to come by for the Cowboys. The fact is, there are many high-major teams who want to sign up to *potentially* lose a game they would have to pay McNeese to play in.

The Cowboys started that a few years ago by taking down Michigan in Ann Arbor, and then followed that up with narrow losses in 2024 to Alabama and Mississippi State on the road. The problem is, at this level, McNeese still needs those types of games to make it financially. Home games are even harder to come by.

Thursday afternoon, it appeared that the McNeese basketball schedule rounded into form, even though some games are still waiting for official dates. even after adding Michigan to the fold earlier this week, while also securing Rhode Island on Thursday afternoon.

Some dates are still tentative. Those are matchups with a pair of non-D1s and a matchup with Santa Clara.

Here's how the schedule will lay out SO FAR...

11/14 - vs UL-Lafayette
11/23 - vs George Washington (Cayman Island Classic)
11/24 - vs Murray State (Cayman Island Classic)
11/25 - vs Middle Tennessee (Cayman Island Classic)
12/1 – at UIW
12/5 – vs Northwestern St.
12/9 - at Rhode Island
12/12 – vs East Texas A&M
12/15 – at HCU
12/29 - at Michigan
1/3 – vs Lamar
1/5 – vs Stephen F. Austin
1/10 – vs Southeastern
1/12 – vs Nicholls
1/17 – at UTRGV
1/19 – at A&M - Corpus Christi
1/24 – vs UNO
1/26 – at Southeastern
1/31 – at Lamar
2/2 – at Stephen F. Austin
2/7 – vs UIW
2/9 – vs HCU
2/14 – at East Texas A&M
2/16 – at Northwestern St.
2/21 – vs A&M - Corpus Christi
2/23 – vs UTRGV
2/28 – at UNO
3/2 – at Nicholls
3/8–3/11 – Southland Conference Tournament (Lake Charles, LA)